The Politics of Motivation: Who Really Owns Engagement?

The Politics of Motivation: Who Really Owns Engagement? by Laura Stack #productivity

"As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others." -- Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft. leadership actively encourages engagement can testify to its effectiveness. The basic recipe for ensuring engagement is surprisingly simple, though the ingredients and the precise amounts of each can vary according to the workplace and team. At the very least, any engagement initiative must include these factors, flowing from the leadership to the workforce: Knowledge of the organization's strategic goals. Clarification of the employee's place within that framework, and why their work matters. Sincere and explicit encouragement to take the initiative. Empowerment without unreasonable censure. A willingness to trust. Delegation of authority as well as … [Read more...]

Nothing But Cream: Promoting Excellence in the Workplace

"If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as a Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of Heaven and Earth will pause to say, 'Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.'"   -- Martin Luther King, Jr., American minister and civil rights leader.     We've all heard the saying "the cream rises to the top," and anyone who's ever handled raw milk knows this to be true. Business leaders love to apply this term to the workplace—but rarely do they bother to tell you that, with a little hard work on your part, your team's output can be mostly cream. Like everything else it takes time, careful planning, and consistent guidance—but that's why they … [Read more...]

Implementing Employee Engagement in Your Organization

Several months ago, I published an article on the importance of employee engagement to any organization's effectiveness and bottom line. The topic has proven to be a fruitful one, and I've gotten some excellent responses from my readers. The original article soon led to an application of the concept to the ideas I outlined in my recent book SuperCompetent, which directly resulted in last month's topic: the Productivity Management Employee Engagement/Performance Matrix. The Matrix classifies employees based on the factors of engagement and performance, which, as I've indicated, aren't necessarily congruous. In fact, it's possible to be highly engaged, but an absolute zero when it comes to productivity, and vice versa. However, if you can bring together maximum engagement and high … [Read more...]

Engaged Employees Are More Productive

Engaged Employees Are More Productive

Hopefully by now we all get it: this economy is challenging, things are changing, and everyone is looking for ways to do more with less. Unfortunately, as many companies struggle to adjust to this new reality, opportunities are being missed. Often we are so focused on stretching an organization’s financial and other resources that we become less effective in managing our human resources. Why do you think that is? A lot of the time, it’s just a matter of focusing on the tangible rather than the intangible. If you can improve a machine’s output by 10 percent, that’s obviously a good thing. But improving an employee’s productivity…that’s much more difficult to turn into a percentage (or a dollar figure). Regardless, it is the manager’s job to get the most out of his or her employees. … [Read more...]