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A CEO study by IBM reveals how the C-Suite accross the globe are responding to the new and highly connected economy. When you have 15 minutes spare, grab a coffee read and digest.
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This was my comment on the article that introduced the crunch time report. What happens when personal purpose and strategic narrative align
Ali 21 May 2012 Thanks for highlighting this new report.
Whilst I agree this is not a brand new concept, this is a good example of how important intrinsic motivators are. In the 2009 Engaging for Success report to government by David MacLeod and Nita Clake, Strategic Narrative was demonstrated to be one of the 4 enablers of engagement.
Strategic Narrative is all about where an organisation has come from, where they are now and where we are going. Examples of what this looks like, and how this can be brought to life are being shared on the new website currently being built.
I would suggest that when an individual can link the organisational story to their own personal mission in life (if they a lucky enough to know what that is) then it can have a very powerful effect. From a purely personal and anecdotal perspective I can tell you that power that this has had for me in my work at Grass Roots and also most recently Engage for Success (the movement that has been born from the Employee Engagement Task Force.)
Both Grass Roots and the movement have a very strong purposes. Grass Roots exists to inspire people and the movement believes there is a better way to work, a better way to enable personal growth, and ultimately growth for Britain by releasing more of the capability and potential of people at work.
I am able to link these aims to my personal purpose and this makes a huge difference. It fuels the inspiration and ideas that come to me, which I have an incredibly strong committment to act up on, even in the face of obstacles and challenges.
It is what generates the grit to get through the mundane bits of the job (we all have them!). It provides the energy to keep going when otherwise I might tire. It is why I get up every morning and jump out of bed ready to make a difference!
It's different from being 'addicted' to work because it is not 'compulsive' but free flowing and the other aspects of my life are just as important to me and receive equal amounts of my energy.
Although I don't think I am the only one who feels like this, there are many who have don't have this connection and as a result feel drained and exhausted by their work.
That is not good for the individual, the organisation or the country.
This is not the only thing that matters or makes a difference(there are many other aspects to engagement that also need consideration.)
However I do I think the world would be a much better place if we were able to help more people feel connected to their company purpose and feel how it can help them express and contribute to their own personal purpose.
So whilst its not 'news' to me that purpose has emerged as an attraction and engagement factor - I strongly believe that this is a worthwhile concept to explore and take action on. 
"A recent study by the Society for Human Resource Management has put some hard figures on the effectiveness of tracking employee engagement."
This article with some useful data is contrast to the business week article I have just posted that warns against the management practices around engagement surveys. I think we have to be really careful how we go about implememting surveys but when done right they can provide useful insight which when we take action on it can help us to positivley impact engagement. 
The late Steve Jobs may be as venerated within the company he founded as he is outside it. But that doesn't mean his successor Tim Cook is suffering by comparison.
What I think is really interesting is how Glassdoor is providing very useful and public feedback about employers from an employee perspective... definitley something to watch! Modern Survey's latest study of employee engagement in the U.S. - full report will be out soon watch out for it 
According to a report released Tuesday by ComPsych, more than half of surveyed employees - 56.3 percent - say workplace stress makes it difficult to focus on tasks. Twenty-one percent of respondents claim it causes errors or missed deadlines, and slightly more than 15 percent say it makes it difficult to get along with coworkers and managers. 
Permitting employees to work from home increases productivity by 10-20% #infographic (Employee Engagement Infographics / Permitting employees to work from home increases productivity by 10-20% #infographic http://t.co/dPt6d7e8...)... 
Financial services firms admitted that they invited negative public perception by their actions (or inactions), according to the 2012 Makovsky Wall St... 
There are questions you can ask job candidates that will help you spot a sense of entitlement, and there is a screening tool designed to help you find prospective employees who most closely match the profile of your most valued current employees. I found it fascinating that the Cisco Connected World Technology Report found that more than 40 percent of college students and young employees said they would accept a lower-paying job that had more flexibility with regard to device choice and mobility than a higher-paying job with less flexibility. 
"A former executive secretary for the Golub Corp. left the courtroom in handcuffs Thursday after a judge sentenced her to 1 to 3 years in prison for stealing $313,126 from the company through an employee-rewards program." 
After an employee quit with a highly publicized critique of its culture, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) has been scouring emails and other internal communications for evidence of workers using derogatory comments about clients. 
By acting as “welcomers,” frontline employees can help organizations achieve repeat business and referrals, which are essential for long-term growth. |
NeuroEngagement: Using Insights from Brain Science to Heighten Employee Engagement | Leader's Beacon
This is a facsinating article looking at engagement through a neuro-science lens.
As well as being in the employee engagement profession I am also an avid reader of the new scientist and a Neuro Linguistic Programming master practitoner so exploring engagement from this perspective made it a brilliant for me. It takes further steps forward in explaining the 'why'' of employee engagement. If you are interested in getting under the skin of this topic then this is a great place to start.
Well worth a read. "A report by global brand consultancy Calling Brands has revealed a "dramatic shift" in employee attitudes towards work – with corporate ‘purpose’ emerging as a powerful new driver of attraction, retention and productivity that few businesses are leveraging". says HR Magazine http://www.hrmagazine.co.uk/hro/news/1073154/corporate-purpose-emerges-attraction-engagement-factor-global-survey-staff
This is an interesting report and I think it feeds in well to the Strategic Narative aspect of employee engagement as described in the Engaging for Success report and is currently being investigated further by the Employee Engagement Task Force and members of the Engage for Success movement. When people understand the organisational story they can then make connections between that and their own personal mission in life. I know that is what happened for me at Grass Roots and also more recently at Engage for Success.
If this topic interests you here are some other pieces of work that will take you further down this particular rabit hole.
The work foundation in 2009 also wrote a great summary of this in their report 'The Meaning of Work' http://www.goodworkcommission.co.uk/Assets/Docs/ReportsWithCovers/03.MeaningOfWork.pdf
Malcolm Gladwell talking about meaningful work through passion vs genius.
Mihaly Czikszentmihali on Flow at TED talks from 2004: http://www.ted.com/talks/mihaly_csikszentmihalyi_on_flow.html
CEOs and leadership teams have chopped hard costs to the bone. Now they’re looking at soft costs—the human time spent on management practices that have gone unexamined for years. 
To help boost the morale and job satisfaction of your employees, here‘s some tips from the DOT playbook. 
Giving your employees flexible hours cuts costs, spurs growth and lifts morale. The numbers prove it. 
How to manage difficult but talented employees. Here are seven steps to help with this challenging aspect of management. 
A great piece by Personnel Today that includes a comprehensive update on the progress and activities of the Employee Engagement Task Force. It includes additional audio content from David and Nita which really brings some of the core messages to life. I recommend you take a look.
Using social media to accomplish a meaningful purpose involves more than providing new technology and praying for success. Successful mass collaboration places new requirements on an organization, particularly its managers. ![Why I Quit [Your Company Name Here] | Leadership and Management in Engagement | Scoop.it](http://img.scoop.it/eRlwWO6UD_VZtUsigr9W9zl72eJkfbmt4t8yenImKBVaiQDB_Rd1H6kmuBWtceBJ)
Employees have finally found their voice - and everyone is listening! A great blog post by Stephanie at Datchis Group.
They came for new iPads. Others for a date with a Genius. Some were wide-eyed first-timers, many were well-known regulars. Hundreds of people coursed through the Apple Store on Boylston Street on... Information and graphics on findings that deal specifically with internal trust dynamics and implications for employee communications professionals from Edelman... 
Workers who are reticent or introverted often have much to contribute -- here are 6 ways to draw them out... |
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