How Emotional Drivers Strengthen Employee Engagement

We can ask ourselves three questions:


“How much self-esteem does being associate with my company give me?”

“Don’t I feel proud when an outsider recognizes me by my organization or says good things about the company I work for?”

“Doesn’t it make me feel good when my organization wins a national or international award?”

Employee engagement is the advanced step to employee satisfaction. It involves commitment, loyalty, faith and pride in the organization, a willingness to advocate for the organization, and a sense of personal responsibility. It is about creating gusto in the employees for their roles, their work and the organization. It ensures they are aligned with the values of the organization, well informed and well integrated with their colleagues and culture.

To create greater motivation within employees for the work they do and increase their commitment towards the organization, corporates are now paying extra attention to the concept of Employee Engagement. Companies are introducing an inspiring and flexible work culture, employee-friendly policies and practices and a variety of employee benefit schemes.

Tools for employee engagement include: facility to work from home, flexible time, cab facility, crèche facility, training, career and personality development, performance appraisals, performance management, communication, equal opportunity, fair treatment, pay and benefits, health and safety, cooperation and family orientation, friendliness, open door policy, job satisfaction etc. These help the organization create a strong emotional bonding with the employees.

Few valuable company engagement programs include:

Many companies have introduced several exciting and refreshing practices to liven up their workplace in hopes of creating an environment conducive for explosive ideation and experience sharing where the management could connect with the employees both formally and informally. These policies encourage two-way interactions and help achieve objectives like filling in the Management communication gap, providing a formal platform for employees where they could express their ideas and suggestions (which are for larger interest of the organization and require attention and action), addressing personal grievances, counseling, etc.



Listening to employee ideas, acting on employee contributions and actively involving employees in decision making are essential to employee engagement. What employees want from their managers: Focus me, Know me, Care about me, Hear me, Help me, feel proud, Help me review my contributions, Equip me, Help me see my value, Help me grow, Help me see my importance, Help me build mutual trust, Challenge me.
Many organizations have social networking and micro-blogging services on intranet that enable employees to send, discuss and read messages, internal portal for podcasting, social networking within the organization by using blogs, forums etc. People can raise various issues, offer feedback and also communicate with the senior management through this portal.
A weekly or monthly column should be written by CEO on the intranet with company announcements, programs etc.

Companies need to organize Communication Meeting, every quarter where employees can directly interact with the senior management, periodically can share the future plans of the organization, define goals and expectations.

Employees should be rewarded and recognized for good performance with awards like Employee of the Month or annual awards, competitive compensation etc.

Internal Newsletters, Magazines and regular mailers play vital role in employee engagement.
A Few Activities to be done towards employee engagement:

Treating employees like a member of the company by giving them a day off on their birthdays and anniversaries, provide play and meditation courts for the employees or organizing self-management workshop – like Yoga, Art of Living to combat the work stress, employees’ kids participating in painting competition, festival celebration etc. can make work and life balanced. Some other activities can be organizing training sessions, promote and recognize team performance, system adherence, evolve an employee friendly and business focused policies, processes and systems with high degree of automation, giving a chance to showcase their extra-curricular activities on the occasions like annual day celebration etc.

Regularly organizing various internal events on various occasions like Holi, Diwali, Dussehra, World Health Day, Children’s Day, Independence Day, Republic Day etc., organize various inter-company competitions among employees Quizzes, Sports Tournaments, Music and Dance Competitions, Cubicle decorations etc. can create a culture of fun and spark at work. External initiatives like off-site meetings, team parties, and team-bonding games to promote camaraderie among employees and also encourage people to participate in various corporate events and can make working much more fun too.

The Seasoned Generation of Consultants and New Technology

Why is it that seasoned consultants/coaches are seemly in their comfort zone when they back away from the use of technolgy in their day-to-day practice? It's reminiscent of physicians who have a very low adoption rate when it comes to the use of new EMRs (Electronic Medical Records) in hospitals.

Maybe for the younger consulting generation, the barriers to hi-tech assistence might be much lower. Maybe it's the burden of learning new technology skills and then trying to figure out how to integrate knowledge? Is it that consultants/coaches feel threatened that their own lack of personal skills may cause the failure to grasp the technology? Are business opportunities being trumped by technology tools? Are they fearful of the loss of the cherished daily rate?


Maybe I'm wrong altogether and there really are no barriers of technology useage by the consultant/coach considering technology is the wave of the future for the successful consultants.
 
I would like to hear your thoughts.