Making things better for people. Simply

I'm doing the opening keynote at the upcoming CIPD Engagement Conference before running off to talk at another event somewhere. There are a range of big questions I'll be trying to address (and raise) on the day - and I've cheated a bit by making some of my notes available to people as a VERY ugly opening slide (see above).

Somebody dropped me a note to ask me to expand on them - so there are some further thoughts below.

1. Is 'engagement' even a thing anymore? Was it ever? Does it do any good?

It's the elephant in the room. Almost inevitably there are questions around whether 'engagement' is the right word to use (or is it now 'experience'?) and then questions over the evidence for engagement itself.

Rob Briner's piece for Engage4Success here is a good summary. My preference is to talk about things that people can relate more easily to and I'm not sure how helpful the word is or where it get in the way. Do you really need a good engagement strategy - or do you need to work out the things that support performance growth in the workplace and deliver them well? Can you get away without using the word? Probably. Is employee experience more helpful? Possibly.

I guess my issue is that engagement feels like a technical or jargony term that creates a layer of mystique over some very human concepts. Asking 'What are we really trying to do here? How do we want people to feel? Why? How can we check we are doing the right stuff?'. That's at the heart of this - whether you choose to call it engagement or not.

Now I spent a good chunk of my career leading engagement initiatives/strategies so I'm speaking from a position of having benefited from the jargon. You can read about some of that journey here in 'Confessions of a Retention Expert'. I think the important thing is to not throw the baby out with the bathwater - I don't think many workplaces are worse for trying to focus on engagement, so I'd rather focus on substance rather than the wording. Do I want people to be more satisfied in work? More passionate? Know what the organisation is trying to achieve? Want to and be able to contribute more?

I also think E4S has some great resources - so whatever you trying to do have a look here

2. What is it missing? What goes wrong?

The most common pitfalls I see (including mistakes I have made) centre around limiting of purpose and over reliance on measurement. So let's unpick that a bit...

All too often the engagement strategy is survey -> talk about survey -> commit to some actions -> wait for the next survey. Organisations normally set the focus of the survey and that means they get answers on a narrow spectrum. Or let me put this in a more overt way - we know that sexual harassment and gender (and equal) pay issues are rife. You would be an exceptional organisation not to have these issues. It's unlikely you ask about them in your survey. You are attempting to capture a measure of culture without dealing with some of the most pressing issues.

Do you think promotions are allocated fairly? Do you think a certain type of person gets on? Do you think it's a safe environment for you to work in? Those are key questions: yet you are more likely to get asked if you PC works and if you align to the organisational values.

Yet if you were trying to really, really, really shift the dial on culture what would you address? The bad leaders that you probably know about and don't act on. The bad behaviour that you probably know about and don't act on. Harder - but more important.

3. What else should people look at when they are thinking about it?

Leadership and culture. They are the key things which are going to drive everything in your organisation. If you want to address anything then address those things. Everything else is window dressing because if you can get those things right everything else will flow from them. If you want people to feel inspired hire leaders who communicate well, understand people and can help people feel a sense of purpose. They'll help create a positive culture. That culture will be one where people find time to invest in the things that matter. Where leaders set aside time and resources to deliver for customers and colleagues.

I'll be encouraging people attending as Engagement Specialists to really think about the opportunities and challenges as organisational development ones - involving considered, well thought through and joined up approaches rather than limited action plans. Deal with causes, not symptoms. Go deep and explore. The key is to try and create an organisation that doesn't have a problem, rather than focusing on HR being the solution. Part of this - maybe the most important part - is to reflect on what you want to achieve and the depth of those achievements. Do you really want to make things better or tick off some things on your CV to get that next promotion? That's a personal choice - it will be different for everyone - but I'd suggest that if we avoid dealing with the difficult in order to get quick wins for our career, then the careers of those of us around us will suffer.

4 What else might I want to read or look at?

Have a think first. If you are committed to solving things then don't go looking for solutions, think hard on your problems. Beyond the CIPD resources I'd suggest having a look at...

https://www.cebma.org/faq/evidence-based-management/

https://scienceforwork.com/

I'd also look at research into how people behave and react and what they value. Whether this is psychology, behavioural economics or behavioural science (once again I can't get too excited about the naming). This is about what you think before what you do.

I've written a few of pieces on change and engagement (or other things that you might want to think about it you want to call it that) here that you might want to click on *and share relentlessly* as well.

-----------

I work for the CIPD, however my writing reflects my views and thoughts (or conversations I'm having with the HR community) rather than the positioning of the CIPD itself.

If you'd like to know more about the future of the HR profession then click gently and gracefully here

I'm usually happy to connect with people with shared interests and you can also find me over on Twitter at @dds180.