[Note from Nancy] Employee Engagement: just the Flavor-of-the-month?

Admit it. “Employee engagement” is, at this point, an overused term.

Not to mention, a flavor-of-the-month consulting concept and the root of many misguided organizational initiatives.

So when I tell you it’s the topic of this month’s Wizard Wisdom and you’re skeptical, I understand.

Yet earlier this year, when Gallup released its annual report on employee engagement as it does every year, and it included the simple tool they claim “can quickly determine where your workforce stands,” I knew I had to revisit it for my company, as well as my clients.

This tool (a 12-question assessment I’ll be posting soon) is something I first wrote about in 2008.

Back then, I could still remember what it was like to be an employee. And as I answered those 12 questions for myself, I realized for the jobs where I could answer a resounding “yes” to most of the questions – I had been a stellar employee.

For those jobs where I couldn’t give a positive answer to the questions, I was less than productive, certainly not stellar, and at times even disgruntled (yes – Me!).

It doesn’t take a Rocket Scientist to figure out that when people are happy at work – they are in fact better employees. And yet, it seems that what we think will make us happy has changed!

In the first article, What Employees Really Want in 2018, I share survey results from 1995, 2005, and 2015.

If you manage people or own a business, you might not be surprised to see the difference 20 years has made, as you’ve likely been experiencing it along the way.

The question is, are your management philosophies, strategies and techniques keeping up with the reality? Or are you doing the same thing day in and day out expecting different results? (The definition of insanity, by the way.)

The one thing we all seem to be able to agree on is that the workforce has changed. The question is…what are you going to do about it?

 

Nancy Roberts
The DISC Wizard

 

P.S. If you can’t wait to receive the assessment, simply email info(at)discwizardonline(dot)com and I’ll send it to you right away.