Developing Your Employee
Engagement Strategy For Business
Success: Part 2

2
Time for a new approach…
In Part 1, we took a closer look at:
-
Introducing employee engagement
The business case
How do you do it?
Building an engagement strategy
We looked at the traditional engagement approach – a
transactional process, which is rarely followed up or acted upon.
We think it’s time for a new approach – and in Part 2, we’ll let
you in on the secret behind successful, sustainable employee
engagement.

3
Time for a new approach – but what
does this look like?
What can we learn
from
positive
psychology?

Focus on the (positive) psychology of
engagement
The current paradigm:
Work
harder
More
Success
Happier/
Engaged

But this formula is scientifically broken
• Every time we have a success the goalposts change: we
reach our sales targets, so we get set higher targets
• So we’re continually pushing happiness over our cognitive
horizon
• And in fact…. The opposite is true – positive brains
perform significantly better than negative, neutral or
stressed brains
• So if we focus on creating happy, positive, engaged
brains, or people, we are more successful
• Research shows increases in intelligence, creativity and
energy when we are in a positive state
• This translates into business outcomes

Positive thinking
• Lyobomirsky 2005 found:
– 31% increase in productivity
– Improved resilience
– Less burnout
– Less employee turnover
– Increased sales by 37%
– When your brain is in a positive state it performs better
then in a neutral, negative or stressed state

Why is this?
The formula is the wrong way round
Happier/
Engaged
Work
harder
More
Success
• Being in a positive brain state releases Dopamine
• This makes you feel happier
• But it also turns on all your learning centers in
your brain

Taking a strength based
approach to engagement
using appreciative inquiry
Definition
“what frames our
inquiry”
Framing
Discovery
“the best of what
is”
Appreciating
Destiny
“How will we get
there”
Sustaining
Dream
“What could be”
Envisioning
Design
“What should be”
Co-constructing

The employee engagement
toolkit
CHANGE
SEE THE
DIFFERENCE
BE THE
DIFFERENCE
IMAGINE THE
DIFFERENCE
SHAPE THE
DIFFERENCE

Did it work?
• 87% of employees voluntarily signed a consent
form to reduce salaries if required –potential £1.2
million saving
• Survey response rates increased from 50% to 94%
• Improved engagement scores across the board
• Contribution towards £2.5 million reduction in
operating costs
• Volume of local activity focusing on reducing costs
and increasing sales
• An example of best practice, finalist CIPR Pride
awards and Personnel Today awards

Engagement techniques
Appreciative
inquiry
Storytelling
Anecdote
circles
Employee has
a voice
and feels
listened to
Employee led
change
Conversations
Listening
groups

Measuring Engagement

The measurement challenge
What are we actually measuring? – this is why our
definition is so important!
“you sort of smell it don’t you? What goes on in
meetings, how people talk to each other. You get
their sense of energy, engagement, commitment,
belief in what the organisation stands for…” Lord
Currie, Dean of Cass Business School
“you know if when you see it” David MacLeod

The Survey
• Useful as a foundation for insights for action
• Health warning – it is only a small part of the jigsaw!
• There are a whole range of different survey tools out there,
exactly what aspect of engagement these tools analyse will
vary:
1. Level of engagement as a scale or percentage – allows
benchmarking
2. Identification of key drivers of engagement via
regression analysis
3. Pre-conditions of engagement
4. Outcomes of engagement
5. Attitudes

What do the different surveys out there
look at?
Towers Perrin: ‘Extent to which employees put
discretionary effort into their work’
Gallup: ‘Involvement with & enthusiasm for
work’
Hewitt: ‘Intellectual & emotional commitment to
the organization’
Hay Group: ‘stimulating employees’ enthusiasm
for their work and directing it toward
organizational success’

The Evaluation Model
Outcomes
Measures business
outcome, often behaviour
change e.g. lower
employee attrition
Impact
Measures initial impact
e.g. I think this is a great
place to work
Process
Measures audience
perception e.g. this
meeting was useful

Your strategy roadmapevaluating your impact

You role – sustainable engagement

Communicating your strategy
• Using your strategy roadmap
• We need a consortium – engagement
doesn’t sit neatly in one place
• Who will help you bring your strategy
to life?
• What do they need to think, feel and
do to support your strategy?

Your personal commitments
What next?
You have a choice

Thank you!

Fancy a chat?
emma@peoplelab.co.uk
07595 465515
@miss_commslab & @peoplelab_
www.peoplelab.co.uk