What Engages You?

We had a powerful presenter at my American Business Women's Association meeting this past week. Germaine Porche of Eagle's View Systems (www.eaglesview.com) spoke to us about "Leadership: The Art of Engagement". She had some really great information to share with anyone who is interested in developing their skills as a leader.

According to a survey done recently of workers around the globe 8% are disengaged from their work, 30% are labeled "disenchanted" meaning they are only partially engaged, 41% were labeled "enrolled" which meant they were partially engaged but felt no urgency in their work and 21% were "engaged" meaning that they were fully utilizing their skills and creativity in their work environment. I was shocked by the large percentage of people who are disengaged and disenchanted with their jobs.

We had a brief discussion about engaged us in the workplace. Answers included having fun, relevance of what we do, meaning, a clearly articulated company mission and vision and autonomy.  According to the survey Germaine shared with us the #1 thing that engages someone in the workplace is knowing that senior management is sincerely interested in employee well being.

There were nine other top survey answers to what causes you to be engaged at work. Not a single one of those answers involved compensation. Here are the remaining nine:

#2: This job improves my skills
#3: The organization has a reputation for social responsibility
#4: I get input into decision making
#5: The organization quickly resolves customer concerns
#6: Management sets high personal standards
#7: Career advancement opportunities
#8: Challenging work assignments that build skills
#9: A good relationship with supervisor
#10: The organization encourages innovative thinking

So, an organization that offers a challenging work environment, tries to do the right thing and cares about its employees is a place that is more likely to have engaged, productive people at all levels. And engaged, productive people always have a positive impact on the bottom line.  All of these concepts are in line with the idea of ethical leadership. What can you do to make your workplace or community organization a place of high-level engagement?