Why is it that organizations with an engaged workforce grow profits as much as three times faster than their competitors?
Why do organizations with engagement scores in the top quartile have EPS growth 2.6 times greater than those with below-average engagement scores?
These stats are shout-from-the-rooftop proof that strong employee engagement delivers. This is a no brainer. So why hasn’t this hit the front page of the Wall Street Journal? Why isn’t it at the top of the agenda of every executive, every CFO?
If it’s this transformational, why do 75% of leaders have no engagement plan or strategy even though 90% say engagement is critically important and impacts business success? Sort of like, I know I should exercise more…
I’ve been contemplating this for some time because part of my responsibility as head of Strategy, Planning and Operations for Cisco’s Go to Market Organization is Employee Engagement for our 400+ employees and those who we work closely with, our 800+ contractors. Employee anything used to be solely in the domain of Human Resources, but that construct is changing – and fast. Due to HR downsizing, employee engagement is primarily the responsibility of the business to address – in partnership with HR.
I’ve been on a journey to learn everything I can about this fascinating new field of human performance. Let’s start with what employee engagement is. The best definition I’ve found is from the Human Capital Institute:
Employee Engagement is the extent to which employees believe in what they do, feel valued for it and are willing to spend their intellectual effort to make the organization successful.
My take on it – Add this to the above definition:
Employee Engagement starts with the individual but can rapidly infuse an organization with mass engagement due to the multiplier effect.
This is core to the profit and performance metrics. It’s the organizational impact of mass engagement that delivers the astounding results. According to the Corporate Leadership Council, engaged organizations not only grew profits three times faster than their competitors, but also reduced staff turnover by 87% and improved performance by 20%.
As a leader of people and teams, I want this for my organization and for my company. But what will it take to move the needle on engagement? How does one design an employee engagement initiative? How can I justify putting time and resources on something that feels so intangible?
It’s not easy. Believe me, I’ve looked for the Cliff Notes on the Best Engagement Plan and the Engagement for Dummies playbook. They don’t exist. There’s no concrete road map or training regimen out there. A jumble of tactics doesn’t feel like a real, actionable plan either.
If we as leaders are going to drive engagement initiatives through our organizations, we need that road map, that Engagement Plan – crisp, crystal clear, infinitely simple… A set of the very best, proven best practices with expected results to tick off one by one. To build that highly engaged team we all as leaders want to cultivate, we must convince leaders across the organization of the lasting value a successful engagement initiative can deliver.
Come with me on my journey to develop that road map and set of actions for my organization. In this Blog Series, I will share what I learn along the way, what works and what doesn’t, and my top 10 list of engagement insights. In addition, I plan to introduce a new metric… ROEE, or Return on Employee Engagement – something that allows an organization to self-assess whether the needle is moving up on the EE scale. I’ll explain the construct and measurement pilot we’re launching at Cisco to build the capability to guide the organization into EE land accountability. Let me know what you think. Share your best practices with me as we discover engagement success together.
Until then,
Diane Dudeck
Diane Dudeck 