Leaders In Motion
June 2008 Issue
A periodic “ah hah!” for Executive Leaders & HR Professionals, compliments of Visioning In Action


An inside peak:  If you were invited to create the dream, build the dream and make the dream come true, wouldn’t you be more driven to stick around and make it happen than if you had simply been handed someone else’s dream?  Read this article to find out more about the link between strategic planning and employee engagement. 

Next issue:  “Eight Ways to Ramp Up Your Employee Engagement Score with Strategic Planning.” 

August issue: "Value-driven Priorities:  the Key to Effective Time Management"


Employee Engagement:
The Value of a Shared Vision

If you were to videotape your employees in action on any given day, what would you see? 

Erring on the optimistic side of current industry statistics, you would see:
  • 29% of your employees “fully engaged” … demonstrating initiative and doing their part to fulfill the organization’s vision with enthusiasm and a dedicated spirit;
  • 19% of your employees completely “disengaged” … dusting off their resumes or actively seeking a job elsewhere; and
  • 52% of your employees somewhere in the middle, completing their daily tasks adequately but without particular passion or commitment to the organization.

According to Hewitt Associates, 77% of employees working for the 50 Best Employers in Canada describe themselves as "engaged".  Although I assume that the range of depth of engagement varies, 77% is logical based on Pareto's 80 - 20 rule.  In this article, I will focus on using strategic planning as a vehicle to engage everyone in your organization.  HOWEVER - let me state my firm personal and professional belief upfront.  Based on my 19 years of experience in the business of leadership development, I firmly believe that for your organization to FULLY succeed, your senior managment team MUST and CAN achieve 100% engagement. 

What Today’s Statistics Mean For YOU

So, what do all of these statistics mean for YOU?  Think back to your last senior management team meeting.  Suppose you had a team of ten leaders gathered around the table.  Using these statistics, it would be reasonable to conclude that at the end of that meeting three of them raced out the door brimming with passion and commitment to moving your organization forward and igniting everyone around them; five of them maintained the status quo; and two simply didn’t care about anything that happened in the meeting and are, as we speak, producing either a neutral or negative impact on your corporate culture, employee productivity and customer satisfaction levels.

Now, imagine this.  What would it be like if all ten leaders burst from the meeting room ENERGIZED and EXCITED to make things happen?  What if all ten of them couldn’t wait to bust out the door to implement your team's decisions and plans?  What if all ten of them oozed such infectious enthusiasm that everyone around them got excited about their jobs too? 

Just think about what would happen to retention and productivity.  Think about how this would impact your corporate culture.  Think about the impression your customers would have of your organization if they interacted with one of these ten people.  Magic?  No.  Simple common sense and a vibrant strategy.  As I said earlier, I firmly believe your senior management team MUST and CAN achieve 100% engagement.

In case you haven’t kept up, employee engagement refers to the degree of emotional and intellectual commitment employees have for their employer.  Employees who are fully engaged are deemed to be enthusiastic about their work, care about the future of the company and are willing to go the extra mile (or kilometer) to help the organization achieve its goals.  According to Gallup, unlike job satisfaction alone, employee engagement is a predictor of work behaviour and overall performance with a direct impact on the bottom line.  As an Executive leader or Human Resource professional, this has no doubt gripped your attention in recent months.


The Link Between Strategic Planning &
Employee Engagement

What can you do to increase employee engagement levels across your organization? According to BlessingWhite, one of the top best practices used by successful organizations today is to "clarify strategy and organizational goals". 

I would like to take this one giant step further.  Why stop at only communicating your strategy and goals?  Why not include your employees, customers and stakeholders in some way in the actual strategic planning process? 

Strategic planning is the ideal vehicle in which to get your people actively involved and excited about developing and achieving your organization’s vision.  Why?  Consider this:  if you were invited to create the dream, build the dream and make the dream come true, wouldn’t you be more driven to stick around and make it happen than if you had simply been handed someone else’s dream? If you had expressed your opinion and your employer validated it, wouldn’t you be more inspired to promote excellence in yourself and everyone around you?  By establishing a framework in which people can invest themselves intellectually and emotionally, you are creating an invigorating corporate culture in which people can thrive.  This, in turns, increases retention, motivation and productivity …  all properties of an engaged workforce.

Strategic planning provides the ideal opportunity to take stock, obtain a fresh perspective from a variety of sources, make critical decisions, and move forward with a strong, united sense of purpose and renewed commitment.  If you do it right, you will end up with an enthralling Vision, Mission and Values Statement that everyone has contributed to, understands and is proud of; a clear set of goals in alignment from the top down; and an inspired and active workforce bringing your vision to fruition.  You will have a foundation to build on over time.  Also, because strategic planning is an ongoing, alive process, the benefits will be continuous.  (By the way, organizations with the highest engagement scores in North America not only include their employees in the visioning and goal-setting process; their strategic plan spells out a specific employee engagement strategy for the organization.)

As a seasoned facilitator of strategic planning sessions, I can attest first-hand to the incredible energy, passion and plethora of ideas that you can tap into.  If you want to get people all charged up in your organization, seriously consider developing an inclusive strategic planning process.  Building and implementing a shared vision can be extraordinary.

 
Eight Strategies You Can Use

If strategic planning is on your agenda, check in next month and I will list eight splendid, concrete things you can do throughout this process to develop your organization’s strategic plan and increase employee engagement at the same time.  If you can’t wait that long, give me a call.

Before we go, let's get back to your senior management team.  Remember:  our goal is 100% engagement.  Start by asking yourself:
  • Does each and every one of my executive leaders exude fundamental, critical characteristics of a fully engaged employee, such as initiative, passion and accountability?  If not, why not?  Dig to the root cause.   
  • What compels ME to go above and beyond my job description?  Ultimately, every person regardless of position is a unique individual with endless talent and potential that you definitely want to harness.  Think about what drives you and ask others what drives them.
  • If I had the opportunity to contribute to the development of my organization’s vision and goals, how would this impact my commitment to its success?  What can I do to include others in building our organization's vision and goals?

If your senior management team is on board, the rest of your organization will have a clear path to follow.

Thanks for your time.  Talk to you in July! 

As always, warmest regards,

Michele Gervais

Professional Speaker, Facilitator & Coach
Visioning In Action
Professional Member of Canadian Association of Professional Speakers (CAPS)
Expert Author, EzineArticles.com

Email:  mgervais@visioninginaction.com
Tel:     204.899.4046
www.visioninginaction.com

PS  Remember to request your complimentary copy of “Do You Know Where You’re Headed?  Organizational Assessment Tool”. 

Sources used in this article:  Employee Engagement Report 2008, BlessingWhite; 2007 – 2008 Global Workforce Study, Towers Perrin; Gallup Management Journal 2008, Gallup; 2007 Survey of 50 Best Employers in Canada, Hewitt Associates.

To purchase the right to publish one of our articles, suggest a topic for an upcoming issue of Leaders In Motion or include your organization’s best practices in our next issue, please email the author directly at:
mgervais@visioninginaction.com

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For your organization to be FULLY successful, I firmly believe that your senior management team MUST and CAN achieve 100% engagement.