Engaged Employees generate 43% more revenue

Employee engagement isn’t a new topic. It has been debated for the last 30 years, with many different commentators across a variety of sectors with a plethora of measures, models and theories.

The McLeod report, recently commissioned by the Government, sets out clearly what we all know intuitively, that organisations that truly engage and inspire their employees produce high levels of innovation, productivity and performance. The report explores a number of case studies and confirms the pivotal role that managers play in engagement.

Business Link are championing engagement as a way to improve the lagging competitiveness of the UK. They have dedicated a whole area on their website to share best practice, case studies and tips. I wanted others to be aware of this resource as it might provide some practical tools and ideas.

Have a look at the Business Link website and the McLeod report and ask yourself “what might I achieve by having a more engaged workforce?”

I would really like to hear your thoughts on engagement and how you are fostering it.

What has Sport Relief got to do with Leadership?

Watching the Sport Relief events on Friday, I was really impressed by some of the big celebrity challenges such as Eddie Izzard’s marathons and the Million Pound Bike Ride. As a ‘sporty’ family we empathised with the effort and sacrifices involved.

On reflection, I wondered how many other 'ordinary' people sitting on their sofas were inspired enough to go out and take up such a challenge. We seem to be content to sit and watch others on TV doing something, but don’t then do it ourselves.

So how does this link to leadership?

It has led me to think about our role as leaders. Is it to be a good role model and set an example? Or, is it to create an environment in which your people feel compelled to take action and personally take on a challenge? The answer might well be a bit of both. But I also wonder whether we always get the balance right?

I would welcome your thoughts.

Harnessing the Power of the Group

I have just started to work with group coaching and wanted to share my findings with you.

The idea of group coaching has come from America, where it was designed as a response to the economic downturn to provide a cost effective way of accessing leadership coaching.

Earlier this week, I worked with four groups of senior managers in the Education sector, who are from a variety of functions. Each group contained four participants and the session ran for three hours. This enabled everyone to have around 40 minutes to explore a personal leadership and management issue that they are stuck on.

As each coachee explained their issue the others observed and considered how they might resolve it too. As the coach, I questioned them to gain a full understanding of the issue and brought in the rest of the group as I felt appropriate. Once the problem was well defined and confirmed I coached the individual to explore the alternative solutions. The other group members were also invited to share their perspectives. Each individual then agreed their next steps.

I was really taken with this as a coaching solution. I felt that there were some clear benefits over and above those of cost.

• There was a willingness to ‘receive’ as well as ‘give’ - often people are quick to offer an opinion but slow to take on board feedback.
• Everyone knew their MBTI type, which some used to look at an issue from a different perspective. This gave an interesting dimension to the process as there were lots of different preference types contributing.
• Group peer pressure also generated perhaps a stronger commitment. When four pairs of eyes are on you it’s tough to make excuses why you can’t do something!

Overall the participants thoroughly enjoyed themselves. They appreciated the support, challenge and insights that came from each other as well as the coach. They all left with a clear sense of action and enthusiasm to carry it out.

When I meet with the groups in 6 weeks time I will report back on how they all got on.

Getting Started

We are joining the bloggers and I am practicing setting up the blog spot - look out for our thoughts on leadership, coaching, teams and psychometric testing.

This is to accompany our new website www.emergecoaching.co.uk which we have been writing during February. There are a couple of pages still under construction, but generally we are really pleased with it and look forward to getting feedback on it.