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1. Employee Engagement
Is your organization aligned to a common
direction?
white paper | May 2012

2. Shikatani Lacroix is a leading branding and design firm located in
Toronto, Canada. The company commissions assignments from
all around the world, across CPG, retail and service industries,
helping clients achieve success within their operating markets. It
does this by enabling its clients’ brands to better connect with
their consumers through a variety of core services including
corporate identity and communication, brand experience design,
packaging, naming and product design.
About the Author
Jean-Pierre Lacroix, R.G.D., President/Founder of Shikatani
Lacroix
Jean-Pierre (JP) Lacroix provides leadership and direction to
his firm, which was founded in 1990. He has spent the last 30
years helping organizations better connect their brands with
consumers in ways that impact the overall performance of their
business. Mr. Lacroix was the first to coin and trademark the
statement “The Blink Factor” in 1990, which today is a
cornerstone principle to how brands succeed in the
marketplace. JP has authored several papers, has been quoted
in numerous branding and design articles and, in 2001, he co-
authored the book “The Business of Graphic Design,” which has
sold over 10,000 copies. JP can be reached at
jplacroix@sld.com and you can follow his blogs at:
www.sld.com/blog and www.sldesignlounge.com
Other Articles and Books
The Belonging Experience
Managing Brands
Business of Graphic Design
white paper | May 2012 | Employee Engagement | 1

3. Employee, the true competitive advantage
Most organizations are realizing that to effectively deliver
sustainable and consist growth, a different approach is required
that will ensure every aspect of the customer’s moments of truth
is fully optimized. Organizations that have demonstrated top
performance, irrespective of the current economic challenges,
understand that employee engagement is a critical factor that
drives business success. As the pressures to maintain a
competitive advantage grow, and more complex business
models are needed to deliver differentiation, companies are
rediscovering that their most compelling point of difference is
their employees. Companies that constantly win the J.D. Powers
Customer Service Award for delivering outstanding customer
service also outpace the industry they serve.
In a recent Gallup study, it was noted that disengaged employees
erode an organization’s bottom line and contribute to more than
$300 billion in productivity losses in the U.S. alone. Our own
experience working with the retail and package sectors supports
these findings. We were recently retained to assist a large energy
organization in creating internal employee alignment and
support around a new brand position that would allow the retail
division to meet very challenging performance requirements. The
insights of the initial discovery revealed that each division
managed its employees differently, while the organization
promoted growth from within. By reducing the confusion and
inconsistency between the divisions, employees were better
aligned to the overall goals and direction of the company. This
reduced training time and ensured each employee felt valued,
respected and empowered.
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High-
engagement
firms had total
shareholder
return that was
19% higher than
the average in
2009. In low-
engagement
organizations,
total shareholder
return was
actually 44%
below average
Hewitt Associates, 2010

4. The triangulation of employee engagement
In reviewing the majority of our clients who have achieved
outstanding business results through engaged employees, there are
three codependent factors that this paper will explore. These three
factors are aligned to our firm’s “brand engagement triangle” model,
which incorporates a process, message and structure that ensures
strong brand affinity.
The three factors to ensuring a successful employee engagement
program are:
1. Process: Empowering Training
Most organizations pay little attention to training, and when
it’s required, it tends to be task oriented and not aligned to
the vision of the organization. Most successful organizations
put much emphasis in employee training throughout the
individual’s career.
2. Messaging: Clarity of Direction
A clearly defined vision and direction for the organization
that has been translated in actionable employee strategies at
all levels, in addition to visual metaphors that talk to the
aspirations of all involved. We define the intersection of
company vision with employee needs as the EVP (employee
value proposition) dimension.
3. Structure: Integrated Meritocracy
Key performance metrics that align the desired behaviour of
the employees with those of the organization and a review
process that allows for changes in behaviour.
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5. Defining the Challenge
Optimum employee engagement results when the employee’s
job satisfaction (doing what they enjoy and excel at) contributes
to the success and needs of the organization. Based on 20 years
of experience helping companies manage their brands across
retail, service, and consumer packaged goods sectors, we’ve
found the challenge for effective employee engagement occurs
when the following factors are not aligned within the
organization:
Company culture: The culture of the organization is either not
well or structured to embrace employee engagement. Conflicts
between all levels of the organization occur on a regular basis
and impede the company from initiating effective employee
programs.
Lack of clear direction: It’s hard to engage employees if the
organization is not clear on the direction the company is taking.
A clearly defined direction that is sustainable, with clearly
defined goals and metrics, ensures that everyone is focused on
the same needs.
Conflicting agendas: Some organizations may call it working in
“silos” while others define it as “fiefdoms,” those feudal turf wars
that align employees behind separate and divergent senior
management agendas.
Inconsistent meritocracy: Peter Drucker once said, “What gets
measured gets done and what gets rewarded gets repeated.”
Organizations with inconsistent evaluation methods and reward
systems create tension within the organization and drives a
lower lack of recognition by employees.
Inconsistent and outdated training: Employees need to be
supported to succeed. Providing them with the right training is
paramount. However, training is one of the first line items to be
eliminated during yearly budget planning sessions, or not fully
funded to remain current and relevant to the direction of the
company.
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Fewer than
one in three
employees
worldwide (31%)
are engaged.
Nearly one in
five (17%) are
actually
disengaged.
BlessingWhite Employee
Engagement Report 2011

6. Process: Empowering Training
One of the most effective approaches in employee engagement
is demonstrating that employees are valued by investing in their
training and continuing development, and by applying it
consistently throughout the career of the employees. The
training program must be integrated at all levels of the
organization’s chain of command to build a strong culture of
engagement.
At its foundation, the training program must have a clear
understanding of the key tangible and emotional drivers required
to ensure employees work effectively. The training material and
its delivery must align with the given employee’s career stage
and aspirational needs. We have noted programs that leverage
employees’ capabilities, abilities, and aspirations with those of
the organization tend to generate the best results in
understanding and application of learning. In the case of one
client, the training formed part of the employees’ career path and
supported a strong understanding of the gaps in the employees’
current capabilities versus the desired state.
Other strong platforms for engagement are training programs
that tier the information, starting with the organization’s overall
goals, vision, and mission, then align it with the employee’s
capabilities to fit within the greater context of the organization’s
direction. Unfortunately, I have found that employee training on
the brand promise and vision of the organization is greatly
lacking, as the majority of training programs focus on task and
discipline oriented needs and do not consider the greater
context of the organization. This leads to a siloed learning
process that does not support an understanding of the greater
context of the company.
white paper | May 2012 | Employee Engagement | 5

7. Message: Clarity of Direction
How do employees know what role they play in achieving company
success if there is not clarity of direction? Very often, the brand
vision and mission have lost relevancy or were developed as part of
a tactical advertising campaign with very little regard to how it will
be lived within the organization. Employees also tend to be skeptical
of such initiatives as they are perceived as a marketing initiative.
Employees often have very little understanding of how the vision of
the company impacts their daily job functions. Such gaps in
understanding and lack of clarity lead to a dysfunctional
organization that has short-term tactical goals versus an aspirational
long-term vision of where the organization can effectively succeed,
and how employees can play a critical role.
Great market leaders understand that it’s not only imperative to
develop a meaningful vision and mission, but it’s equally important
to match these aspirational goals to those of their employees. We
define this bridge between the company’s aspiration and that of the
employee’s as an employee value proposition or EVP. EVP programs
create a sustainable link between the direction of the company and
the aspirations and job performance of the employees, at all levels of
the organization.
A second factor to ensure employees are engaged and aligned to
the corporate direction is to convert much of the corporate speak
into visual metaphors that capture the aspirational needs of the
organization in succinct images and words that are easy to grasp
and understand. Only through the combination of a well-crafted
vision and mission statement supported through an EVP program
that has been visually translated can an organization ensure a higher
engagement level of its employees.
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8. Structure: Integrated Meritocracy
A key opportunity to leverage the intersection of an organization’s
direction with the actions of its employees is through a well thought-
out meritocracy program. Rewarding good behavior that is aligned
with the organization’s needs is the foundation of any employee
engagement program, as it speaks to the fundamentals of
relationships and the need for recognition.
A well integrated meritocracy program clearly identifies both the
soft and hard tangible metrics defining success for both the
individual, the division and the organization. We have found that
although each organization has a structured evaluation and
compensation program, how these are aligned to the capabilities
and abilities of the individual throughout their career path is not well
thought out. The rewards systems that motivate new and younger
hires may be quite different from those that drive employees who
are in the middle of their careers. An integrated performance
evaluation program needs all types of employees into consideration
if the company wishes to retain the best and motivate them in
relevant ways.
We have worked with organizations that have created employee
career intranets that allow each individual to review past
performance evaluations, training programs, reference material and
a range of job postings for advancement. It allows each employee to
have access to the most relevant information for their career growth
within the organization.
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9. Conclusion
The economic climate continues to challenge even the best
organization and this environment is fraught with distractions to
ensure employees are aligned with what matters. With
organizational layoffs and restructuring in response to the
unpredictability of the market, companies will need to put greater
emphasis on employee engagement at a time where budgets are
being cut on everything but the most critical needs.
Companies who understand the importance of an engaged
employee base will continue to strive and create greater
differentiation in both revenues, margin and market share. The
opportunity for most is to up their game in employee engagement
through a thorough application of our engagement model, ensuring
an integrated and cohesive approach to aligning the needs of the
organization with the aspirations and capabilities of the employees.
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10. For more information, contact:
Jean-Pierre Lacroix, President
Shikatani Lacroix
387 Richmond Street East
Toronto, Ontario
M5A 1P6
Telephone: 416-367-1999
Email: jplacroix@sld.com
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