Employee Engagement Zingers

 There is a bit of insanity in dancing that does everybody a great deal of good.  ~Edwin Denby

Nobody cares if you can’t dance well.  Just get up and dance.  ~Dave Barry

Watch the dance then engage in your own dance. It can even be an internal dance but dance none the less.

Here is a 4 minute video of Matt dancing around the world with his friends. Enjoy your weekend.

You can dance anywhere, even if only in your heart.  ~Author Unknown

Dancing with the feet is one thing, but dancing with the heart is another.  ~Author Unknown

Anyone who says sunshine brings happiness has never danced in the rain.  ~Author Unknown

Common sense and a sense of humor are the same thing, moving at different speeds.  A sense of humor is just common sense, dancing.  ~William James

Care for a Chat?

There are now 99 Forum Topics at the Employee Engagement Network.

Come join us in our discussions. Here is a list of our latest 20 discussions. Don’t forget, we have 79 more if one of these discussions doesn’t evoke conversation. Of course you can always start your own forum and move us into 100 conversations.

Companies Fail First Career Job College Graduates 4 Replies

Yesterday, Taleo Corporation released a study that was bad news for companies hiring college graduates and hoping to retain their services. The quick numbers: * 43% of adults who got a job after g…

Started by Scot Herrick in Major Forums. Last reply by Scot Herrick Jun 26.

Can engagement and cost control co-exist? 3 Replies

Like many of you, I’m in an organization where cost pressure is the current focus of the day. I see many leaders who avoid sharing information until they know the whole answer (which is generally b…

Tagged: change, employee, engagement

Started by Jennifer Schulte in Major Forums. Last reply by Jennifer Schulte Jun 30.

What Leadership Qualities Are Required to Help Leaders Sustain an Engagement Culture? 14 Replies

Terry Seamon, just posed a great question to me. I think it is worth a discussion. If we want to sustain a culture of engagement, what qualities should our leaders possess to ensure that they are …

Started by Judy McLeish in Major Forums. Last reply by George Reavis 18 hours ago.

Engagement - Will we ever learn? 2 Replies

Interesting article on how the growth and professionalisation of a business can impact engagement

Started by Mike Healy in Major Forums. Last reply by Mike Healy Jun 14.

Motivation Show - Chicago 2 Replies

an FYI… there are a lot of seminars being presented at the MoShow this year. http://www.motivationshow.com/education-sem I still need material for the presentation we’re doing on "How Globalizat…

Started by Carol Wain in Major Forums. Last reply by Carol Wain Jun 30.

Managers - Unfair burden? 4 Replies

Its quite common for managers to be seen as “the problem” when it comes to lack of employee engagement. We are happy to provide all sorts of advice and models which, if the line manager only follow…

Started by Mike Healy in Major Forums. Last reply by Jennifer Schulte Jun 25.

Is the traditional approach to engagement all wrong? 15 Replies

Maybe our approach is all wrong. Maybe we are too focused on the drivers of engaging the entire employee population and are not focused on where engagement starts. I would love to hear your thought…

Started by Judy McLeish in Major Forums. Last reply by Jay Forte Jun 26.

Is consistency important? 6 Replies

I am curious to know what others think. How important is consistency when it comes to employee engagement? I am going to talk to an MD next week who finds he has a challenge around ensuring ‘consis…

Started by Catherine Harwood in Major Forums. Last reply by Catherine Harwood Jun 11.

Bloggers Among Us 12 Replies

I’m planning to post a list of (quality) blogs that deal with, touch on, come close to, make sense of, and show some savvy regarding Employee Engagement. I plan to post this list on Friday, 6/6/08…

Tagged: blog, employee, engagement

Started by Tim Wright in Major Forums. Last reply by Wayne Turmel Jun 11.

Benchmarking HR initiatives 3 Replies

I am in the organisational development team in a media company in Australia and whilst we have some excellent programs of work in HR running at the moment, we would love to be able to hear about ot…

Started by Andrea Vienet in Requesting Assistance. Last reply by Fraser Marlow Jun 3.

‘IT’ OF EMPLOYEEENGAGEMENT 3 Replies

I’M IN THE PROCESS OF CARRYING OUT A SURVEY ON EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT AT A REPUTED COMPANY IN INDIA. FROM THE INITIAL INTERVIEWS OF THE EMPLOYEES WHAT I COULD GATHER IS ‘IT’ IS AN UNCODITIONAL SURREND…

Started by Job D Madapat in Major Forums. Last reply by Fraser Marlow Jun 25.

Thanks 7 Replies

Had lunch with the gang from my last position. Amid chat about this and that and how the old place had changed, one of the fellows said, “Y’know, I wish my boss would just say ‘thank you’ once in a…

Started by Kathy Lankford in Major Forums. Last reply by Carol Wain Jun 3.

How Accenture Views Engagement

Does engagement relate to “a company’s future-value premium”? Read this piece (from 2007) and you’ll get the connection.

Tagged: growth, innovation, sustainability, culture

Started by Terrence Seamon in Major Forums May 29.

Beyond Passion - What REALLY motivates? 25 Replies

The discussion Rocky started about passion got me thinking. What motivates people to accomplish anything? In my own life, I drove myself to achieve some status as a competitive bodybuilder because…

Tagged: vision, passion, pain, goals, motivation

Started by Carol Cole-Lewis in Major Forums. Last reply by David Zinger Jun 4.

Engaging Research 8 Replies

Where would you start if you were writing a literature review leadership research paper on the topic of engage others as it relates to fostering development, communicating effectively, building tea…

Started by Debbie Payne in Requesting Assistance. Last reply by Nicole Aitken Jun 25.

Tools for Employee Engagement 5 Replies

To employee engagement practioners, which tools are the most valuable to you to perform all aspects of your responsibilities? What tools are missing or weak? These can be any type of tool. Finally,…

Tagged: programs, recognition, tools, software

Started by Carol Wain in Major Forums. Last reply by tasneem hameed May 30.

Selling engagement 3 Replies

Something I read yesterday reminded me of the original advertising campaign for the Saturn automobile. When other companies were selling cars, Saturn sold employee engagement. They didn’t say much …

Started by Kathy Lankford in Major Forums. Last reply by Tim Wright May 29.

Best practices and lessons learned needed for Motivation Show presentation 5 Replies

I am co-presenting a seminar at the Motivation Show in Chicago this September on the topic of global employee recognition and how technology helps. It’s really 2 topics in one, which we hopefully c…

Tagged: recognition, global

Started by Carol Wain in Requesting Assistance. Last reply by Carol Wain Jun 3.

Sharing your autobiography for engagement? 6 Replies

I’m just curious if others have done or experienced this in their workplaces. The management team at my work has rotated through each month at staff meetings each sharing their autobiographies to g…

Started by Mike King in Major Forums. Last reply by Mike King May 30.

What belongs in the job description for an EE manager? 5 Replies

If you were going to create a new position for an EE manager, what responsibilities would you include? What qualifications would you expect? Assume the company has some beginning engagement activit…

Started by Loretta Donovan in Current Developments. Last reply by Blues Jun 11.

Marian Hossa a gifted hockey player was signed by the Detroit Red Wings - A winning organization.

The most interesting part about the signing is that Hossa passed up on a lot of money (it could be as high as $12 million over two years) he could make with another hockey club. Instead he joined the Red Wing organization.

I believe Hossa would like to win a Stanley Cup but another part of the Red Wing offer was: sacrifice.

Read the following quotation from Ken Holland, the general manager of the Red Wings:

“Success is about sacrifice — sacrificing ice time, sacrificing personal statistics, sacrificing some money,” said Holland. “Success doesn’t come easily. Marian, obviously, wants to come here because he thinks we give him the best chance to win the Stanley Cup. He’s showing incredible sacrifice — and it goes to his determination and character and how important winning is to him, and playing with other good players.

I think a strong sign of employee engagement is when employees are willing to make a sacrifice to work for their organization.

We don’t ask them to make a sacrifice, we invite them to be part of a special team and they understand that there will be  sacrifices to be part of that team. Now that’s engagement!

Of course, the organization must create a culture and a place that people want to join.

Reflection Questions: Do you ever moan that you can afford to get the best talent? Have you thought about sacrifice as part of your recruitment strategy? Are you creating a winning team that people not only want to join but are willing to make a sacrifice to be a part of your team?

Photo Credit: Lets Go Red Wings!! by http://flickr.com/photos/mandj98/2548550660/

The Employee Engagement Network has a extensive list of employee engagement RSS feeds written by the members. We currently have about 35 feeds collected on one page and we continue to grow. Each RSS Feed offers you the last 3 articles of each author plus the first one or two lines of their current articles.

Click here to visit the feeds and ensure you give yourself enough time to read the fine articles or posts composed by the Employee Engagement Network members:

There are no secrets.

Here is a short one minute bathroom break for your weekend.

Click here if the video does not load in this window.

Fantastic Video on Zander: Creating Shining Eyes for Employee Engagement.

by David Zinger

I love TED talks and I love Benjamin Zander. Combine the two and you will watch one of the most inspiring videos you could ever imagine. Yes, Zander is talking about classical music but just substitute the word employee engagement each time you hear classical music and you will move your employee engagement efforts to a whole new level of connection.

Watch this video at least twice, or better yet, watch this video every Monday morning for the next few months to create employee engagement where you work. I believe the last 5 minutes of the video are very key for those of us involved in eliciting, encouraging, or drawing out the engagement of others.

Click here if the video does not load in this window.

Here are a couple of snippets from his talk revised to an employee engagement context:

How would you walk, how would you talk, how would you be if you thought only 17% of your employees could be fully engaged?

versus

How would you walk, how would you talk, how would you be if you thought everyone could be fully engaged, they just haven’t experienced it yet.

Success is how many shining eyes show up at work.

As leaders we don’t do the work for employees, we awaken the possibility in them.

Who am I being that my employee’s eyes are not shining.

Are you creating shining eyes?

Real Magic: Failure, Imagination and Empathy.

by David Zinger

J. K. Rowling, of Harry Potter fame, gave a terrific graduation address at Harvard this month. Here are a few snippets:

Failure taught me things about myself that I could have learned no other way. I discovered that I had a strong will, and more discipline than I had suspected; I also found out that I had friends whose value was truly above rubies.

Unlike any other creature on this planet, humans can learn and understand, without having experienced. They can think themselves into other people’s minds, imagine themselves into other people’s places.

We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better.

Click here to go the Harvard site to view the video or read the transcript. It is real magic.