While there is no doubt that it’s past time to redefine the way we think about employee engagement, I was reminded this weekend at another conference, how important it is to start small. Microscopically small.
When I look at all of the content out there about employee engagement – how to do it right, how you’re doing it wrong, why it’s important, how to measure it, how to redefine it… it strikes me that the questions I still get from HR professionals, clients and other consultants are still not being answered.
At the core, we haven’t explained employee engagement in a manner that’s small enough to make a difference. We’re taking HR (and our business leaders outside of HR), on a round-about walk of improving engagement scores without providing the entire journey.
No wonder it’s been so difficult for us to consistently increase engagement. We are trying to follow a path that has so many obstacles and hairpin turns – and we’re approaching it as a straight line.
So while yes, this article points out a few ways to take a modern approach to engagement (and they are all great suggestions I may add), how are you – the practitioner supposed to um… prioritize wellness?
Did you even ask a wellness related question on your survey? Does your company value wellness? Do your employees care about wellness opportunities… and have you been talking about wellness with them at all?
This is the plug-and-play approach to improving engagement – but where’s the practical information that you can learn and implement immediately? Where’s the actual straight line path to guide you to the right results, instead of continually “throwing spaghetti on the wall” or updating your focus to one of the new engagement focus areas that are in vogue at the moment?
THIS solution, isn’t plug and play. This is a human solution. A personalized solution. One that works only for your company, only at this stage of your business.
Engagement is NOT about one-size-fits-all – that’s BS. It’s about an actual solution that connects your employees to your business.
We’re getting microscopic with employee engagement here – it’s the beginning of transforming engagement and HR. Get on board; it’s going to be a fun ride!
