It is not uncommon in today’s business culture, to find organizations where someone is in charge of engagement as though you could assign it or delegate it. A culture of engagement is nothing more than the total sum of each individual employee. Employees, who are encouraged, encourage others more often. When it has a deliberate and recognized application at the top of corporate hierarchy, it is exponential as it flows to the front line. Therefore, if it doesn’t occur at the top, it limits what will occur in the rest of the organization. All leaders want an engaged workforce, and many leaders think they have one, when actually they don’t.
Today’s leaders must engage with their employees in all sorts of ways:
• Communicate effectively and regularly
• Share appropriate information
• Solicit feedback
• Reward and recognize good work
• Respond to personal and professional needs
• Provide timely and adequate resources and guidance
• Invite them into decision making, problem solving, and the brainstorming process
All of these tactics have a behaviour component to them and require a behavior awareness of the individual leader for their employees.
What type of workforce do you want to create? Your behaviour makes the difference. As leaders we make a purposeful decision to engage our employees. Although engagement is a personal matter, leaders must acquire and practice daily the mindset and behavior skills of Positive Presence to create a culture that promotes a sense of personal ownership, accountability, and responsibility among their team members.
Catherine is the President and CEO of CORPORATE HARMONY, providing virtual solutions for leadership development and organizational culture change. Her leadership and coaching experience as a Project Manager in an ever-changing, fast moving technological organization with unrelenting demands drove her to the realization that a positive mindset and strength-building behaviors are essential for today’s complex and chaotic organizational systems. CORPORATE HARMONY’s virtual platform of programs, coaching and performance measurement, is an innovative online technology of tested proprietary content. The world-class content of CORPORATE HARMONY’s Positive Presence Program develops the skill of ‘Positive Presence’ and the necessary ‘Positive Presence Behaviour Competencies’ for maintaining a positive and energized mindset and increased performance in today’s complex work environment, and leading to a culture of collaboration and connection. Catherine’s vision for Corporate Harmony is to bring the skill of “Positive Presence” to the corporate world as it becomes more complex, ambiguous and chaotic. Catherine is uniquely positioned to impact organizations’ productivity and long term success, with her powerful vision of eliminating bad stress from every workplace around the globe, bringing purpose into the people equation to promote healthy, productive and meaningful work cultures and turn the tide on the neglect of mental health on a global scale. Catherine is author of the book: “CORPORATE HARMONY – The Performance Link for Today’s Modern Organization” Catherine can be reached at: Catherine.Osborne@corporateharmony.ca or go to ‘contact us’ on our website www.corporateharmony.ca. Catherine is available for consultation, and can be reached by 519-695-3407.