Fostering employee engagement, loyalty, commitment and motivation - how to shape an authentic workplace

(New Meaning Programme prepared for the National School of Government)

  

Psychologists tell us that that work, relationships and personal development are the three main areas of attachment in our modern lives. 

 
“70% of employees are looking for more meaning at work” Roffey Park

“… the workplace is a new focus for community in our lives” Penna 

  

These surveys (alongside work at the London Business School) tell us that work is increasingly replacing community and religion as an important and socially sustaining part of our lives. Whereas role models have historically been family elders, or the leaders of our churches and communities, frequently those who shape the direction in our workplaces have an impact on lives over and above the effect on production or service levels. 

 

There is often a real or perceived gap in understanding and translation of senior, corporate decisions into solid organisational activity below the layer of the senior team. Talk to those “below” this senior level, and they often suggest they would like to be asked to contribute to making top-level decisions more effective and practical. They often want more involvement. 

 

Frequently in organisations, there is a perception that deeper behavioural habits and cultural change may be the necessary lever for realising a more uniform view to the development of the organisation. 

But we’re also not used to dealing with emotional or philosophical questions in organisations. We’re used to dealing with hard, factual problems, contract issues, processes, customer requirements, negotiation, measurement, objectives, skills, etc. So is there a way we can use our conventional skills to access these so-called “softer” areas. 

 

Before any change can be approached, we must ensure we know where we are now. Where is the baseline? 

 

To assess the baseline, we must gather deeply held emotional or controversial views without causing a negative reaction and so we need a mechanism for handling these areas in a sensitive manner.

 

A starting point is to explore seven factors that can help your organisation shape a more authentic workplace with communication more strongly reflected in and by the culture and attitudes at all levels. The factors are leadership, reward, values, emotionality, contribution, team, and worthiness. 

 

This workshop offers a practical, stepwise method (which can be kept anonymous and confidential for content) for addressing each of the above factors and any others that are specific to your team or organisation.

The Experience Analysis Technique allows different views to be teased out and collated on each factor and consensus decisions on essential actions.

 

Three core dimensions are investigated for each of these issues:

Physical – what we do; aiming at the practical, effective, safe and healthy workplace

Psychological – how we do it: identifying the characteristics of the most effective styles, behaviours and strengths demonstrated within your organisation in situations when you all agree it was working best

 

Philosophical – why we do it: understanding the positive attitudes and drivers that work for you based on analysis of positive scenarios from your collective experience

 

This technique guides you in how to address answering the questions, challenges, attitudes emotions and choices that you will encounter.

Once the base-line is established and examples of good practice are defined – with essential input from all levels – a process of Appreciative Inquiry is applied to each of the seven factors and agreed best-fit descriptions. A communal, bought-into, ongoing and developing set of descriptions is produced for each area, team or group rather than a static statement of “values”.

These descriptions are then used to produce your own “live” index. This is an ongoing mechanism that should and will change over time if you are demonstrating real employee engagement in your business.

These areas are often the communal blind spots of an organisation. Or they are considered too difficult to address. Increasingly, it is a real belief that only those who uncover these more sensitive areas actually achieve true engagement.

 

These Appreciative Inquiry methods have been successfully used in NATO and the Clinton administration as well as many multinational corporations. 

 

What is the secret to achieving engagement within your team? There is no secret. Successful organisations involve people at all levels in a structured manner. They strive for openness and build on the legacy of positive scenarios to strengten positive behaviours and attitudes that already exist.

 

These methods will increase your awareness of what is possible and empower you to achieve meaningful and motivating engagement in your organisation, to the benefit of all those in your organisational community.