Engagement is ‘Inner Engineering’, not ‘Event Management’

Employee Retention – unfinished priority

With employees changing jobs is more a norm than an exception , employee attrition remains organisation’s key concern & Retention a high priority Goal on HR?list?

It is widely ( & rightly )surmised that retention has to do with greater employee engagement & hence Employee Engagement continues to be a corporate buzzword .

Knowledge (of problem) does not always lead to right solution, primarily due what I call as playing Darts in a dark room with eyes closed – or a Doctor’s prescription , full of different medicines , but without proper diagnosis. In the case of attrition/ retention , it means working on solutions without getting the Cause- Effect equation, right !

?Idea of this article is to ‘open their eyes’ & provide required enlightenment to hit the Bulls Eye.

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Scattered efforts – Dart in Dark

Many organisations are into a lot of activity , plenty of hustle – bustle and noise, yet missing the bulls eye– not due lack of efforts , or darting skills -- but due to them being blind to underlining factors, leading to hitting at multiple places in the hope that one of them will work

?In their over simplified understanding, most organisations mistake employee engagement to be about picnics, parties, birthday celebrations, additional facilities/ work from home; some even broad base it?include reward -recognition measures and motivational tools in the engagement initiatives. Not just that they are widely off the mark –because they do not understand what Engagement is all about; but these blind efforts are compounded by degenerative implementation, often reducing them to programmed rituals that are outsourced to no one in particular.

?Laying out Context

Before we understand the essence of engaging employees , I realise it is useful to lay out context. Understanding a couple of?concepts , foundational to What & Why of employee engagement, is essential: (i) Body & Soul for wholesome working & (ii) Approach to human interaction – Transactional or Relational

?I believe that it is important to understand ‘Why’ ( purpose – the Source ) of ‘What’ , which anchors us well enough to own the task. Understanding Why also makes ‘How’ an easy outcome.

I ) Body & Soul context

Every entity or tasks we undertake , has two components: Body & Soul . Physical & visible aspects of a task form its Body & the invisible inspiration ( reason why ) forms the Soul . Wholesome work requires that Body & Soul work in tandem – since body without soul is dead & soul without body can’t express itself

Western outlook , including our western oriented academic upbringing has an intrinsic overwhelming leaning on Body aspects, some times at the exclusion of Soul; whereas Soul is a natural advantage of Eastern thinking, primarily including India. Ironically in an unwarranted zeal to catch up with the Western outlook to the world , we have not excelled at their natural advantage but in the process left our natural advantage un-nurtured

?Conventional understanding & initiatives originated in the West & ill copied by us , which include more physical rituals, is the singular cause of blindness while playing darts on the matter of employee engagement and the Reason why the room is dark is because we do not have an original source of light ( thinking )?

?II) Approach to human interactions – Transactional v/s Relational

There are two broad approaches to human interactions : Transactional , Relational

·??????Transactional

o??This works on premise –“ What do I get for what I do”;?focus is invariably on Self interest

o??Works on external trigger with two sub routes – (i) In reciprocation , (ii) In anticipation

o??Can be represented mathematically by a balanced equation

o??Each transaction is complete in itself – with no carryover . By nature therefore it is transient in existence

o??Business contracts as an example

·??????Relational

o??It works on internal trigger, beyond compulsions of reciprocity or anticipation

o??Mathematically , it is represented by an inequation

o??It is a series of acts, beyond one transaction, bound with a common thread

o??Has an immediate as well as cumulative effect. By nature it has a sustainable effect

o??Mother à Child is the best example?

?It should be easy to understand that Strategic matters like Employee engagement can’t be addressed in a transactional mode, which is tactical in nature. Since net/carryover gain from a completed transaction is zero – net gain from multiple of transactions is also zero . Reason why multitude of tactically oriented conventional engagement initiatives are not as effective.

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We are now ready to understand foundations of meaningful employee engagement – which, with a relational approach, has to do more with reaching Soul than appealing to Body !

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Employee Engagement

·??????Engagement is about ‘connecting souls’, not for indulging bodies

o??It is not just a periodic transaction, but an obligation for a continued connect with every soul at every moment

o??It needs to be a part of the organisational conviction, culture, and compliance

o??Relational approach to human interactions infuses Soul into other wise rituals & lends continuity to efforts & result

·??????Employee engagement therefore is not about enhancing or facilitating an employee’s exterior—It is a matter of inner engineering. Effective implementation can happen only when we understand its essence – building blocks for an employee to be actively engaged , and then building organisational operating systems around it to facilitate translation. It is about creating a strong sense of belonging with the organisation & within colleagues.????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????I have distilled from my experience, essence of ‘what it takes’ into 4 important aspects needed in a/any role, for the employee to be engaged with the organisation

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?4 Components of Engagement

·???????A person can be effectively engaged if his/her role is:

o??Meaningful – Critically linked to organisation’s success

o??Facilitated – Helped to succeed , Assisting in achieving success; as ‘seen’ by the person

o??Enriching – Imparting something of value other than just salary to engage on the job

o??Enjoyable – Making working, interesting enough to draw him to work every day

?Most organisations understand & practice only the 4th element – which has more of Body elements- the Soul is captured in the first 3 , which remain out of cognisance for many. Like in the story of an Elephant & 4 Blind men, the Engagement Picture is incomplete unless all 4 components are well integrated . Let me elaborate below -

1.?????Meaningful

·??????It is about an employee feeling that the role he has been assigned is very important for the organisation – that when done well, has equal potential- as any other job, to impact organisation’s success; that he has an equal opportunity to contribute & make meaningful difference. It is also about their need to be acknowledged , to be heard & to be treated as an individual – a worthy human being?

·??????This feeling has its roots in : (i) Role relevance to the organisation & (ii) His sense of Self . The role , which becomes his identity, must enhance his self esteem doing it. It is so crucial that feeling irrelevant ( in the role ) to the organisation is the point of mental alienation or disengagement. It is express HR responsibility, mandated by top management to make each employee feel relevant & important

·????????Even in a so called lower job like that of a sweeper , the incumbent should feel that his job is so important that, when he remains absent , the office will be unclean which might turn off an incoming prospective customer or employee – therefore he can’t be away for too long

2.?????Facilitated

·??????It is about actively helping the employee to succeed and importantly the employee sensing it!

·??????It is a statement of organisation’s ( not just of?immediate team ) interest in the incoming person as also translation of a genuine belief that organisation can’t succeed, unless every employee does. It is not about what an organisation does , but the employee feeling that he is being supported & that the organisation has stakes in employee’s win

·??????This requires genetic , systemic interest in & empathy for people – which has easy translation into whatever small/big steps the organisation takes during the joining ( & thereafter ) period of the employee- it could be facilitating transport or freshening kit for a salesman toiling on calls through day , under hot Sun

·??????Employees feeling supported develop Trust & Comfort with the organisation – the founding pillars of a relationship. Organisations who miss establishing this step for an employee in initial days – lose that employee forever – ‘lost’ employees float around as Dead Bodies !

3.?????Enriching

·??????It is about helping employee evolve, as a result of working through the role. It could include- though not restricted to generic training capsules. More importantly it includes a well thought out customised development program (unlikely to happen for new joinees & likely to be rightly reserved for senior levels ). It may not ‘kick off’ in the joining days – though the new employee should gather enough confidence of organisation’s commitment to this , via visibility to experiences of other senior employees

·??????Beyond formal T & D programs, this component is to be achieved primarily through the exposure/guidance/monitoring on the job . Simply put, by doing his job, the employee should be ‘ better’ professional & human being today, than he was yesterday & certainly was before joining the organisation. This requires that the job constitution / elements is accordingly , carefully structured so that the natural course of executing role responsibility – gets employee better & better. This needs to be systemic to the organisation – embedded in its Culture.?

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Spectrum of Engagement mechanisms

There can be many mechanisms an organisation can use for employee engagement, in line with the principles laid above. While these will need to be customised to an organisation’s context – here are some illustrations??

-???????EVP ( Employee Value Proposition )

o??It is that one unique, non monetary promise an organisation can make to its employees that not just draws them to work everyday , but makes employees choose & stay with the organisation over competitive offers. It is a competitive differentiator for the organisation, in the selection market

o???Identifying potent EVP is an exercise of marrying organisation’s culture with employee aspirations . It can be as practical as ‘Creating future CEOs/Entrepreneurs’ out of employees or as affectionate as ‘Making organisation as a well knit family’

o??For those organisations who do not have a stated/unstated EVP practice , money becomes the default reason for attracting new employees – however money as we know, is most untenable factor in retention

-???????Not KYE , but UYE ( Understand Your Employee ) **

o??KYE as is practiced today, is a ‘Body’ instrument – listing physical / external aspects . However as we have seen earlier Engagement is in inner ( Soul ) engineering – consequently needing an ‘ inner ‘ instrument – UYE. Knowing is about Information, Understanding is about Empathy

o??It is rooted in an organisation’s philosophy—whether it takes employee as a bought out resource( Body ) or as an equal, wholesome human being( Body + Soul ) & whether as an ‘ individual ‘ or recognises him/her as ‘Family’?

-???????Farewell parties à Celebrating ‘Joining’

o??Having farewell parties is rather common ( a routine followed, unquestioned ) . Ever wondered ….Why not celebrate joining of an employee, with the same gusto & energy of farewell parties ?

o??Message we would send by celebrating joining is very different than a farewell gathering

** Not KYE – it is UYE

We need to make a meaningful difference to an employee’s life and create fond memories to connect with the organisation – That is engagement, and UYE can be very significant in its applications. This powerful new concept deserves some elaboration

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UYE instrument needs to be thoughtfully designed to afford a view of the employees ‘ interior’;?to bring out those aspects of his/her mind , which are never expressed in a resume .

Instrument which I had designed & used included pointers on employees Family connect & obligations , Pain & pleasure areas , Passion & unfulfilled dreams , How he/she wants to be seen & treated …..

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Finally – what matters

Employee engagement is extremely crucial not just for the immediate/measurable outcome of retention – but to benefit from the power of continuity & sustained positivity. It is not about what an organisation does, but how an employee perceives. It is achieved less by words & acts than by what an employee ‘Sees’, feels, & senses. There are obviously underlying elements of authenticity, trust & comfort?– foundational for a deeper relationship--?which an organisation needs to invest in , more than it does on providing facilities . Organisations can not afford to be reactive ( forget about being inactive ) – but must assume obligation to proactively sense & sniff to understand what all constitutes an employee – beyond what is visible -- said & captured in filed documents, on record?