Here are the answers to the questions:
1. The 1920s
2. The Hawthorne Experiments
3. Gallup
4. William Kahn
5. D) All of these
6. While there is a connection, the relationship is complex - job satisfaction does not always translate directly to better job performance.
7. Their immediate manager/line manager
VaLUENTiS Employee Engagement WGUHWGUT HRDS JAN 2013 final dist copy
1. HR Directors Summit ICC
Birmingham UK 2013
Employee Engagement:
What got us here
won’t get us there
The new reality for ambitious HR functions
‘Think
Nicholas J Higgins, DrHCMI MSc Fin (LBS) MBA (OBS) MCMI HR.
CEO, VaLUENTiS Ltd & Dean, International Think
School of Human Capital Management (‘ISHCM’)
Human
Capital.’
Tour
2013
7. Some notable achievements…
First British firm to introduce Employee Engagement model (known as the ‘5D’)
First to introduce standard ‘employee engagement surveys’ as opposed to ‘generic’ employee
surveys
First to publish live client HR scorecard linking with employee engagement
First to introduce ‘Qual-Quant’ people management evaluation tool (‘Management Pathfinder’)
First to introduce global value-based HR function (VB-HR™) profiler
First to publish global Human Capital Reporting Standards (GHCRS2006) including the
‘PeopleFlow’, ‘HC Operating’ and ‘HC Productivity’ template statements…
Globally, first to set-up dedicated, practitioner-based Business School on Human Capital
Management and introduce ‘M. Sc. in Human Capital Management’
First School to offer Masters qualification with CMAS® technology (‘non-essay’ based) and for less
than £1000
HCMI first to offer membership by association not subscription……
7
8. VaLUENTiS continues to support those
organisations and HR functions who wish
to push the boundaries on employee
engagement and organisation
performance……….
13. Which led us to evaluating much empirical
research, and, finally to this…
14. The concept of Employee Engagement:
A synthesis of antecedent theories and empirical evidence with human capital
management practice related to organisation performance – 100 years in the making
•Leadership theory •Decision-making theory
•Organisational ‘fit’ theory •Conflict theory •Organisation performance &
measurement*
•Commitment theory •Trust theory
•High performance work systems
•Goal setting and task theory •Teams theory •Group theory Human Capital Management practice/systems:
•Expectancy theory •Talent management
•Equity (justice) theory •Performance management
•Motivation theory •Reward & recognition
•Job satisfaction •Employer brand
Individual Immediate Wider Organisation •Human capital retention
•Needs theory
Team Group •Resourcing & selection
•Trait theory
•Social cognitive/ •Training & Development
self efficacy theory •Workforce diversity
•Psychological contract •Leadership
•Organisation Citizenship Behaviour •Organisation design
•Taylor - Scientific management
•Emotional Intelligence •Organisation communication
•Munsterberg - Industrial psychology
•Behaviourism •Organisation culture
•Fayol - Principles of management
•Cognitive dissonance
•Follett - Management relations/integration
•Learning theory
•Mayo/Hawthorne studies
•Wellbeing/Burnout
•Lewin (MIT) - group dynamics/behaviour
•Other I/O psychology
•Likert – Management system/measurement scale
contributions
•Tavistock – Socio-technical systems
•McGregor Theory X/Y
•Hertzberg – Two factor theory
•Drucker – Practice of management
Source: The antecedents of Employee Engagement, Nicholas J Higgins - VaLUENTiS technical paper 2003 •Kahn – Personal engagement
19. VaLUENTiS 5D Employee Engagement:
Core empirical theories that combine to form the root structure of the VaLUENTiS model
•Leadership theory •Decision-making theory
•Organisational ‘fit’ theory •Conflict theory •Organisation performance &
measurement*
•Commitment theory •Trust theory
•High performance work systems
•Goal setting and task theory •Teams theory •Group theory Human Capital Management practice/systems:
•Expectancy theory •Talent management
•Equity (justice) theory •Performance management
•Motivation theory •Reward & recognition
•Job satisfaction •Employer brand
Individual Immediate Wider Organisation •Human capital retention
•Needs theory
Team Group •Resourcing & selection
•Trait theory
•Social cognitive/ •Training & Development
self efficacy theory •Workforce diversity
•Psychological contract •Leadership
•Organisation Citizenship Behaviour •Organisation design
•Taylor - Scientific management
•Emotional Intelligence •Organisation communication
•Munsterberg - Industrial psychology
•Behaviourism •Organisation culture
•Fayol - Principles of management
•Cognitive dissonance
•Follett - Management relations/integration
•Learning theory
•Mayo/Hawthorne studies
•Wellbeing/Burnout
•Lewin (MIT) - group dynamics/behaviour
•Other I/O psychology
•Likert – Management system/measurement scale
contributions
•Tavistock – Socio-technical systems
•McGregor Theory X/Y
“But all the others have a part to play…” •Hertzberg – Two factor theory
•Drucker – Practice of management
Source: The antecedents of Employee Engagement, Nicholas J Higgins - VaLUENTiS technical paper 2003 •Kahn – Personal engagement
20. Over time working with clients, we noticed
that organisations needed to focus on six
areas to sustain successful employee
engagement…
21. Known as the ‘Six Pillars’…
Grounded understanding of Employee Engagement
Working definition of Employee Engagement
Measurement wisdom
Actioning infrastructure
EE PLAYBOOK
Dynamic EE-Performance ‘playbook’
DELETE
Competent leadership/management
22. Initial research and observation revealed
essentially four types of organisation…
23. Organisations and employee engagement:
The ‘4-ball’ practice model ‘We don’t...’
‘It’s all about PR…’ Play down
Play act
‘At least we audit/
benchmark...’
Play safe
‘We do it…’
Play make
The four progressive states
of employee engagement
embeddedness in
organisations
25. The ‘4-ball’ Employee Engagement reality matrix
Pillar ‘PLAY DOWN’ ‘PLAY ACT’ ‘PLAY SAFE’ ‘PLAY MAKE’
Grounded
I
Exists in pockets with Good working knowledge
understanding of Limited.
Little. variation in line embedded across
employee engagement Mostly ephemeral in nature.
management. organisation.
Maybe borrowed with
II Working definition of Most likely borrowed Distributed ‘ownership’,
internalisation or adapted
employee engagement No definition in use. without any real ownership, whether borrowed, adapted
after some organisational
or ‘false’ ownership. or created.
focus.
Probably undertaking Will do measurement basics, People management
III
Limited to absenteeism
Measurement wisdom surveys but with no valid even to the extent of evaluation/measurement
metrics, employee surveys
construct; response rate/PR engagement index etc. seen as ‘core’ on a par with
seen as event driven if done.
main focus. Tick box is main focus. CRM , finance etc.
Probably in the form of basic Will have a number of Will have necessary ‘toolkit’
IV
Probably in the form of basic
Actioning management courses. Most actioning elements in place to hand with ongoing
training/management
Infrastructure likely carry out some form of but not necessarily joined programmes to suit
courses.
branded programme. up. organisation focus.
May have something Playbook in the form of Easy access in different e-
V EE-Performance
Playbook
Does not exist.
articulated on ‘strategies’.
Most likely collection of
‘manager manual’ or on-line
knowledge-share. Still being
/physical formats at
different levels. Signals
irrelevant case studies. developed. ‘embedded’ intent.
Will have varied mix of Will have varied mix of Will have varied mix of Cohort of well-trained
VI Competent leadership/
management
skilled people managers.
Existing good performers
skilled people managers.
Existing good performers
skilled people managers but
level of competency higher
people managers exists with
talent pools. Regular
more through luck. more through luck. than Play-Act organisations. evaluation/reinforcement.
31. The ‘4-ball’ Employee Engagement reality matrix
Pillar ‘PLAY DOWN’ ‘PLAY ACT’ ‘PLAY SAFE’ ‘PLAY MAKE’
Grounded
I
Exists in pockets with Good working knowledge
understanding of Limited.
Little. variation in line embedded across
employee engagement Mostly ephemeral in nature.
management. organisation.
32. The ‘4-ball’ Employee Engagement reality matrix
‘PLAY DOWN’ ‘PLAY ACT’ ‘PLAY SAFE’ ‘PLAY MAKE’
Maybe borrowed with
II Working definition of
employee engagement No definition in use.
Most likely borrowed
without any real ownership,
internalisation or adapted
after some organisational
Distributed ‘ownership’,
whether borrowed, adapted
or ‘false’ ownership. or created.
focus.
33. The ‘4-ball’ Employee Engagement reality matrix
‘PLAY DOWN’ ‘PLAY ACT’ ‘PLAY SAFE’ ‘PLAY MAKE’
Probably undertaking Will do measurement basics, People management
Limited to absenteeism
III Measurement wisdom metrics, employee surveys
surveys but with no valid
construct; response rate/PR
even to the extent of
engagement index etc.
evaluation/measurement
seen as ‘core’ on a par with
seen as event driven if done.
main focus. Tick box is main focus. CRM , finance etc.
34. The ‘4-ball’ Employee Engagement reality matrix
‘PLAY DOWN’ ‘PLAY ACT’ ‘PLAY SAFE’ ‘PLAY MAKE’
Probably in the form of basic Will have a number of Will have necessary ‘toolkit’
IV
Probably in the form of basic
Actioning management courses. Most actioning elements in place to hand with ongoing
training/management
Infrastructure likely carry out some form of but not necessarily joined programmes to suit
courses.
branded programme. up. organisation focus.
35. The ‘4-ball’ Employee Engagement reality matrix
‘PLAY DOWN’ ‘PLAY ACT’ ‘PLAY SAFE’ ‘PLAY MAKE’
May have something Playbook in the form of Easy access in different e-
V EE-Performance
Playbook
Does not exist.
articulated on ‘strategies’.
Most likely collection of
‘manager manual’ or on-line
knowledge-share. Still being
/physical formats at
different levels. Signals
irrelevant case studies. developed. ‘embedded’ intent.
36. The ‘4-ball’ Employee Engagement reality matrix
‘PLAY DOWN’ ‘PLAY ACT’ ‘PLAY SAFE’ ‘PLAY MAKE’
Will have varied mix of Will have varied mix of Will have varied mix of Cohort of well-trained
VI Competent leadership/
management
skilled people managers.
Existing good performers
skilled people managers.
Existing good performers
skilled people managers but
level of competency higher
people managers exists with
talent pools. Regular
more through luck. more through luck. than Play-Act organisations. evaluation/reinforcement.
38. The ‘4-ball’ Employee Engagement reality matrix
Pillar ‘PLAY DOWN’ ‘PLAY ACT’ ‘PLAY SAFE’ ‘PLAY MAKE’
Grounded
I
Exists in pockets with Good working knowledge
understanding of Limited.
Little. variation in line embedded across
employee engagement Mostly ephemeral in nature.
management. organisation.
Maybe borrowed with
II Working definition of Most likely borrowed Distributed ‘ownership’,
internalisation or adapted
employee engagement No definition in use. without any real ownership, whether borrowed, adapted
after some organisational
or ‘false’ ownership. or created.
focus.
Probably undertaking Will do measurement basics, People management
III
Limited to absenteeism
Measurement wisdom surveys but with no valid even to the extent of evaluation/measurement
metrics, employee surveys
construct; response rate/PR engagement index etc. seen as ‘core’ on a par with
seen as event driven if done.
main focus. Tick box is main focus. CRM , finance etc.
Probably in the form of basic Will have a number of Will have necessary ‘toolkit’
IV
Probably in the form of basic
Actioning management courses. Most actioning elements in place to hand with ongoing
training/management
Infrastructure likely carry out some form of but not necessarily joined programmes to suit
courses.
branded programme. up. organisation focus.
May have something Playbook in the form of Easy access in different e-
V EE-Performance
Playbook
Does not exist.
articulated on ‘strategies’.
Most likely collection of
‘manager manual’ or on-line
knowledge-share. Still being
/physical formats at
different levels. Signals
irrelevant case studies. developed. ‘embedded’ intent.
Will have varied mix of Will have varied mix of Will have varied mix of Cohort of well-trained
VI Competent leadership/
management
skilled people managers.
Existing good performers
skilled people managers.
Existing good performers
skilled people managers but
level of competency higher
people managers exists with
talent pools. Regular
more through luck. more through luck. than Play-Act organisations. evaluation/reinforcement.
What does your quick assessment tell you…?
54. 1. Which decade were employee surveys
first introduced as a management
tool…?
55. 2. Which famous experiments took place
at Western Electric Co in the 20th
Century…?
56. 3. Which US company is most associated
with employee surveys and causal
studies linking to performance …?
57. A look back at The original Sears E-C-P Chain…
(an early forerunner of ‘employee engagement’ with causal performance link)
A compelling
A compelling place to work A compelling place to shop
place to invest
Customer
Attitude Service recommendations
about the
Helpfulness
job
Return on assets
Employee Customer
Operating margin
Behavior Impression
Revenue growth
Attitude Merchandise
about the
Value
company
Employee Customer
retention retention
5 unit increase 13 unit increase
0.5% increase in
in employee in customer
revenue growth
attitude impression
The Employee-Customer-Profit chain at Sears
By Anthony J. Rucci , Stephen P. Kirn and Richard T. Quinn
Harvard Business Review Jan-Feb 1998
57
58. Organisation Performance
(as defined by organisation/unit scorecard measures and derivative metrics)
Examples of organisation performance areas:
Sales Service Patient
delivery Operational Organisation
Revenue Customer care risk
satisfaction Procurement Product support Quality
development Safety
Cost…
59. Impaired Employee Engagement:
Impact on individual and team productivity/performance
Sub-optimal performance,
i.e. less than achievable
Or
Sub-optimal costs,
i.e. higher than necessary
Or
Both
59
60. 4. Which author, with an article
published in 1990, is attributed as being
the first to use the term ‘employee
engagement’…?
61. Psychological Conditions of Personal
Engagement and Disengagement at Work
William A. Kahn
Academy of Management Journal 1990
“Personal Engagement is the simultaneous employment and
expression of a person’s ‘preferred self’ in task behaviors that
promote connections to work and to others, personal presence
(physical, cognitive and emotional), and active, full role
performance.”
61
62. poorly
communicated
reorganisation perceived
short-staffed reward inequity
interpersonal
planned conflict
training
cancelled
uncaring new incentive
boss misalignment
enlarged Well-received
role performance
appraisal hit personal
targets/ hit team
objectives targets/
objectives
“A further, more up to salary enrolled on MD
date interpretation…” increase programme
Employee engagement as a sum of constant work
‘forces’ (VaLUENTIS EESoF model) illustrative vectors 62
63. 5. Employee engagement is…?
a) A work-place approach
b) A concept
c) A strategy
d) All of these
e) Something else
64. 6. What is the connection between job
satisfaction and job performance…?
65. 7. What is ‘acknowledged’ as the single
biggest factor in an individual’s
engagement at work…?
68. 9. What are the SEVEN core empirical
theories that form the root structure of
VaLUENTiS 5D employee engagement
model?
69. VaLUENTiS 5D Employee Engagement:
Core empirical theories that combine to form the root structure of the VaLUENTiS model
•Leadership theory •Decision-making theory
•Organisational ‘fit’ theory •Conflict theory •Organisation performance &
measurement*
•Commitment theory •Trust theory
•High performance work systems
•Goal setting and task theory •Teams theory •Group theory Human Capital Management practice/systems:
•Expectancy theory •Talent management
•Equity (justice) theory •Performance management
•Motivation theory •Reward & recognition
•Job satisfaction •Employer brand
Individual Immediate Wider Organisation •Human capital retention
•Needs theory
Team Group •Resourcing & selection
•Trait theory
•Social cognitive/ •Training & Development
self efficacy theory •Workforce diversity
•Psychological contract •Leadership
•Organisation Citizenship Behaviour •Organisation design
•Taylor - Scientific management
•Emotional Intelligence •Organisation communication
•Munsterberg - Industrial psychology
•Behaviourism •Organisation culture
•Fayol - Principles of management
•Cognitive dissonance
•Follett - Management relations/integration
•Learning theory
•Mayo/Hawthorne studies
•Wellbeing/Burnout
•Lewin (MIT) - group dynamics/behaviour
•Other I/O psychology
•Likert – Management system/measurement scale
contributions
•Tavistock – Socio-technical systems
•McGregor Theory X/Y
“But all the others have a part to play…” •Hertzberg – Two factor theory
•Drucker – Practice of management
69
Source: The antecedents of Employee Engagement, Nicholas J Higgins - VaLUENTiS technical paper 2003 •Kahn – Personal engagement
70. 10. Complete this ‘well-known phrase’:
“If employee engagement was the
answer, …………………………......?”
71. Observation 101
Absenteeism, turnover, ill-discipline, manager
resistance, communication and/or trust issues
etc are all, to a great degree, manifestations
of poor employee engagement in some
form.
“Many case studies and indeed academic comment, however,
seem to ignore this fact. Thus, we’re seemingly praising ourselves
for putting a fire out – the very one we started as an
organisation! What happened to the ‘Why’ in the first instance?
As an industry practitioner question - What’s going on here?”
71
73. Back to the ‘Six Pillars’…
1. Grounded understanding of Employee Engagement
2. Working definition of Employee Engagement
3. Measurement wisdom
4. Actioning infrastructure
EE PLAYBOOK
5. Dynamic EE-Performance ‘playbook’
DELETE
6. Competent leadership/management
73
74. What got us here/Getting us there…1
• Insufficient appreciation of existing empirical research
Grounded understanding of
Employee Engagement • Evidence Based Management still not widespread
• Thinking ‘too simple’ (instead follow Einstein’s dictum)
74
75. The concept of Employee Engagement:
A synthesis of antecedent theories and empirical evidence with human capital
management practice related to organisation performance – 100 years in the making
•Leadership theory •Decision-making theory
•Organisational ‘fit’ theory •Conflict theory •Organisation performance &
measurement*
•Commitment theory •Trust theory
•High performance work systems
•Goal setting and task theory •Teams theory •Group theory Human Capital Management practice/systems:
•Expectancy theory •Talent management
•Equity (justice) theory •Performance management
•Motivation theory •Reward & recognition
•Job satisfaction •Employer brand
Individual Immediate Wider Organisation •Human capital retention
•Needs theory
Team Group •Resourcing & selection
•Trait theory
•Social cognitive/ •Training & Development
self efficacy theory •Workforce diversity
•Psychological contract •Leadership
•Organisation Citizenship Behaviour •Organisation design
•Taylor - Scientific management
•Emotional Intelligence •Organisation communication
•Munsterberg - Industrial psychology
•Behaviourism •Organisation culture
•Fayol - Principles of management
•Cognitive dissonance
•Follett - Management relations/integration
•Learning theory
•Mayo/Hawthorne studies
•Wellbeing/Burnout
•Lewin (MIT) - group dynamics/behaviour
•Other I/O psychology
•Likert – Management system/measurement scale
contributions
•Tavistock – Socio-technical systems
•McGregor Theory X/Y
•Hertzberg – Two factor theory
•Drucker – Practice of management
75
Source: The antecedents of Employee Engagement, Nicholas J Higgins - VaLUENTiS technical paper 2003 •Kahn – Personal engagement
76. HR as…
Evidenced Based
Management (EBM)
Practitioner
Objective: Proficient knowledge embedded across HR function
to enable good working knowledge to be embedded across
organisation.
77. What got us here/Getting us there…2
• Many definitions omit productivity or performance
Working definition of Employee
Engagement • Definitions vague – difficult to translate to frontline
• Too few involved in the ‘understanding process’
77
78. Employee Engagement Definition
One that provides the basis of a measurable construct
(and simplified from the overall EE complexity):
“Employee engagement is an ‘outcome-
based’ concept*. It is the term used to
describe the degree to which employees
can be ascribed as ‘aligned’ and ‘committed’
to an organisation such that they are at
their most productive.”
VaLUENTiS/ISHCM
2005
*Consistent with Kahn’s original paper; employee
engagement as a concept but with a more performance-
oriented and dimensional construct. 78
79. ‘P12 modes of productivity’
More likely to
More likely to More likely to produce higher
achieve goals set embrace set grade/quality of
values work (less errors)
More likely to be More likely to give
flexible to discretionary effort More likely to ‘own’ More inclined to More inclined to
organisation needs (if above contractual their development input into ideas/ share knowledge
equitable) obligations innovation
Less likely to suffer
Less inclined to take Less likely to move stress
days off employer (but more likely to
suffer burn-out)
Applied across all job roles in the context of the role
specificity and environment which impact on individual and
collective performance
79
82. HR as…
Knowledge Facilitator
Objective: HR function facilitates ‘organisation learning’ and
enables distributed ‘ownership’ of working definition of employee
engagement for frontline use.
83. What got us here/Getting us there…3
• Poor survey design, measurement and analysis
Measurement wisdom
• ‘Laissez-faire’ process, over-focus on response rate
• Over-focus on line item benchmarking
83
86. Employee Engagement triangulation
“Squaring the circle…”
New (re)hire data
Customer/client/ Performance
patient/citizen appraisal data
data
Social media
data Employee/management
survey data
Critical Case data
incident data
Organisation Other internal
event log data survey/assessment
data
Exit data 86
87. HR as…
Smart Operator
Objective: HR function collectively possesses (or has access to)
measurement nous in people management evaluation.
88. What got us here/Getting us there…4
• Tendency to focus on one-off isolated actions
Actioning infrastructure
• Still treated as ‘imposed task’ not as part of culture
• Over-focus on PR/Branding
88
89. Actioning Employee Engagement Infrastructure
(Purpose: ‘to embed’)
‘Live’ Employee
Engagement
adapted QFD
Defined ‘how to’ (‘House of
strategies around Quality’)
People Manager
engagement
evaluation/
elements
appraisal
Supportive top (regular
leadership and ‘practice runs’)
Organisation
Links into wider event logs
organisation ‘signalling’…
intelligence EE related
analytics development/
Multi-survey learning
mapping and programmes
& workshops
‘Interactive’ people planning
management evaluation overlay
process
map
Nominated Wider
People Manager communications/
Engagement line branding
champions
Dedicated
internal focus team or
nominated ‘on-point’
person
“Spinning plates cogs…”
89
91. HR as…
‘Perpetual’ Programme
Director
Objective: HR possesses the necessary ‘executive toolkit’ to
hand, in driving/creating ongoing engagement programmes ‘to
embed’ that complement organisation focus.
92. What got us here/Getting us there…5
• No EE playbook
Dynamic EE-Performance ‘playbook’
EE PLAYBOOK
• Little knowledge capture
• Signalling opportunities missed
92
93. EE playbook example content
Contents
Strategies
1. Engagement strategies
2. Engagement operating ‘system’ models and
analytics templates
3. Question-statement selection and construct
Models
design
4. Measurement index construction,
maintenance and reporting
“Have you 5. Engagement Driver Factor (EDF) analysis
“Would you
Implementation
6. Engagement ‘forcefield’ analysis
got one…?” 7. EE project management methodology and
flowcharts
like one…?”
8. Engagement ‘issue work-through’ tools
9. Management learning programme design and
evaluative criteria
Learning
10. Engagement Transformation Programme (ETP)
methodology
11. Core applied theory summary capsules
12. Human Capital Management framework
4 EE playbook
93
94. HR as…
‘EE Playbook’ Guardian
Objective: HR function creates, maintains and evolves the ‘EE
playbook’ on behalf of the organisation to enable frontline
dissemination (whilst also signalling serious intent/reinforcement).
95. What got us here/Getting us there…6
• Too few managers with understanding of EE
Competent leadership/management
DELETE • Little focus on managers own ‘engagement’
• Still too much tolerance of poor or average
leadership/management 95
96. 910
‘Line Management’
engagement score by 860
percentile 813
790
760
“Often overlooked:
Impaired manager engagement…
And its impact…”
Management client cadre sample 2010-11
Sample size: 1400 managers representing 20,000 employees
96
Source: VaLUENTiS Engagement database Score range 200-1000
97. ‘Line Management’ engagement scores ‘bell curve’
“Same data as previous slide – different Management client cadre sample 2010-11
graphic format… Sample size: 1400 managers
Looking outside ‘norms’ that’s one in (employee population: 20,000)
seven line managers posing serious Score range 200-1000
concern…”
14.5% below one 13.9% above one
standard deviation standard deviation
200 738 1000
“And so…” 97
Source: VaLUENTiS Engagement database
98. HR as…
People Management
‘Enforcer’
Objective: HR function as ‘enabler/enforcer’ to ensure cohort of
well-trained/engaged people managers exists within organisation.
99. EE Pillars and HR Masks…[recap]
Grounded understanding of Employee EBM Practitioner
Engagement
Working definition of Employee Knowledge Facilitator
Engagement
Measurement wisdom Smart Operator
Actioning infrastructure ‘Perpetual’ Programme
Director
EE PLAYBOOK Dynamic EE-Performance ‘playbook’ ‘EE Playbook’ Guardian
Competent leadership/management Management ‘Enforcer’
DELETE
99
100. What got us here/Getting us there…7
HR functions have to embrace the fact
that the de facto ‘reason for being’ is to
be instrumental in optimising employee
engagement within their organisation.
“It’s no good talking about recruitment or talent
management or any other HR processes for that matter if
employee engagement is not embedded as core…
…Impaired engagement means individual effort and talent
is just wasted. So therefore, what is the point of it not
being de facto?” 10
100
0
101. The ‘4-ball’ Employee Engagement reality matrix
Pillar ‘PLAY DOWN’ ‘PLAY ACT’ ‘PLAY SAFE’ ‘PLAY MAKE’
Grounded
I
Exists in pockets with Good working knowledge
understanding of Limited.
Little. variation in line embedded across
employee engagement Mostly ephemeral in nature.
management. organisation.
Maybe borrowed with
II Working definition of Most likely borrowed Distributed ‘ownership’,
internalisation or adapted
employee engagement No definition in use. without any real ownership, whether borrowed, adapted
after some organisational
or ‘false’ ownership. or created.
focus.
Probably undertaking Will do measurement basics, People management
III
Limited to absenteeism
Measurement wisdom surveys but with no valid even to the extent of evaluation/measurement
metrics, employee surveys
construct; response rate/PR engagement index etc. seen as ‘core’ on a par with
seen as event driven if done.
main focus. Tick box is main focus. CRM , finance etc.
Probably in the form of basic Will have a number of Will have necessary ‘toolkit’
IV
Probably in the form of basic
Actioning management courses. Most actioning elements in place to hand with ongoing
training/management
Infrastructure likely carry out some form of but not necessarily joined programmes to suit
courses.
branded programme. up. organisation focus.
May have something Playbook in the form of Easy access in different e-
V EE-Performance
Playbook
Does not exist.
articulated on ‘strategies’.
Most likely collection of
‘manager manual’ or on-line
knowledge-share. Still being
/physical formats at
different levels. Signals
irrelevant case studies. developed. ‘embedded’ intent.
Will have varied mix of Will have varied mix of Will have varied mix of Cohort of well-trained
VI Competent leadership/
management
skilled people managers.
Existing good performers
skilled people managers.
Existing good performers
skilled people managers but
level of competency higher
people managers exists with
talent pools. Regular
more through luck. more through luck. than Play-Act organisations. evaluation/reinforcement.
Where is your organisation currently…? 101
102. The ‘Play-Maker’
programme approach to
Employee Engagement:
The first 100 days
VaLUENTiS has developed the ‘six-pillar
programme’ to help organisations to get
on/stay on the ‘Play-Maker’ approach. We call
it the ‘100 day EE bootcamp’ for organisations.
Want to try?
103. The Conference Board:
CEO Top Ten Challenges 2013 “Just
in”
2013 rank CHALLENGES 2013 2012 rank
N = 729 N = 776
1 Human capital 2
2 Operational excellence na1
3 Innovation 1
4 Customer relationships 7
5 Global political/economic risk 3
6 Government regulation 4
7 Global expansion 5
8 Corporate brand and reputation 9
9 Sustainability 8
10 Trust in business na2
Source: The Conference Board CEO Challenge 2013 (www.ceochallenge.org)
10
1Operational excellence replaced Cost optimisation; 2Trust in business replaced Investor relations 103
3