Engage for Change
Jerome Reback at kom-dag´11Af Online Communicator Lara Mulady, Designit
Engaged employees are willing to go the extra mile for the organisation, and effective employee engagement can lead to an increase in market value and return on gross capital, but how can this be achieved?
Last week I was one of many at the 2011 kom-dag . From a participant’s perspective, the day went wonderfully. Stunning location at DR Byen, great talks and keynote speakers, a super group of participants, and of course the crew from Danske Kommunikationsforening making sure that everything ran perfectly. A big thanks to all of them for making it such a good day. I was due to write a short article (this) on what John Smythe (a leading advisor to corporations and public-sector institutions on the best ways to engage leaders and employees) had to say, but unfortunately John was unable to make it. Instead, his colleague, Jerome Reback spoke, which, as it turned out, was quite good (I would like to point out that I have no doubt John would have given an equally captivating talk, but sadly, we’ll never know). Jerome spoke quickly, especially so if you’re trying to take notes, but this just made his presentation all the more charismatic. I’ll now try to sum it up.
It’s time to realise that people are the greatest technology we have. It’s time to take the focus off technological processes and instead focus on what people within the organisation can do for the organisation. People and organisations are finally beginning to accept what it can do, and realising the opportunities it carries for driving competitive advantage if done correctly. So why now? There are huge shifts happening in people’s expectations in regards to their relationship with the company, as well as social shifts in general. There’s no longer a job for life, it’s growing and going. Loyalty for security has turned into transactional relationships. Resources are now ‘creative talent’, and employees are ‘citizens’ of the organisation. People now looking for more internal rewards for their work rather than simply another zero on the end of their paycheck. People want to be challenged, they want freedom and the right to explore – think of Google and their 80/20 innovation model . Suffice to say, things have changed, and these changes can be used to the organisations benefit. Engaged employees are willing to go the extra mile for the organisation, and thus increase advocacy and commitment. Further more, effective employee engagement can lead to an increase in market value, employee retention, increase in productivity, loyalty, and an increase in return on gross capital, but how can this be achieved? It’s not quick and it’s not necessarily easy. Long held restraints in the organisation must be smashed, a culture that that runs through every single level must be created, and the traditional roles of communications and communicator must be challenged. Once the ‘radio station’ of the elite and managers, the communicators role should today be about helping people see where their role is, helping them progress, and engaging them. The language of communication teams has also changed, moving from instruction, directional, and coercive communication, into sharing, influencing, setting context, and reinforcing status quo.
More often than not, power sharing falls back on telling or selling, where as through inclusion and co-creation employees are included in the decision process, adding value to the final outcome, and therefore feel more integrated in the organisation. While this may involve letting go of (some!) power for people, it needs to be done if employee engagement is high on the agenda. The want to engage employees has to resonate with the top teams – it’s a holistic change, and must involve everyone. All employees’ values must be aligned with the organisational values, career opportunities and skill development must be available and visible, and leaders must be willing and able. Engagement is a means and not and end and carrying out a basic survey won’t achieve much. It’s far more intrinsic than that, and requires a hard look at the business objectives, inviting people to contribute until what it is the organisation hopes to achieve through engagement is established. Genuine, value creating employee engagement takes time, dedication and must not be considered a ‘quick-fix’. As an employee, the most important and effective ways of encouraging engagement is to be honest, upfront, and foster conversations.
Employee engagement isn’t about revolution and anarchy; it’s about changing the organisation in a structured, holistic and open manner. Interview with Jerome Back
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His presentation, Engage for Change (which you can find here ), was all about employee engagement. It’s an area often touched upon, but rarely done well – especially in larger organisations and their ‘employee satisfaction surveys.’ All too often the pile of data collected is ummed and ahhed at and never really acted on. 
The big drivers of employee engagement are; empowerment to take decisions, the line of sight (being able to actually see that they are contributing to the overall results of the organisation), and how the change is managed (if people can see their growth in experience, skills and so forth). 
