Thank you for choosing this breakout session. I hope it wasn’t because the other two were full! If it was then I guess your expectations are probably quite low so hopefully it shouldn’t be too hard to exceed them!I’m John Williams one of the founders of Wiki-Solutions. Wiki-Solutions is all about building on-line communities and then mining their collective intelligence to achieve a number of business objectives. Increased levels of employee engagement being one of them.Our basic principal is that the ‘All of us are smarter than one of us’– you only have to look around the room and then look at me here to see immediately that its true.My presentation is entitled ‘Smarter Employee Engagement’ so it’s appropriate that my first slide is a Smart Phone and if an employee rings it – it’s engaged!
As I was putting this presentation together, canvassing friends and colleagues for smart things I could say I picked up a really great tip. It went something like this “The quickest way to disengage people is to talk at them!”What a great piece of advice to give someone who has to stand up in front of an audience and give a presentation! Now as much as I would really like to use this session to have a one on one conversation with all of you, the constraints of a conference format and less than an hour makes it rather difficult. However there is a way that we can all have one on one conversation about this topic after this session and that is via the CMA Insight Lab we have built for this summit.
Everyone should have received their own personal login details for the site.If you haven’t been there already the URL is www.wiki-insights.net/cma-summit and you’ll have a unique user name and password.If you haven’t got one – talk to me after this session and I’ll sort you out.
After you have logged in you can click on one of the Insight Lab buttons for the daily sessions you are interested in and you will see a table of the speakers. Simply click on the session you want to participate in and you’ll go straight to their page.
In any of the sessions you can start a new topic of your own or join in any of the conversations that are already going on. And you can do it all anonymously so you can ask or say whatever you like without the fear of being thought stupid!I’ll be logging in as often as I can and contributing to the dialogue and answer any questions.
You can also contribute via Twitter.Every presentation has its own hashtag as you can see from the bottom right=had corner of the slide mine is #CMAE2
The site is also set up to receive tweets.If you tweet about a presentation and include the relevant hashtag, we will pick up your tweet and post it in the main twitter stream section but we will also post it in a Twitter Topic on the speaker’s page.So having sorted that out one way we can turn this presentation into a dialogue let’s get back to the presentation itself.
Here’s the briefest hand-out everWhat I have chosen to do is start by looking at some of the questions that I think you should be asking and then give you some insights that hopefully answer those key questions. Leaving you with some very clear action that you can take.So let’s start with the obvious.
What actuallyis Employee Engagement. It sounds as if it should be self explanatory. It’s the forerunner to being wedded to the corporation isn’t it? You get engaged before you get married.As we’ll see later on it’s one of those catch all expressions that is carrying a lot of baggage and means different things to different people.We will also explore what being an engaged employee means.
So having agreed what it is why should you care about it? What difference does having engaged employees make to you? How many of you hold a position with Marketing in the title? You are probably thinking Employee Engagement is a HR function.If I told you that it makes a huge impact on your bottom line and can make your job easier does it become more interesting.
When we see how important Engaged Employees are, getting more of them should be simple shouldn’t it? So what’s all the fuss about. We’ll talk about some of the problems and why it proves to be difficult for so many organisations to achieve.
Even Employee Engagement has its own Superheroes! Meet: The Blue ListenerThe Red Engager &The Green LeaderWe’ll now move on from the theory and start to look at what’s smart and what’s stupid? In this section I want to help you understand what you can actually do to improve levels of employee engagement in your business?
The Q&A session is too important to leave to the end. So before we start the final wrap up there will be a chance for you to ask some questions and in the true spirit of engagement answer some as well!
And finally before we break for refreshments I’ll sum up what I think you can take away from this session that will work for you.The real value from this summit only comes when you act on the insights you’ve picked up.
All the separate sections may blur together but that’s OK.
So what is this thing called Employee Engagement?There are a couple of hundred of you in the room and I guess if I asked you all to define Employee Engagement we would have dozens of different answers.That’s because it is a very individual and deeply personal thing. What one person wants from their relationship with their employer is very different from the next. Some people love it when they know exactly what they need to do, others hate it.No one size fits all. A lot depends what your role in the organisation is and also what type of organisation you work for..For example.
I want omeone who goes the extra mile for us. Works hard. Stays till the job is done. Dies in a ditch for us. But I can’t name them though.
Well of course it’s all about perks and pay isn’t . If you want more engaged employees it’s simple just pay them more.
You need to jazz them up, give them RaRa speeches, tell them they are the best, play team games with them.
It’s doing what I’m told even if I don’t agree with it or understand why.When I come to work I have to leave my initiative and my creativity outside.
And then there is Government!I guess this proves that there is good and bad employee engagement everywhere.If you aren’t familiar with what happened A wildcat strike at Pearson International was sparked after three workers were suspended for “slow hand clapping” federal labour minister Lisa Raitt and sarcastically telling her she was doing a “great job.” for pushing through legislation that sent their labour dispute into binding arbitration preventing a threatened strike. As the wildcat strike spread to Montreal & Quebec and 37 staff were fired!Union / Employer relations really is one area where better ways to engage with one another are needed.
To me it was about career building but to my kids its more about having a good time!Actually none of these are any more than stereotypes. To get a more balanced view you can rely on the big management consultants to provide it.
We were talking to a smart, young and energetic PhD working for one of the world’s most successful companies who explained employee engagement like this: “You know what I’d really like. I’s like to be able to go to my local pub tonight, tell people who I work for and feel good about it.”Another good indicator about Employee Engagement is how people answer the question “What do you do” The more engaged they are the more likely they are to include the name of the company in their answer. Eg I’m do voluntary work or I do voluntary work for Oxfam.
This one is important that’s why there is no picture!Physical – in terms of the time and effort they are prepared to put inEmotional – the degree to which individuals share in the ideals and beliefs of the organisation.And investment in success implies understanding corporate objectives and knowing what your role is in delivering them.
Accenture research identifies 4 levels of Employee Engagement that are really rather useful in identifying the make up of your staff. They are:Devoted: Those who put their heart and soul into their work every day, strive to constantly improve their performance and contribute to their company’s success.Plugged In: These consistently contribute and push themselves to reach challenging work goals most of the time. They are willing to go the extra mile to do their job well.Cruise Control: These show up for work each day but only occasionally invest their full energies at work.Checked Out: These do no more than the basic requirements of their job. They only occasionally summon up the energy to put more effort into their work.These groupings become even more insightful as we talk about the value of engaged employees and how we might set about getting more of them.
So who cares if we have engaged employees? Does it really matter?The truth is it’s incredibly important and one of the best quick wins to improve company performance.Here are some reasons why.
I rest my case.So that’s the personal case now here’s the business case.
And we aren’t just talking about sexual performance here – but hey who knows!Over and above all the correlations that link levels of above average financial performance with above average levels of employee engagement are the facts that engaged employees are: more productive, more profitable, more customer –focused, more reliable and less likely to leave. Is there anyone here that Every one of these has dollars attached.
Is there anyone here that looks at that list and isn’t saying – Yeah I could do with some more of that. This slide not the one about sex!And to make it even more attractive every one of these has dollars attached.According to Gallup engaged employees generate 43% more revenue, so it makes enormous financial sense.
But not everyone is engaged. Those that are actively engaged are in the minority only 29% of employees are actively engaged and feel a profound connection to their company. But these are the people you need to help move the organisation forward.54% are not engaged and have essentially ‘checked out’ sleepwalking through their workday and putting time, but not passion, into their work.Leaving 17% that are actively disengaged. These people are acting out their unhappiness, and undermining what their engaged co-workers are trying to accomplish. And probably not saying good stuff about you to their friends and followers.How you manage this mix is critical to improving profitability. There is a parallel here with Social Networks. We know that people trust the views and opinions of their friends and followers about products than they do Marketing messages, a similar thing is true at work. They will be far more influenced by the views and opinions of their peers than they will be management. The 54% that are currently neither ‘devoted’ or ‘checked out’ can be swayed either way. So you need to find a way to amplify the positives and turn down the noise of the negatives.
Then there is the staff retention issue. Staff churn is a hugely costly exercise – 25-250% of salary. It’s not just the replacement costs but also the cost of Managerial handoffLost customers and contactsLost KnowledgeTasks not being doneDisruptionOn-boarding & TrainingProductivity ramp upthe loss of productivity:while people are still working but are looking for another jobwhile people are covering for a vacant position, while training new people and getting them up to speedwhile rebuilding internal & external relationshipsThe loss of all the training investment spent on the leaverThe loss of contacts, customers and knowledgeIt just goes on and on and on.To make matters worse it’s often the better people who are leaving because they are the ones that can get another job in difficult climates.
Engagement isn’t only about buying into the company. It can also be about buying into a vision or even buying in to marketing.One of the key problems for Marketers is that internally fewer people are buying in to them.
Marketing was at the centre of the organisation having influence over the other departments - even the executive.Marketing owned the consumer and had a major influence on sales management, product development, channel management, marketing communications, pricing, market research & customer service. Although they were the major influence on many of these areas they were reliant upon resources beyond their direct control.To achieve their goals they needed to influence their Peers in other departments.
But now more likelyMarketing is stuck in the middle being dominated by the other departments.There are a few reasons for this:The fact that Marketing was the champion of change and often challenged the status quo brought them into direct conflict with the very people they were dependant upon for their own success. When under pressure you focus on your own problems before you help others solve theirs.Other executives rose in power:The COO replaced Marketing as right-hand man of the CEO, as dealing with the here and now became more important than the future.Sales became more important than Marketing as short term needs took priority over medium or long-term opportunities. The digital revolution brought IT into the C-Suite. So marketing’s influence took a hit.Factor in the unpredictable impact of marketing and you can see why the average CMO tenure is just over 2 years.
And then there is the Ten Ton Gorilla that dominates everyone – FinanceFinancial pressure has made everyone's job harder, hours longer and resources scarcer – in that environment everyone is focussing on their own needs, competing for scarce resources, not the needs of another department. Other departments were often better at demonstrating Return on Investment than Marketing were.
The reduction of the influence of Marketing is not only a bad thing for Marketing but it’s bad for the business. If the consumer loses its champion then the company will soon lose its consumers.Now’s the time to reverse the trend. So what can be done?
If we come back to Accenture’s four states of employee engagement – devoted, plugged in, cruise control and checked out they can equally be applied to the concept of Marketing Engagement. If Marketing is to reclaim its rightful seat in the boardroom then it has to re-engage with the other executives to be able to become an influencer again.It might not be easy in most organisations to make them ‘devoted’ to Marketing but it should be an aim to at least make them ‘plugged in’ to marketing. It is also not just in the boardroom where this needs to happen it is at all levels of the organisation. Marketing needs to be on a company wide mission of re-engagement. Indeed the engagement mission needs to extend outside of the organization to the consumer themselves. An IBM global study last year of 1,700 CMO’s identified customer loyalty as being their top priority in the digital arena. You can’t achieve customer loyalty unless you have devoted or plugged in consumers.So for the Marketers in the audience everything I say about employee engagement just think Marketing Engagement.
Don’t you just love this? Another key area where you need really positive employee engagement is customer service. In the same way that ‘checked out employees’ negatively impact on other employees - consumers who experience bad customer service become ‘checked out’ and negatively impact other consumers. And Social Media just amplifies the effect and can bring companies to their knees.
This is probably my favourite example of the power of social media.Within 4 days of the video being posted online, United Airline's stock price fell 10% reputably costing United $180mThe video has had over 11m views on You TubeDave Carroll is now a very successful speaker on customer service and guess what - on one of his trips with United they lost his luggage!
This is probably my favourite example of the power of social media.Within 4 days of the video being posted online, United Airline's stock price fell 10% reputably costing United $180mThe video has had over 11m views on You TubeDave Carroll is now a very successful speaker on customer service and guess what - on one of his trips with United they lost his luggage!
This is probably my favourite example of the power of social media.Within 4 days of the video being posted online, United Airline's stock price fell 10% reputably costing United $180mThe video has had over 11m views on You TubeDave Carroll is now a very successful speaker on customer service and guess what - on one of his trips with United they lost his luggage!
So to sum up this section Employee Engagement matters because itEngaged employees increase performanceDisengaged employees undermine youStaff churn costs you a fortuneEngaged employees create more revenue Marketing needs to re-engage with other departmentsGreat customer service is dependent upon having engaged employees
So if having engaged employees is so important why don’t we have more of them?What’s the problem?
It’s about what you do not what you say. -Remember ‘well done’ is so much better than ‘well said’.Why? – there are loads of reasons – here are some of them
Why?Executives need a better understanding of what motivates employees. (new status symbols) Too many Executives and Managers are reluctant to give up their ‘command and control’ management style. Middle Management can act like a ‘permafrost’ area - restricting the flow of information both up and down the organisation. Employees feel ‘at risk’ if they say anything negative. Management & Executives find it difficult to actually understand the true feelings of employees.Executives can’t quantify the value of improving employee engagement and therefore fail to commit budgets to it. Employee Engagement is seen to be low priority when compared to the day to day demands of the job. Paybacks from improvements to Employee Engagement are seen to be too far in the future.
Successful Employee Engagement relies on a combination of functional and emotional requirements. Functional in terms of tools to do the job and Emotional in terms of feelings and expectations.Management is far better at delivering functional requirements than they are emotional.
The problem is as Gallup demonstrates in their list of ‘The 12 Elements of Great Managing’ only two are functional:
But as Gallup demonstrates in their list of ‘The 12 Elements of Great Managing’ only two are functional:Explaining what is expected Providing materials and equipment to do the job. The other ten are emotional: At work, I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day.In the last seven days, I have received recognition or praise for doing good work.My supervisor, or someone at work, seems to care about me as a person.There is someone at work who encourages my development.At work, my opinions seem to count.The mission or purpose of my organisation makes me feel my job is important.My associates or fellow employees are committed to doing quality work.I have a best friend at work.In the last six months, someone at work has talked to me about my progress.This last year, I have had opportunities at work to learn and grow
Its all about individuals – lots of themNo one size fits all.Mass customisation is the Holy Grail of Marketing it’s also the Holy Grail of Employee Engagement
There are a million reasons to say no, but few reasons to stand up and say yes.As Seth Godin one of the most influential thinkers of the digital age said:
Forgive me but I think this is so smart I’m going to read this slide.“No requires just one objection, one defensible reason to avoid change. No has many allies--anyone who fears the future or stands to benefit from the status quo. And no is easy to say, because you actually don't even need a reason.No is an easy way to grab power, because with yes comes responsibility, but no is the easy way to block action, to exert the privilege of your position to slow things down.No comes from fear and greed and, most of all, a shortage of openness and attention. You don't have to pay attention or do the math or role play the outcomes in order to join the coalition that would rather things stay as they are (because they've chosen not to do the hard work of imagining how they might be).And yet the coalition of No keeps losing. We live in a world of yes, where possibility and innovation and the willingness to care often triumph over the masses that would rather it all just quieted down and went back to normal.”When we all leave here let’s all make a commitment to live in the world of ‘Yes’ it could be the most valuable out-take anyone of us gets from this Summit.
You need to be extraordinary – being average just doesn’t cut it. There was a recent article in Inc. by Geoffrey Rush. He interviewed successful CEO’s and identified 8 core beliefs. They not only show why this stuff is difficult but also why we should stick at it if we want to be successful.
Here are the 8 core beliefs of Extraordinary bosses.1. Business is an ecosystem, not a battlefield.Average bosses see business as a conflict between companies, departments and groups. They build huge armies of "troops" to order about, demonize competitors as "enemies," and treat customers as "territory" to be conquered.Extraordinary bosses see business as a symbiosis where the most diverse firm is most likely to survive and thrive. They naturally create teams that adapt easily to new markets and can quickly form partnerships with other companies, customers ... and even competitors.2. A company is a community, not a machine.Average bosses consider their company to be a machine with employees as cogs. They create rigid structures with rigid rules and then try to maintain control by "pulling levers" and "steering the ship."Extraordinary bosses see their company as a collection of individual hopes and dreams, all connected to a higher purpose. They inspire employees to dedicate themselves to the success of their peers and therefore to the community–and company–at large.3. Management is service, not control.Average bosses want employees to do exactly what they're told. They're hyper-aware of anything that smacks of insubordination and create environments where individual initiative is squelched by the "wait and see what the boss says" mentality.Extraordinary bosses set a general direction and then commit themselves to obtaining the resources that their employees need to get the job done. They push decision making downward, allowing teams form their own rules and intervening only in emergencies.4. My employees are my peers, not my children.Average bosses see employees as inferior, immature beings who simply can't be trusted if not overseen by a patriarchal management. Employees take their cues from this attitude, expend energy on looking busy and covering their behinds.Extraordinary bosses treat every employee as if he or she were the most important person in the firm. Excellence is expected everywhere, from the loading dock to the boardroom. As a result, employees at all levels take charge of their own destinies.5. Motivation comes from vision, not from fear.Average bosses see fear--of getting fired, of ridicule, of loss of privilege--as a crucial way to motivate people. As a result, employees and managers alike become paralyzed and unable to make risky decisions.Extraordinary bosses inspire people to see a better future and how they'll be a part of it. As a result, employees work harder because they believe in the organization's goals, truly enjoy what they're doing and (of course) know they'll share in the rewards.6. Change equals growth, not pain.Average bosses see change as both complicated and threatening, something to be endured only when a firm is in desperate shape. They subconsciously torpedo change ... until it's too late.Extraordinary bosses see change as an inevitable part of life. While they don't value change for its own sake, they know that success is only possible if employees and organization embrace new ideas and new ways of doing business.7. Technology offers empowerment, not automation.Average bosses adhere to the old IT-centric view that technology is primarily a way to strengthen management control and increase predictability. They install centralized computer systems that dehumanize and antagonize employees.Extraordinary bosses see technology as a way to free human beings to be creative and to build better relationships. They adapt their back-office systems to the tools, like smartphones and tablets, that people actually want to use.8. Work should be fun, not mere toil.Average bosses buy into the notion that work is, at best, a necessary evil. They fully expect employees to resent having to work, and therefore tend to subconsciously define themselves as oppressors and their employees as victims. Everyone then behaves accordingly.Extraordinary bosses see work as something that should be inherently enjoyable–and believe therefore that the most important job of manager is, as far as possible, to put people in jobs that can and will make them truly happy.Source: Geoffrey James – 8 core beliefs of extraordinary bosses
Existing programmes are either very time consuming involving one on one conversations with the boss (hardly the best environment for honest opinion). or ‘role playing’ away days – good fun but often falling short of addressing the key issues effecting levels of engagement.The annual ‘staff satisfaction’ survey again only goes partway to solving the problem and often tends to be a statistical exercise rather than one of actually improving employee engagement.
In summary of this section a lot of organisations don’t engage their employees because they find it hard to do. Sometimes it feels counter cultural, its hard to accurately put a value on it and it all seems too hard work.We are relatively good at dealing with functional things but the vast majority of things that lead to engaging more employees are emotional not functional.We all like a one size fits all solution, which just isn’t the case with employee engagement.Its so much easier to do nothing. You only get criticised if you do something that doesn’t work, doing nothing keeps you below the radar.Its so much easier to be an average boss than an extraordinary one. But average doesn’t cut it anymore.Programmes have historically been very time consuming or limited in effectiveness.There must be a smarter way. There is.
All of us are smarter than one of us.The wisdom of crowds was coined by James Surowiecki in 2004 is all about the aggregation of information in groups, resulting in decisions that, he argues, are often betterthan could have been made by any single member of the group. We’ll try our version of James’ original test
James’ opening anecdote is about how the crowd at a county fair accurately guessed the weight of an ox when their individual guesses were averaged (the average was closer to the ox's true butchered weight than the estimates of most crowd members, and was also closer than any of the separate estimates made by cattle experts.This is our experiment. Here’s a photo of a gumball machine all you have to do is guess how many gumballs are in the machine? To help you as you can’t hold the machine I’ll give you 2 clues:The gumballs are ½” in diameterThe machine holds 5lbs of gumballsTweet your answer today and include the hashtag #gumballquiz.We’ll close the contest tonight and you can all see the result on the CMA Insight Lab tomorrow. Don’t cheat and try and try to google the answer!To make this work we need as many of you as possible to take part. If you can’t tweet in your answer give it to me and I’ll get it posted up for you.(the answer is 1,140)
We need to get a dialogue going between everyone and Web 2.0 was the breakthrough that was needed to bring the wisdom of crowds to life.Itallowed users to interact and collaborate with each other in a dialogue as creators of user-generated content in a virtual community, in contrast to Web 1.0 websites where users are limited to the passive viewing of content that was created for them. Web 2.0 applications are now an important part of our lives we have social networking sites, blogs, wikis, video sharing sites, hosted services, web applications, mashups and ffolksonomies and of course The CMA Insight Lab.
Web 2.0 was the enabler but for it to become ubiquitous it needs to be easy for everyone to be on-line. Fortunately now we have web access virtually everywhere either via wifi hotspots or through mobile phones.Being on-line now is like Oxygen – you can’t survive for long without it.Hands up those of you who have done something on-line since this presentation started. There you are you can’t survive for an hour!
So given The Wisdom of Crowds, Web 2.0 Technologies, Online Oxygen what we now need to do is get people to collaborate together.There are many ways companies try:Company Intranet ForumsStaff satisfaction SurveysWorkshopsAway DaysThe problem is they all either come up short or are extremely time consuming and costly.There must be a better way.
Create an environment where things can happen – nothing happens in a vacuum.It must be a safe environment. Anonymity is the key.(WS elevator pitch)
The key is engagement. - It’s not enough to believe if you build it they will come – that’s just not true. We need people to open up and share their opinionsContributors have to be interested in the subject. The more passionate you are about a subject the more confident you are talking about it.You need a diverse community– some people are ideas generators, others are improvers and some just know how the system works and know how to get things done.You need expert facilitation – prompting, encouraging, questioning, provoking, protecting and steering the dialogue in the direction we need to go to get the outcomes we want.
So being smarter about Employee Engagement means:Accessing the wisdom of crowds – let individuals find the answers for themselvesUse web 2.0 technologies to create a dialogueTake advantage of on-line accessEncourage collaborationBuild a platform to deliver the processUse expert facilitation to ensure engagement and get the results you want
On who wants to be a millionaire the success rate of Ask the Audience is 91% - so no pressure then.Phone a friend is about two thirds.
Here are the 8 core beliefs of Extraordinary bosses.1. Business is an ecosystem, not a battlefield.Average bosses see business as a conflict between companies, departments and groups. They build huge armies of "troops" to order about, demonize competitors as "enemies," and treat customers as "territory" to be conquered.Extraordinary bosses see business as a symbiosis where the most diverse firm is most likely to survive and thrive. They naturally create teams that adapt easily to new markets and can quickly form partnerships with other companies, customers ... and even competitors.2. A company is a community, not a machine.Average bosses consider their company to be a machine with employees as cogs. They create rigid structures with rigid rules and then try to maintain control by "pulling levers" and "steering the ship."Extraordinary bosses see their company as a collection of individual hopes and dreams, all connected to a higher purpose. They inspire employees to dedicate themselves to the success of their peers and therefore to the community–and company–at large.3. Management is service, not control.Average bosses want employees to do exactly what they're told. They're hyper-aware of anything that smacks of insubordination and create environments where individual initiative is squelched by the "wait and see what the boss says" mentality.Extraordinary bosses set a general direction and then commit themselves to obtaining the resources that their employees need to get the job done. They push decision making downward, allowing teams form their own rules and intervening only in emergencies.4. My employees are my peers, not my children.Average bosses see employees as inferior, immature beings who simply can't be trusted if not overseen by a patriarchal management. Employees take their cues from this attitude, expend energy on looking busy and covering their behinds.Extraordinary bosses treat every employee as if he or she were the most important person in the firm. Excellence is expected everywhere, from the loading dock to the boardroom. As a result, employees at all levels take charge of their own destinies.5. Motivation comes from vision, not from fear.Average bosses see fear--of getting fired, of ridicule, of loss of privilege--as a crucial way to motivate people. As a result, employees and managers alike become paralyzed and unable to make risky decisions.Extraordinary bosses inspire people to see a better future and how they'll be a part of it. As a result, employees work harder because they believe in the organization's goals, truly enjoy what they're doing and (of course) know they'll share in the rewards.6. Change equals growth, not pain.Average bosses see change as both complicated and threatening, something to be endured only when a firm is in desperate shape. They subconsciously torpedo change ... until it's too late.Extraordinary bosses see change as an inevitable part of life. While they don't value change for its own sake, they know that success is only possible if employees and organization embrace new ideas and new ways of doing business.7. Technology offers empowerment, not automation.Average bosses adhere to the old IT-centric view that technology is primarily a way to strengthen management control and increase predictability. They install centralized computer systems that dehumanize and antagonize employees.Extraordinary bosses see technology as a way to free human beings to be creative and to build better relationships. They adapt their back-office systems to the tools, like smartphones and tablets, that people actually want to use.8. Work should be fun, not mere toil.Average bosses buy into the notion that work is, at best, a necessary evil. They fully expect employees to resent having to work, and therefore tend to subconsciously define themselves as oppressors and their employees as victims. Everyone then behaves accordingly.Extraordinary bosses see work as something that should be inherently enjoyable–and believe therefore that the most important job of manager is, as far as possible, to put people in jobs that can and will make them truly happy.Source: Geoffrey James – 8 core beliefs of extraordinary bosses
Accenture research identifies 4 levels of Employee Engagement that are really rather useful in identifying the make up of your staff. They are:Devoted: Those who put their heart and soul into their work every day, strive to constantly improve their performance and contribute to their company’s success.Plugged In: These consistently contribute and push themselves to reach challenging work goals most of the time. They are willing to go the extra mile to do their job well.Cruise Control: These show up for work each day but only occasionally invest their full energies at work.Checked Out: These do no more than the basic requirements of their job. They only occasionally summon up the energy to put more effort into their work.These groupings become even more insightful as we talk about the value of engaged employees and how we might set about getting more of them.
Marketing was at the centre of the organisation having influence over the other departments - even the executive.Marketing owned the consumer and had a major influence on sales management, product development, channel management, marketing communications, pricing, market research & customer service. Although they were the major influence on many of these areas they were reliant upon resources beyond their direct control.To achieve their goals they needed to influence their Peers in other departments.
All of us are smarter than one of us.The wisdom of crowds was coined by James Surowiecki in 2004 is all about the aggregation of information in groups, resulting in decisions that, he argues, are often betterthan could have been made by any single member of the group. We’ll try our version of James’ original test
Before you leave tomorrow – write down the six things that you have learnt from this conference that you will act upon when you get back to the office.Make Yes your default not No.
Create an environment where things can happen – nothing happens in a vacuum.It must be a safe environment. Anonymity is the key.(WS elevator pitch)
Just like to play you one more video to finish on.
