1. BEST PRACTICE EMPLOYEE
ENGAGEMENT STRATEGIES
CHARLES COTTER
23 OCTOBER 2014
HILTON SANDTON

2. KEY PRESENTATION TOPICS
 Defining employee engagement
 Diagnosis of current levels of employee engagement
 Types of engaged employees
 Key findings of Gallup global survey (2013)
 Benefits of employee engagement
 Best Practice Strategies to develop employee engagement

3. DEFINING EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT

4. DIAGNOSIS: THE 5 C’S OF EMPLOYEE
ENGAGEMENT
 Are employees COMMITTED to the organization?
 Are employees proud to work for the organization – company/brand
ambassadors? CITIZEN
 Do employees put forth extra/discretionary effort to help the
organization and their colleagues achieve business objectives?
COMRADE
 Are employees enthusiastic and passionate about their work/jobs?
CREATOR
 Are employees CONNECTED (intellectually and emotionally) to their
work/jobs – offer value add?

5. DIAGNOSIS OF EMPLOYEE
 Gallup’s Q12 survey:
ENGAGEMENT
#1 Role clarity and expectations
#2 Resources – materials and equipment
#3 Role optimization and opportunities
#4 Receipt of recognition and praise
#5 Managerial care and interest
#6 Encouragement of personal and professional development

6. DIAGNOSIS OF EMPLOYEE
 Gallup’s Q12 survey:
ENGAGEMENT
#7 Opinions and inputs are valued
#8 Job/task significance
#9 Fellow employee commitment to performance excellence/quality
#10 Collegial and harmonious working relationships
#11 Managerial interest in career progression and development
#12 Ample opportunities to learn and grow

7. FOUR STAGES OF EMPLOYEE
 How can we grow?
 Do I belong?
 What do I give?
 What do I get?
ENGAGEMENT

8. CURRENT DEGREE OF USA EMPLOYEE
ENGAGEMENT (GALLUP 2013)
 71% of employees are disengaged:
45% are not engaged (BASICS)
26% are actively disengaged (BREAKERS)
 29% of the workforce are engaged (BUILDERS)

11. PROFILE OF AN ENGAGED
EMPLOYEE

12. EMOTIONAL DRIVERS OF
 Enthusiastic
 Inspired
 Empowered
 Confident
ENGAGEMENT

15. THE STRATEGIC IMPERATIVE OF
EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT

16. ENGAGEMENT’S EFFECT ON 9 KEY
PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

18. KEY FINDINGS: GALLUP (2013)
 Engagement makes a difference to the bottom line -
companies earned 13% greater total returns for shareholders
over a 5-year financial period
 Companies with engaged employees perform 202% better than
those without
 $11 billion is lost annually due to employee turnover
 Engagement has a greater impact on performance than
corporate policies and perks

19. KEY FINDINGS: GALLUP (2013)
 Highly engaged employees are 26% more productive than disengaged
employees
 Employees are not prepared to engage customers. When
organizations successfully engage their customers and their
employees, they experience a 240% performance boost.
 Managers and leaders play a critical role
 90% of leaders think an engagement strategy will impact business
success
 Different types of workers need different engagement strategies

24. STRATEGIES TO ACCELERATE
EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT
 According to Gallup (2013), three (3) strategies to accelerate
employee engagement are:
Select the Right People and Managers
Develop employees’ strengths
Enhance employees’ well-being

25. SELECT THE RIGHT PEOPLE AND
RIGHT MANAGERS
 Through selecting the right managers and employees for any role,
companies can strategically boost engagement.
 Great managers have great talent for supporting, positioning,
empowering, and engaging their staff.
 A few key employees stand out for their ability to foster workplace
engagement. They energize and influence others with their
commitment to achieving organizational and team objectives.
 Gallup developed the Engagement Creation Index (ECI) — an
innovative tool designed to identify and measure the talent for
engaging others — to help organizations transform their
engagement dynamic by adjusting their hiring practices. ECI captures
a candidate’s ability to act as a catalyst to build engaged work teams.

26. SELECT THE RIGHT PEOPLE AND
RIGHT MANAGERS
 It is imperative for leaders to devise selection strategies with the goal
of accelerating employee engagement. This starts with hiring and
promoting managers based on objective selection criteria to ensure
that companies hire/promote managers with the talent to lead and
engage their workgroups.
 With each new hire or promotion, employers have the opportunity to
maximize employee engagement in the workplace.
 People want to feel supported, have a sense of belonging, and
understand the contribution they can make toward organizational
goals. Making sure that they get these things from their interactions
with managers and team members is key to driving their
engagement.

28. STRENGTHS-BASED LEADERSHIP
APPROACH TO EMPLOYEE
ENGAGEMENT
 Managers who focus on their employees’ strengths can practically eliminate
active disengagement and double the average of U.S. workers who are
engaged nationwide.
 Building employees’ strengths is a far more effective approach than trying
to improve weaknesses.
 A strengths-based management approach is the best way to improve the
employee - manager relationship.
 Increased productivity:
 Gallup’s data show that simply learning their strengths makes employees 7.8%
more productive.
 Teams that focus on strengths every day have 12.5% greater productivity.

29. STRENGTHS-BASED LEADERSHIP
APPROACH TO EMPLOYEE
ENGAGEMENT
 Help employees align their greatest talents to the expectations and
responsibilities of their roles.
 Incorporate strengths into performance conversations and reviews and
help employees set goals based on their strengths.
 Focusing on strengths improves employees’ lives and the organization’s
bottom line – facilitates a win-win situation

30. ENHANCE EMPLOYEES’ WELL-BEING
 Great managers know that the whole person comes to work and that each
employee’s well-being influences individual and organizational performance.
 Employees who are engaged in their jobs are generally in better health and have
healthier habits than employees who are not engaged or are actively
disengaged.
 Engaged and thriving employees are resilient and agile
 Thriving employees have strong, progressive overall well-being; struggling
employees have moderate or inconsistent overall well-being; and suffering
employees have well-being that is at high risk.
 Employees who are thriving in their lives overall are more than twice as likely as
those who are struggling to be engaged in their jobs.
 Employees with high well-being have lower healthcare costs

31. THE MANAGER’S ROLE IN IMPROVING
EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT AND WELL-BEING
 Make well-being an organizational strategy — much like other organizational
outcomes
 Communicate a commitment to well-being consistently in all of the programs
the company offers.
 Hold leaders accountable for well-being programs available to employees.
 Consider how to embed activities to increase well-being in individual
development plans and goals.
 Set positive defaults for making healthy choices.
 In vending machines and cafeterias, ensure that healthy snacks and drinks are the most
accessible.
 Offer plenty of opportunities to join physical or social activities throughout the day.

32. BEST PRACTICE EMPLOYEE
ENGAGEMENT
 According to Gallup (2013) research, the best organizations
deeply integrate employee engagement into the following four
(4) areas:
Strategy and Leadership Philosophy
Accountability and Performance
Communication and Knowledge Management
Development and on-going Learning Opportunities

33. STRATEGIES TO DEVELOP
EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT
 According to Gallup (2013), strategies to improve employee engagement
are:
 Use the right employee engagement survey
 Focus on engagement at the enterprise and local levels
 Select the right managers
 Coach managers and hold them accountable for their employees’
engagement
 Define engagement goals in realistic, everyday terms
 Find ways to connect with each employee

34. LEADERSHIP LESSONS: “TAKE-AWAYS” –
ENGAGEMENT
 Organizations need to reinvent their engagement strategies.
 Business leaders and managers play a pivotal role in enhancing
employee engagement levels.
 Organizations need to shift from compliance-driven to
commitment-driven business practices
 Business leaders need to adapt and customize employee
engagement processes to individual and team needs – adopt a
targeted approach

35. LEADERSHIP LESSONS: “TAKE-AWAYS”
– ENGAGEMENT
 In order to accelerate employee engagement organizations should:
 Select the Right People and Managers
 Develop employees’ strengths
 Enhance employees’ well-being
 To capitalize on the 9 performance outcomes, organizations should:
 Create a conducive culture, climate and work environment
 Embed employee engagement in business strategy
 Accountable and performance-directed business leadership practices
 Development and empowerment-oriented business practices

36. CONTACT DETAILS
 CHARLES COTTER
 084 562 9446
 charlescot@polka.co.za
 LINKED IN
 TWITTER: Charles_Cotter