I have been writing all my life – from my school days, to being a part-time freelance editor during university, to publishing newsletters at the various companies I have worked at. More recently I have been writing pieces on LinkedIn, but I think it is finally time to take the plunge. So here we go, this is my first blog on Employee Engagement. And I must admit I am really excited. I think for someone, who is apparently an ‘ambivert’ (part extrovert, part introvert), the introvert in me appreciates the blog particularly. I look forward to sharing my views with those out there that have an interest in Engagement, and hopefully get an online dialogue going with experts from around the world.
So why Engagement?
I discovered Engagement back in 2006 when I was working for Accenture and ever since have been attracted to roles in my career in which I have been able to lead on or advise organisations on Employee Engagement best practice. To me, it makes complete business sense: in a world where resources are tight and the world is demanding us to move faster and be better at everything we do, investing effort into our people has to be a top priority.
Only if employees are happy, feel genuinely heard, respected and valued, will they be motivated to go the extra mile. Engagement is about being a fair employer, providing clarity and direction for teams while at the same time giving them enough autonomy to shine and be good at what they do. It’s about having great relationships with your people and supporting them to grow and become the best that they can be. Getting it right is about listening as much as it is about action and end-to-end performance improvement. It’s about lots of little things coming together to form an overall coherent bigger picture and then getting out of the way.
And still we see hundreds of organisations missing a trick, either overcomplicating things or doing it all but actually not doing the ‘right’ things.
Needless to say, for me, Engagement has become a passion that goes beyond just work and here in this blog I want to explore best practice, stories, tips and ideas. I hope you will join me on my journey!