engagement = empowerment; empowerment = engagement

ENGAGEMENT = EMPOWERMENTEMPOWERMENT = ENGAGEMENT

TITLE.

Good evening everyone and welcome to my last presentation. For those who couldn’t come to the other 2, I would like to remember what we covered. In the first one, we talked about the general topic of how can we manage the whole system of a company. Then, in the second one, we learnt more about how can we make easier the work in this company, with the word dialogue as the key for the success. And finally, today we will talk about the motivation of the personnel with 2 key points: the engagement and the empowerment.

Before continuing, I would like to say that if you have any questions throughout the presentation, please stop me at any time and I will be happy to answer them. Additionally, if any of you wanted to have the slides of the presentation, here is my email address (poner en la pizarra, [email protected]).

Imagine we are that company created in the first of my presentations, Argos, Inc. (Incorporated). You want to be engaged with it, so you are used to thinking about ideas that could improve the firm. We are going to divide the class in 2 divisions of the company (A and B) to talk about your ideas and how you would be able to make them reality. By the moment, think about them and keep in mind which is your position in that work, because we will use them throughout this evening.

TITLE 2.

I’ve divided my presentation in 2 main parts. In the first one we will talk about the employee engagement process, whereas the second part will give us information about the practice of empowerment in the company

INDEX.

The first talk is divided into 4 parts:

Firstly, we will learn what is the Employee Engagement Process.

Then, we will talk about how was this process developed and how has it evolved.

Thirdly, we will cover how does this process work.

Finally, we’ll see some examples in which the Employee Engagement Process is used.

WHAT IS THE EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT PROCESS (E.E.P.)?

Álvaro Santamaría Peñalva Leadership and change management1

Let’s go on to the definition of the Employee Engagement Process. The McCormick Employee Engagement Inventory (MEEI), which is at the core of the process, is a 35-question instrument with content validity. Engagement -defined as a personal state of authentic involvement, contribution, and ownership- is characterized by seven scales, as you can see in this table. The left column shows the different scales, whereas we can see the desired states in the right one.

HISTORY OF THE E.E.P.

Now we come to the history of the Employee Engagement Process, where we will see how was it evolved.

When developed in 1999, the McCormick Employee Engagement Inventory was a radical departure from traditional survey methodologies. It resulted from the personal frustration of Fortune 100 company employees of more than 12 years with both the survey’s content and process. Every 2 years, all employees completed an extensive survey on workplace issues such as satisfaction with supervisor or pay. However, it excluded issues of substance, such as the impact of “my voice at work” or “finding meaning in my work” in relation to the whole. We would either see no survey results or we would see no action resulting from the survey.

Frustrated with the lack of connection between the survey and any apparent change, the MEEI and the Employee Engagement Process sought to shift both the nature of the questions and how results were distributed and used. Thus, the Employee Engagement Process marries a survey that quantifies workplace culture with the employee as the locus of control with a process that is transparent, collaborative, employee driven, and action oriented. This process turns survey results analysis and action planning over to employees and managers through whole-system feedback and action meetings. Responsibility is spread across employee groups to create a more engaged workplace. The survey process catalyzes meaningful results and a real opportunity for engagement.

Over time, the survey evolved to measure employee engagement not just during a change initiative, but generally. Research performed in 2002 by the Philadelphia Area Human Resource Planning Group linked MEEI results to productivity, showing that the better-producing units also had higher engagement scores.

HOW DOES THE E.E.P. WORK?

Let’s now move on to the part in which we will learn how does the Employee Engagement Process work.

The Employee Engagement Process is similar to traditional survey methodology in that it follows the basic steps of survey localization, survey administration, and results compilation. It varies from traditional methodology in the transparency of the process; the content of the survey itself; the level of education prior to, during,


and after the survey administration, the fact that results compilation is an important beginning rather than an end; and the systemwide involvement in action planning and implementation.

The process:

1- Supports managers in becoming more open to giving employees voice.2- Models a new way of working together.3- Places change in the hands of employees (including managers) rather than in

the hands of Human Resources or management alone.

Through individual analysis, group discussion, and action, people become more informed and accountable for their workplace. They learn that there isn’t a “them” that will make changes, but that they can make changes together.

Let’s have a look at this graphic, in which we can see the whole process.

WHEN IS THE E.E.P. USED?

Now we come to the part in which we’ll see when is the Employee Engagement Process used.

If you look at the screen you’ll see 2 tables. In both you can see how the process works particularly well in settings like manufacturing, health care, and education, in which the sense of ownership of frontline workers is particularly important and where it’s important to capture the knowledge of these employees. This empowerment is reinforced over and over again in the Employee Engagement Process.

THE GAME.

Are you with me so far? I can see many of you are waiting for a game or something similar throughout this presentation, so let’s try to do one.

As I told you when I started my presentation, imagine we are Argos, Inc. (Incorporated). We are divided in two divisions. In both you are going to explain to your co-workers in 2-3 minutes the ideas you have to improve the firm as well as how you would be able to make them reality. Finally, you will talk to the another group in order to know if they have been able to choose the best option among everybody or not.

The game consists in 2 divisions/groups of people. Both are composed by workers and managers who are engaged with the company and thus they want to improve it. For this reason, the workers of both divisions will talk to their division mates in order to explain their ideas and finally both groups will get together to know if the another one has been able to choose the best option or not. The trick is that one of the groups have managers who take note of the


ideas of their workers, whereas the another one has managers who don’t care the opinion of the others.

Well, as you’ve been able to see in this game, one of the groups has had managers who allow their workers to express their opinion and then choose the best option among everybody, whereas the another division has had managers who don’t care the opinion of the others and thus they decide the best option for themselves.

The purpose of this game is to realize that those companies who allow their workers to express their ideas and then choose the best option all together will have engaged workers, while those whose managers don’t pay attention to the ideas of their workers won’t ever have engaged workers.

TITLE 3.

This brings me to the second part of the presentation, where we’ll learn more about the empowerment in the company as an important thing to have our employees engaged with it.

INDEX.

We can break this area into the following fields:

First of all, we’ll see what is the practice of empowerment.

Secondly, we’ll talk about empowering the space.

Then, we’ll get more information about the empowerment model.

Next part will show you more about the empowerment methodology..

Finally, we’ll see some examples in which the practice of empowerment is used.

WHAT IS THE PRACTICE OF EMPOWERMENT?

What is the Practice of empowerment? The practice of empowerment is the process of enabling individuals to adopt new behaviours that further their individual aspirations and that of the organization.

As you can see in this graphic, the clouds show us the organizational benefits of the process. Below, we can see the different steps of the model. And finally, at the bottom of the picture we can learn some characteristics of the empowering organization culture change.

EMPOWERING THE SPACE.

Let’s go on to the part in which we’ll see how can we empowering the space.


In order to adopt new behaviours and develop their talent, a learning and growth culture first have to be established. Many change interventions assume that that an organization’s learning and growth capacity is inherent. They neglect to see if the cultural ingredients are present, and because they rarely are, the organization’s ability to achieve the desired behaviour change is limited.

An empowered space enables individuals to feel safe and trusting enough to risk true growth. The 6 practices described below are experienced during the training, and then the group is assisted in establishing them in their work culture. These 6 practices are:

1- Self-Responsibility: Individuals take responsibility to make their job, team, and organization the way they want them to be.

2- Authentic communication: Individual communication is open, honest, and transparent.

3- Trust: Individuals feel safe enough to try out new behaviours and take risks.4- Learning and growing: Individuals are encouraged to work on the real

behaviours they need to change.5- Interpersonal process skills: Protocols and skills are learned to resolve

interpersonal issues.6- Caring: Leadership demonstrates tangible concern for individuals.

EMPOWERMENT MODEL.

This brings me to the empowerment model, which provides the overall transformation strategy with the groundwork for behaviour change in place.

Shift from pathology to a vision: Where we place our attention is what we create. Shifting our focus from what doesn’t work to what can work motivates us to take action.

Shift from static to organic growth (growing edge): Many of us view growth as a static process. There is a place to get to and I’m either there or not. Until I get there I’m frustrated or discontent, and when I get there my growth is over. The natural world provides an alternative model for growing. If a tree is alive, it is always growing. The place where this growth is coming into existence is its growing edge; it is the place of greates aliveness. Similarly, we feel our greates aliveness at our growing edges.

Integration of Self-awareness and Behaviour change: Many growth processes assume that if we are aware of something, we will do it. The focus is on increasing self-awareness. While awareness increases our self-knowledge, it rarely leads to a change in behaviour. On the other hand, we can set a goal for something we want, harness our wills to achieve it, and then discover that it wasn’t really what we wanted. We did not have enough self-awareness.

EMPOWERMENT METHODOLOGY.


Is that clear to everyone? Ok, so now we come to the empowerment methodology.

The four-part empowerment methodology activates this transformational strategy and provides the operating system for behaviour change.

1- Self-awareness: Increases knowledge to determine what is desired.2- Vision crafting: Translates knowledge into a compelling vision.3- Transformation: Identifies and transforms limiting beliefs with vision

adjusted as needed.4- Growing edge: Uses directed thought to mentally seed next growth step.

The process culminates in an individual intention statement and image that represents the next place of growth around the desired behaviour or outcome.

Organizational change intervention.

The organizational change intervention is divided into 5 steps:

1- Interview leadership to determine behaviour changes and talent development strategy.

2- Assess culture on six practices to determine its capacity to change behaviour.3- Establish metrics and design empowerment intervention.4- Pilot program.5- Iterate, stabilize, and scale.

WHEN IS THE PRACTICE OF EMPOWERMENT USED?

I would now like to turn to the part in which we’ll see when the practice of empowerment is used. As you can see in this table, both private and public firms use this method. One of the most important disadvantages of it is that it takes a long time to be completed.

ENDING.

So, that brings me to the end of my presentation. Let me just run over the key points again.

In the first part of the presentation, we saw what is the Employee Engagement Process, its history, how does it work and when is it used.

In the second part of the presentation, we’ve covered what is the practice of empowerment, how can we empowering the space, the empowerment model and methodology and finally when is the Practice of empowerment used.

CONCLUSIONS.


Let me finish by showing you a video which represent the conclusions of my talk. This video covers the importance of the empowerment within the engagement process, and vice versa.

Thank you very much for your attention and if you have any questions or comments, I’ll do my best to answer them.


engagement = empowerment; empowerment = engagement

Business