in this issue
1
Ingaged Leadership:
A New Way to
Build Employee
Satisfaction and
Organizational
Success
3
Five Reasons to
Fire an Employee
Job Sharing:
Will it Work for You?
4
Communicate Your
Way to Smooth Shift
Changes
Three Good Things
to Delegate to
Staffers
5
Take these Simple
Steps to Maximize
Your Influence
6
Seven Simple Ways
to Cut Costs
7
Building on the
Promise of Diversity
Small Changes to
Get Your Employees
to Work Harder
8
Conducting an
Effective Interview
... and much more
Volume XV n Issue 11 n November 2016
1smart supervision www.clement.com
What is Ingaged Leadership? It is a new
leadership practice in which leaders invite
everyone to not just work hard, but to
commit their best ideas, ambitions, emotions
and even their hearts to a new kind of
partnership with the companies they serve.
How is Ingaged Leadership practiced?
Perhaps the best way to explain is to profile
two executives.
Executive A
This executive didn’t like to ask for advice,
help, ideas or input from anyone. He
summed up his leadership philosophy
to me when he said, “I have to have
all the answers, because that’s what
people look for in a leader. I am not
supposed to ask; I am supposed to
know. Acting otherwise would only
weaken my ability to lead.”
He told people how to do their jobs. He
prioritized their tasks, offered incentives
and promoted employees who did what he
told them to do. He also disciplined people
when they didn’t hit the targets he had set
out. Sometimes he fired people and believed
that doing so would “send a message” to
other people to deliver what he demanded.
Was Executive A successful? According to
some yardsticks, he was. He had held a
top leadership position in his company for
more than two decades. He was often able
to hit sales quotas and deliver measurable
results. But at the same time, he had learned
to live with certain chronic problems in his
unit. Work for most people was repetitive.
Turnover was high. The people he
supervised worked in an overly politicized
climate where they competed instead of
cooperated. People withheld their best ideas
— who was listening? — and hoped to use
them later in their next jobs. Things were
getting done, but overall performance was
far from optimized.
Executive B
Executive B had also worked for more than
20 years in top executive positions. Yet she
summed up her own leadership in terms far
different from those used by Executive A.
“At a certain point, I came to realize that the
best ideas flow not from the top down, but
the other way around. I now believe that the
more I can question my own perspectives,
listen to people, and let them do what they
really believe in, the more success will
follow.”
Was Executive B successful? Yes, she
was. She achieved faster growth in her
organization, but in revenue and profits.
Her customer satisfaction scores were
significantly higher. Plus, she had won the
hearts and loyalty of many people — those
she supervised, but also her peers and the
company’s founder. Retention rates were
high, expectations were exceeded and
people liked working in her unit because
something new was always happening.
Was everything perfect? No. But as she
summarized her situation, “I’m a work
in progress, but I expect other people
to be works in progress too. We’re all in
this process together. We succeed, fail,
kick around big ideas and come to work
energized because we are all engaged in an
exciting, shared process.”
Ingaged Leadership Is Progress,
Not Perfection
It seems that nearly every week I get a
stream of emails from high-energy authors
“The people he supervised worked in an overly
politicized climate where they competed instead
of cooperated.”
(continued on page 2)
Ingaged Leadership:
A New Way to Build Employee Satisfaction and
Organizational Success
by Evan Hackel

and consultants offering instant formulas for achieving
personal or organizational success. Let me stress that
Ingaged Leadership is not an instant anything. It is a
process that leads to a new way to lead but it is not
always easy, and rarely fast. But it is highly worthwhile
even from day one, because even small increases in a
leader’s level of Ingagement yield
outsized returns.
Key Activities of
Ingaged Leaders
Here are some key practices of
Ingaged Leadership. I would
encourage you to start with
one or two that you feel have
the potential to yield the most
improved results from your
leadership. You can add more.
But let me say again that the
results you achieve maybe
greater than you anticipate.
• Accept that other people’s
ideas can be as good,
or better, than yours —
even though you are the
nominal leader. Strive to
find ways to prove other
people right ... not wrong.
• Acknowledge and
use ideas from people at all levels in your
organization. You cannot use every idea or
suggestion, but when people know they have been
heard, they are more likely to become invested in
their work. As a result, your entire organization will
improve and grow.
• Allow people to try things that they believe
deeply in, even if you have doubts. The most
important thing is for your organization to be
right ... not for you to be right.
• Consider sharing all company financial data —
both good and bad — with everyone in your
organization. When people know it, they are more
aware of your current challenges and often offer
deeper support. I have even seen times when people
are willing to make sacrifices to support the greater
well-being of their organizations.
• Cultivate the ability to ask for help when you
need it. And offer help freely when you see the
need.
• Go beyond being a good listener and strive
to really hear the meaning of what people are
saying. In my own leadership journey, that meant
I had to stop listening for what other people were
saying that was wrong and start listening for things
that were right. It was a subtle, yet profoundly
transformative, step in my own journey to
leadership.
• Have everyone in your organization — including
company leaders — take part in 360˚ job
reviews in which their peers and the people they
supervise review them. Share that feedback with
everyone in your organization.
• Introduce new ways for
people on all levels to share
ideas on an equal basis,
such as open meetings
where ideas are captured,
developed and put into
practice when possible.
• Invite everyone to contribute
to, define and refine your
company’s mission and
vision. I especially like to start
meetings by asking people to
state the company’s vision,
using their own words. In this
way, people become invested
in what your company is and
in what it is becoming.
• Surround yourself with
people with different skill
sets and who have the
ability to challenge you.
Also, avoid the temptation
to build a team of “yes people”
who only tell you positive things about your ideas
and plans. The right kind of disagreement brings
greater progress.
• Invest lavish labor to build a positive company
culture where people respect each other, expect
the best and communicate in ways that convey
the underlying belief that, “We can do this.”
Attitude is a multiplier. One person with a
negative attitude can literally cripple your company.
But even one person with a positive outlook
can help lead your organization to new levels of
achievement, profitability and success. ■
2smart supervision www.clement.com
Ingaged Leadership: A New Way to Build Employee Satisfaction ... (continued from page 1)
about the author
Evan Hackel, the creator of the concept
of Ingaged Leadership, is a recognized
business and franchise expert and
consultant. Evan is also a professional
speaker and author.
Evan is Principal and Founder of
Ingage Consulting, a consulting firm
headquartered in Woburn, Massachusetts. A leader
in the field of training as well, Evan serves as CEO of
Tortal Training, a Charlotte North Carolina-based
firm that specializes in developing and implementing
interactive training solutions for companies in all
sectors. To learn more about Ingage Consulting and
Evan’s book, Ingaging Leadership, visit Ingage.net.
Follow him on Twitter @ehackel n