Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/210252
HRO Today Forum Europe Preview descriptions, and job roles are all boring and static. What is truly engaging is what we create. What is our contribution? Let's not define ourselves by what we sell, but rather what the customer buys. Employees need to be themselves. Reward systems encourage employees to impress others, while engagement comes from allowing them to express themselves and their strengths. It's not so much what people do, it's more about what they can be to the organisation. Employees need to be engaged in learning and challenge. Self development and growth is an essential motivator of the workforce. We have three levels of loyalty: ourselves, our team, and our company. Betterment and mastery will always make sure we chase our passion and not our pension. Employees need a sense of purpose. The workforce values its contribution to the end goal, but that end goal must never be about shareholder value. It's a goal that is meaningful for employees, and purposeful to mankind! What are some tactical steps organisations can take to encourage engagement? Coaching—particularly peer coaching—and forming dynamic learning and development communities are an essential element to creating engagement and a sense of loyalty to the team and its efforts. 'Now that' and not 'if-then' rewards are the most effective: Upon task completion, recognition takes place. Honest relationships and fairness are often enough to allow people to feel valued and listened to. Once you have a program that encourages engagement, how do you measure it? There are many effective ways of measuring engagement, but there are some interesting barometers of engagement which are sometimes overlooked. Business and management consultant and author of the book The Future of Management, Gary Hamel coined the phrase 'corporate sperm count,' in which he believes the businesses can measure the virility of an organisation by how many new ideas are finding their way to the CEO. I think innovation and new suggestions are a sign that employees feel that they can contribute—and more importantly want to. What role do company values play? Team members have to not only understand company Employees need to be engaged in learning and challenge. Self development and growth is an essential motivator of the workforce. We have three levels of loyalty: ourselves, our team, and our company. Betterment and mastery will always make sure we chase our passion and not our pension. values, but they need to co-author them. This is powerful and will encourage employees to translate them into their daily lives. We cannot express values if we don't understand them and their practical interpretation in behaviours. The difference between commitment and compliance can be measured by the ability of employees to think the values—and not by reading them from company literature. The best example of a community of well-motivated, unpaid volunteers coming together to create a worldchanging idea is Wikipedia. It is the perfect example of how money or even recognition is not the motivator, but instead is driven by the willingness to share information with others and be part of something unique and bigger than the individual. What impact do strong leadership and executive management have on employee engagement? Leadership is the ability to elevate people to a level they wouldn't have reached by themselves. Paradoxically, it does take strong leadership, however as greater engagement is created the team become a team of leaders—and there is less need for strong leadership by an individual. Jamil Quershi is the founder of JQED and creator of Mind Shaping. He will be presenting at the HRO Today Forum Europe, 12 - 14 November, in London. AUTUMN 2013 | www.hroglobal.com [9]