19 May 2008
Moving beyond engagement to involvement and enlightenment
“It’s time to introduce some newness to engagement”, says keynote speaker at Melcrum conference.
More than 120 delegates at Melcrum’s 4th employee engagement conference in London last week heard how managers who have an enlightened experience will have an impact on the organization.
This came from keynote speaker, Jo Hennessy, director of research at Roffey Park. Hennessy defined enlightenment as an intense moment of clarity revealing your place in the world, often with transformational effects.
Delegates enjoy the first day of the conference.
Enlightened managers
In the company’s 2008 Management Agenda 2008 survey, 52% of managers said they’d had a significant or enlightened experience. Of this group, 74% claimed it had impacted their organization. “It’s time to introduce some newness to engagement”, said Hennessy.
Jeremy Starling of London-based consultancy, Involve, who strongly advocates that employees should be, as the company name suggests, involved and not just engaged, backed this up. His presentation was in conjunction with Mitch Smith, senior program manager, from insurance company, AXA UK LTD.
Getting delegates involved
Each delegate was given a DVD player and asked to watch 2 separate video diaries featuring 3 different characters. In each case, delegates were asked to discuss what they’d seen with the other members of their table.
The characters then made live appearances in the conference room and each table participated in role play.
The characters then made live appearances in the conference room and each table participated in role play, with delegates responding to the problems suffered by each character as if they were a customer-facing employee.
The task aimed to get delegates thinking how important employees are to winning and maintaining business and to the reputation of the organization as a whole.
Engagement needs to continually develop
Both panel discussions held over the event ignited debate. The panel for “the role, goal and purpose of employee engagement in 2008” discussion included Jo Hennessey, David Brain, president and managing director of consultancy Edelman Europe and Caryn Vanstone, business director of Ashridge Consulting.
One clear thought came to the fore around the need to keep engagement flowing. It seems to be a constantly evolving process, especially when you consider that the new generation of workers who have been using the computer and the internet since the age of 5.
“These young employees are expecting much, much more from their employers than people of a previous generation,” said Brain.
Don't lose authenticity
The second panel discussion was around storytelling, visual metaphor and the use of narrative to engage and align employees with the business strategy and objectives. The panelists were Susan Jackson, head of internal communication for international parcel delivery service Parcelforce, Tony Quinlan, principal of consultancy Narrate and Mike Pounsford, managing director of engagement specialists Couravel.
These young employees are expecting much, much more from their employers than people of a previous generation.
Quite a lively debate began on the subject of employee films. Having heard from head of internal communication at pharmaceutical company Pfizer, Nigel Edwards, about viral communication methods and the success of video diaries produced by employees, one delegate was keen to see these sorts of tools taken to a higher level of sophistication.
Quinlan argued that the danger with this is a loss of authenticity that’s so vital in gaining staff approval and acceptance. Other speakers included Angie M Brayshaw, director of employee engagement at American Express, Paul Middleton, head of marketing at Westminster City Council and Dawn Smith, director of employee relationship management research at Ipsos Mori.
Have your say
Employee engagement is being taken more seriously within organizations than ever before. What initiatives do you use?
Are involvement and enlightenment important considerations or is it all just semantics?
How are you adapting your engagement programs to accommodate a new generation of workers?
Discuss employee engagement issues with other comms practitioners by joining the Internal Comms Hub members' group on the Communicators' Network.
Other resources and recommendations:
Essential techniques for employee engagement
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