Engagement – heads they win, tails you lose
Who are “THEY”?
Why your competitors of course.
This article contains some of my thoughts and reflections from Day 2 of the annual CIPD conference in Manchester UK.
The recurring theme and thought at this years CIPD annual conference for HR professionals has been engagement. Some speakers have spoken about the value engagement provides to the level of customer engagement and retention, others about productivity, but the overriding factor has been that engaged staff reduce costs, reduce absence, increase sales and deliver customer fans.
Employee Engagement & Talent Management – Trust
So why do HR and business leaders not trust our staff to represent our brands to existing and potential customers and long term customer fans?
This manifests its self in a number of ways:
1) The way we empower and enable our staff to solve customer questions at one point
2) The way we show our distrust by not allowing staff to use social media.
Engagement – the missed opportunity
While waiting for a potential client, I overheard a member of staff of a well known professional body say to a delegate:
“sorry I’m not important enough to have a business card.”
Now think about how valued that person would feel and how they would represent the brand if they had £10 worth of business cards. It’s also a great way to show staff you trust them.
A few weeks ago I was involved in an accreditation meeting and the accreditation representative said the reason they were not issued business cards was for tax reasons…. Utter bull!
This simple act of ensuring that EVERYONE in your business has individual business cards sends many messages – to managers, staff and customers. Give personal cards even if the employee is unlikely to be customer facing. O2 go one further and have a text number staff can call to help give advice if they are approached by a customer, where ever they are in the world. It’s the little things.
Much like the prohibition in the US tried to stop the consumption of alcohol, when we (try to) stop people from using social media, all we do in fact is drive it underground. On the surface all is quiet, but duck under and all is alive frantic and well. Worse, if people cannot be proud of the organisation for which they work they cannot be advocates or help to grow the fan base.
It’s all about the small things. We need to show that we trust our people and that (one the whole) they will do the right things. Sure they will make mistakes, but they will learn from them if we provide positive and supportive feedback.
Most of our people are honest at heart and their only intension is to support our customers and the business.. Our role as managers is to trust, support and give them the tools to excel, not to be mediocre.
If your organisation has 1000 employees then typically 5-8 people will be involved in sales & marketing. Imagine the power and growth potential if every one of those 1000 were taking a proactive marketing or sales role? Even if only 20% did, that’s double your sales & marketing team for no cost!
Engagement
Engagement needs to be more than initiative; it’s an attitude from managers, which create an attitude and set of behaviours in staff. There is no magic process or set of tools, sure regular surveys can help measure, but that is only the very beginning of the journey and not the end by anyone’s stretch of their imagination
Mike says
22/07/2012 at 20:25Ideas – Employee Engagement – heads they win, tails you lose – http://t.co/hKu2CHV6 #shrm
Becky A. Davis says
15/07/2012 at 15:45“@surveyemployees: Ideas – Employee Engagement – heads they win, tails you lose – http://t.co/B1nBmNaq #hr”
Mike says
15/07/2012 at 01:25Ideas – Employee Engagement – heads they win, tails you lose – http://t.co/hKu2CHV6 #hr
Mike says
28/06/2012 at 06:15Article – Employee Engagement – heads they win, tails you lose – http://t.co/hKu2CHV6 #hr
Mohd Khairi Ibrahim says
20/05/2012 at 10:44Employee Engagement – heads they win, tails you win | RapidBI http://t.co/Q301woX6. So true. Employers shud give opportunity 2 more staffs.
Mike says
16/02/2012 at 02:20Blog – Talent management – heads they win, tails you lose – http://t.co/hKu7ahW0
Mike says
13/02/2012 at 01:10Article – Talent management – heads they win, tails you lose – http://t.co/hKu7ahW0 #cipd
Mike says
27/01/2012 at 23:40Blog – Talent management – heads they win, tails you lose – http://t.co/hKu7ahW0 #shrm
Marty O'Doherty says
15/01/2012 at 13:38Ideas – Employee Engagement – heads they win, tails you lose – http://t.co/hKu7ahW0 #shrm
Mike says
15/01/2012 at 13:20Ideas – Employee Engagement – heads they win, tails you lose – http://t.co/hKu7ahW0 #shrm
Dinesh Agarwal says
14/01/2012 at 04:20Blog – Talent management – heads they win, tails you lose – http://t.co/hKu7ahW0 #hr
Mike says
14/01/2012 at 01:30Blog – Talent management – heads they win, tails you lose – http://t.co/hKu7ahW0 #hr
Mike says
10/01/2012 at 21:30Ideas – Employee Engagement – heads they win, tails you lose – http://t.co/hKu7ahW0 #hr
Mike says
06/01/2012 at 05:05Blog – Employee Engagement – heads they win, tails you lose – http://t.co/hKu7ahW0 #shrm
Tim Douglas says
30/11/2011 at 21:46Excellent CIPD piece on what leaders actions imply : RT @rapidbi: Employee Engagement & Talent Management #cipd11 http://t.co/J1GekUSz
Bob Little says
30/11/2011 at 18:34Excellent CIPD piece on what leaders actions imply : RT @rapidbi: Employee Engagement & Talent Management #cipd11 http://t.co/J1GekUSz
Roger Mayo says
30/11/2011 at 16:39Excellent CIPD piece on what leaders actions imply : RT @rapidbi: Employee Engagement & Talent Management #cipd11 http://t.co/J1GekUSz
Ochre House says
24/11/2011 at 12:01RT @surveyemployees: Article – Employee Engagement – heads they win, tails you lose – http://t.co/TjM4Fel9 #cipd
Ocata Advising says
15/11/2011 at 08:14The value Employee Engagement provides to the level of customer engagement and retention http://t.co/cscucCsi by @RapidBI
Mireia Ranera San says
15/11/2011 at 08:13The value Employee Engagement provides to the level of customer engagement and retention http://t.co/cscucCsi by @RapidBI
Dan Pontefract says
15/11/2011 at 05:33Love this line … “sorry I’m not important enough to have a business card”. Brilliantly myopic.
As for your point about managers and ‘attitude’ … I call it the “CODE”.
http://www.danpontefract.com/?p=1386
Andrew Miller says
15/11/2011 at 03:30Employee Engagement & Talent Management #cipd11 – http://t.co/o6txDjx9
Abhishek Mittal says
15/11/2011 at 01:43RT @RapidBI: Employee Engagement & Talent Management #cipd11 – http://t.co/60azPy2x
Karin Joehr says
14/11/2011 at 22:16Employee Engagement & Talent Management #cipd11 – http://t.co/aS4MlRf5
Sinead Carville says
14/11/2011 at 17:03Employee Engagement & Talent Management #cipd11 – http://t.co/BiRGOl2a
Dorsey Terry says
14/11/2011 at 14:47Do your employees know you trust them? "Employee Engagement & Talent Management" #cipd11 http://t.co/CMmFwgag via @rapidbi
Dorsey Terry says
14/11/2011 at 14:45Employee Engagement & Talent Management #cipd11 http://t.co/tk10jiFW
Kenexa HR Institute says
14/11/2011 at 08:16RT @joningham: Employee #Engagement & Talent Management http://t.co/Nne12ilV #cipd #cipd11 #HR
Jon Ingham says
14/11/2011 at 08:11Article: Employee Engagement & Talent Management http://t.co/bXB8SZPJ #cipd #cipd11 #HR
Parrish McDaris says
13/11/2011 at 17:19Employee Engagement & Talent Management #cipd11 http://t.co/t5mmI0Ii via @rapidbi
Kate Billing says
13/11/2011 at 16:31Nice piece RT @RapidBI: Article: Employee Engagement & Talent Management http://t.co/wNNOnd11 #cipd11 #HR #brandadvocate #employerbrand
Blacksmith Limited says
13/11/2011 at 16:31Nice piece RT @RapidBI: Article: Employee Engagement & Talent Management http://t.co/Wgn3xjT2 #cipd11 #HR #brandadvocate #employerbrand
Sharon Gaskin says
11/11/2011 at 16:08RT@rapidbi Employee Engagement & Talent Management #cipd11: Engagement – heads they win, tails you lose Who are … http://t.co/Vlkj6XO2
HR Exchange says
11/11/2011 at 15:06RT @rapidbi: New Blog post: Employee Engagement & Talent Management #cipd11 http://t.co/EGR5GrBS