Strategy Acceleration through Employee Engagement: Ten Tips for Success
Posted: Monday, June 22, 2009
by Gayla Hodges
http://www.changeagentsinc.com
Strategy Acceleration is creating personal and organizational velocity toward the fulfillment of goals. It is an approach to executing high-level organizational strategies which keep the organization sustainable in current market conditions and position it for the next challenges in a fast-paced environment of change.
Strategy acceleration requires profound commitment from the people throughout an organization to the strategies intended to keep the organization riding the waves of change. Hiring practices, internal cultural development efforts, and the attention, responsiveness and resources necessary to achieve a high level of employee engagement are critical. Without a high rate of employee engagement, the organization will not achieve average objectives, much less the initiatives that will accelerate strategy achievement.
"Engaged employees are not just committed. They are not just passionate or proud. They have a lone-of-sight on their own future and on the organization's mission and goals. They are "enthused" and "in gear," using their talents and discretionary effort to make a difference in their employer's quest for sustainable business success."
Several recent studies of employee engagement have found that only about 21 percent of all employees are fully engaged (BlessingWhite, Inc. 2008 State of Employee Engagement Study ) and an almost equivalent number (19% according to the same study) are fully disengaged. [Other studies - Gallup, Towers Perrin - for example, have reported employee engagement at level of 17 to 29% of all employees.] Most organizations would like to believe these statistics are not representative, or that they do not reflect the reality in their organizations. The sad truth is that these figures are realistic.
How does disengagement in the workforce affect the organization? Here are just a few of the negative impacts of disengaged employees:
* Productivity of all but the highly engaged is at least 20 to 28 per cent lower;
* Corporate profitability is decreased;
* Share price will be as much as 16% lower;
* A 2003 Gallup poll estimated the cost of disengagement to be between 243 and 270 billion dollars;
* A 2003 study by ISR found that companies with low levels of employee engagement saw profits decline by 1.38 percent and operating margin fell by 2.01 percent over a three year period, while companies with high levels of employee engagement saw operating margins rise by 3.74 percent over the same period;
* Disengaged employees often also undermine customer satisfaction and sales;
* Disengaged employees frequently undermine employee satisfaction;
* Disengaged employees impede strategic success;
* Disengaged employees tend to be less open to organizational change;
* Disengaged employee safety incidents cost, on average, $292; compared to $63 for engaged employees.
In short, lack of employee engagement costs businesses billions of dollars every year in sales, productivity and customer satisfaction. Further, there is a clearly demonstrated link between high levels of employee engagement and corporate growth and sustainability.
Most organizations today are developing strategic initiatives around enterprise sustainability into an uncertain future .In the current and future markets, customer desires and needs, and even ways of doing business will change radically and rapidly. High levels of employee engagement will be critical in this future.
Leaders must win employee buy-in to their vision of the future and their plan to achieve the vision to make the organizational changes necessary for implementation of strategic initiatives. Buy-in begins with an engaged employee and wins support for the new vision and the steps required throughout the organization to achieve it. Whether intentional organizational change is or is not part of your strategy for corporate viability in the future, increasing the level of employee engagement is clearly advantageous.
A report from the Society for Human Resource Management says MolsonCoors estimates that "by 'strengthening' employee engagement the company saved $1,721,760 in one year." Whether your motivation is financial, customer-centric or strategic, employee engagement matters. The good news is that employee engagement can be created within an organization.
Any organization can increase the level of employee engagement. Here are ten tips to help you improve the level of employee engagement in your enterprise.
1. Make employee engagement part of your organizational culture. Make engagement part of the values and mindset of how the organization makes decisions, interacts daily and defines processes, procedures and structures. People want to know that they are making a contribution to the success of the organization. People thrive on meaningful work.
2. Communicate, communicate, communicate. Remember always that communication goes in two directions. Just as you must communicate clearly and regularly the vision of the organization's leaders across the enterprise, wise leaders also listen actively to the insights, experience and perspective of every employee at every level of the organization. The anecdotal evidence of thousands of senior executives is that the input of these people enabled them to refine their vision and develop more efficient change initiatives to reach their goals. Executives who solicit and act on the insights of their employees engender a greater level of employee engagement.
3. Value and acknowledge. Everyone wants to be valued. Everyone also wants to know they are valued. When people are doing meaningful work and they are reminded that their work contributes in a significant way to the success of the organization, they will be more engaged. Acknowledging people not only for a job done well but for the character they exhibited in the process greatly increases employee engagement.
4. Earn trust every day. Employee engagement studies consistently report low levels of trust for senior executives of companies. Lack of trust breeds disengagement. Failure to earn the trust of employees, and to continue to earn that trust, will result in disengagement and departure. Although more employees trust their immediate supervisors or bosses, all managers must earn the trust of those they supervise. One of the most important ways to do this is to clearly and consistently share the direction of the organization and demonstrate trust that employees can help leaders achieve success.
5. Emphasize career development . If work is meaningful and is done well, it should lead the employee somewhere along a career development path. Organizational leaders might need to create alternative career development and advancement paths to capitalize on the skills and knowledge of employees. People who are rewarded for skill and increased knowledge are more engaged.
6. Create confidence in the future. Engaged employees have confidence in the future of the organization, its sustainability in changing times, and the ability of its leaders to chart and navigate a course to success. Confidence results from ethical and defensible decisions and consistent, appropriate leadership behavior over time.
7. Align the organization with strategic goals. Organizational structure is a powerful tool in helping employees at every level of the enterprise understand how their work contributes to the success of the company. People handle change when they understand how it will help them and the organization become more successful.
8. Align performance goals, stretch objectives and performance evaluation with strategic goals. Put the focus of employee performance on the things that matter most to achievement of strategic goals. Work with the employee to develop meaningful goals that clearly advance organizational strategy. Then tie appropriate measurement and reward systems to those goals. Senior executives must model the commitment to culture and the level of engagement in organizational success they wish to see mirrored in the perspective and the actions of employees throughout the enterprise.
9. Clarify the desired organizational culture to current and new employees. Ensure that each individual understands his or her role in maintaining and passing on the culture of engagement and value.
10. Manage employee engagement. Once the importance of employee engagement is understood it becomes incumbent upon the leadership of the organization to put structures, processes and procedures in place that will maintain high levels of engagement. Measure engagement regularly and ensure that managers at all levels of the organization understand their role in fostering engagement.
When organizations are able to build a high level of employee engagement and develop a strong culture of engagement, productivity, profit and perspective can be expected to improve throughout the enterprise.
Copyright 2009 by Change Agents, Inc.
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