10 Principles of Engagement

  1. There is no way to engagement, engagement is the way. Engagement is permeating all facets of work and is rapidly becoming how we lead, manage, and work.
  2. Employee engagement is good work done well with others everyday. It requires small, significant, simple, structural and strategic actions performed daily in the service of achieving results, building relationships, and installing wellbeing.
  3. Employee engagement is specific. We cannot sustain engagement all the time and everywhere. When we talk about engagement we need to ask: Who is engaged, with what, for how long, and for what purpose?
  4. Employee engagement is connection. It is the science and art of bi-directional connections to results, performance, progress, relationships, recognition, moments, strengths, meaning, wellbeing, and energy.
  5. Employee engagement must create results that matter. Results must be meaningful to the employee, manager, leaders, organization, and customer. There is little point in having engaged employees if they are not contributing to significant results. If the results only matter to the organization and not the employee – or the employee and not the organization – employee engagement will wither and die.
  6. Employee engagement is always about people. Engagement is depersonalized when we refer to employees as human capital or human resources. The bottom line is a false bottom because standing below the bottom line are all the people who support it, hold it up, and make it happen.
  7. Employee engagement is fuelled by energy. The raw material of engagement is energy. We must ignite mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual energy at work.  Work must be an overall energy gain versus an energy drain.
  8. Employees are responsible for their own engagement; we are all accountable for everyone’s engagement. No one has a bigger role in engagement than the individual themselves – if engagement is to be it is up to me. We are accountable for other people’s engagement because we influence their engagement. We do not do employee engagement to employees or for employees we work on employee engagement with employees.
  9. Employee engagement makes things better. Employee engagement offers phenomenal potential to improve profits, performance, projects, progress, contributions, safety, retention, absenteeism, happiness, and wellbeing.
  10. Employee engagement is now. Don’t wait for survey results with a list or drivers or levers. Focus on the work you are doing right now and determine how you can fully engage with it. Look at who you are working with and determine how you can help them to be more engaged. Every day, ask yourself, what can I do right now to improve employee engagement for myself or someone I work with?