Employee Engagement for All: MMP #11

Monday Morning Percolator (MMP) #11

Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.  ~ Albert Einstein.

In the center of the apple is the core, in the centre of an idea made to stick is a simple or core statement.

In the last Monday Morning Percolator, I outlined the 6 principles of stickiness outline in the book, Made to Stick. To be effective an employee engagement idea or approach must have stickiness. Otherwise it is forgotten or lost in the myriad of tasks and relationships that fill an organization and individual’s day.

Simplicity = Core + Compact. Our challenge when we leverage simple stickiness for employee engagement is to find the core and express it in the form of a compact idea that can be enduringly powerful. Simple is not “dumbing down” it is finding and communicating the core.

For example the military encourages officers in combat to ask themselves these two questions:

1. If we do nothing else during tomorrow’s mission we must _______.
2. The single, most important thing that we must do tomorrow is _____.

To translate these questions to the field of employee engagement answer these two question at the end of each day to get yourself primed for tomorrow:

1. If we do nothing else at work tomorrow about employee engagement we must ______.
2. The single, most important thing we must do at work tomorrow for engagement is _______.

To me, the simple core employee engagement idea is: Employee Engagement for All.

We all must benefit from employee engagement – employees, organizations, leaders, customers, families, and other stakeholders. Employee engagement must have mutual purpose – moving engagement from “me to we” as we all see the benefit of engaged employees and we all contribute to employee engagement.

Get Perking:

1. Write your own simple statement to lead you and your team into employee engagement.
2. Apply the employee engagement KISS: Keep it Sincerely Simple!
3. Read Chapter 1 of Make it Stick to determine why “cast member” for Disney staff is sticky and “sandwich artist” for Subway staff leaves you wondering where’s the beef? Is there a job title or role that will fully engage you in your work?

Next Week: Monday Morning Percolator #12: Unexpectedness.

Picture Credit: My personal Thanksgiving by http://flickr.com/photos/riot/289783985/