Employee Engagement Hub

Engagement & Motivation: Top Picks

Morale: a moving target

Duane Dike

What we think we know about morale is probably wrong, especially the black and white notion that morale is either ‘good’ or ‘bad’. Like most human feelings, morale is a moving target, which is why being sensitive to its nuances is such a key skill for leaders.

Does your behavior encourage happiness?

Duane Dike

Happiness is good for business and leadership behavior is what sets organizational mood. And nowhere is that more important than with front-line employees, who are possibly your organization’s biggest competitive advantage.

Leadership, morale and employee turnover

Duane Dike

In entry-level unskilled jobs, annual employee turnover can reach a staggering 85 percent. Yet the reasons so many employees quit so soon – and what steps they can take to reverse this trend - remains a mystery to most business leaders.

The real test of employee engagement

Wayne Turmel

We hear all the time about employee engagement and how it's measured (or not). But finally, I've found a simple metric that reveals what employers and employees alike really need to know.

A road map for employee engagement

Andy Parsley

Now that we have identified the key drivers of employee engagement, how can we start to create – and implement - a road map for achieving outstanding organisational performance?

How to motivate the unmotivated

Dan Bobinski

Motivation is fire lit from within. You can't light that fire, but you can create the conditions for that fire to burn brightly. But when you're faced with a workforce whose fire has gone out, what do you do? Here's my advice to someone in just that situation.

Your team members aren’t pawns in a chess game

Wayne Turmel

Project management and team leadership are often viewed as chess games. But there’s one important difference. Those pieces on the chess board aren’t human. Your team members are - and they need to be treated accordingly.

Enhancing engagement when flexible working isn't an option

Karen Jackson

There are many jobs where flexible working simply isn’t an option. So what alternative benefits can employers offer that will enhance employee well-being and engagement?

Effective performance management can help reduce quiet quitting

Laura Moncrieffe

If organisations want to overcome 'quiet quitting', they need proactive, engaged leaders who are tapped in to the emotional, psychological, and financial needs of their employees.

Inclusion is the key to engagement

Wayne Turmel

How do you keep employees engaged when they aren’t interacting with colleagues every day? The answer is to try to include them whenever the opportunity arises.

The great mismatch?

Wayne Turmel

First was "the Great Resignation." Then there was "Quiet Quitting." But the latest buzzword flying around to help us understand the changing workplace is "the Great Mismatch."

End of furlough anxiety? Belongingness is the answer

Anne-Marie Finch

As the UK's furlough scheme comes to an end after 18 months, how can organisations help people facing the anxiety of returning to the office after an extended time away from the working environment?

Could Covid make us better managers?

Steven Buck

At a time when the role of the manager has arguably never been more challenging, we are starting to re-evaluate what 'management' really means.

Seven characteristics of remarkable businesses

Andy Hanselman

What makes a business remarkable? What gets people talking about it and recommending it to others? The simple answer is that they are dramatically and demonstrably different.

Win the war for talent by embracing employee feedback

Jim Barnett

What keeps people excited about coming to work every day isn’t perks or gimmicks, but a sense of purpose. So one of the key jobs as a leader is to foster and maintain this feeling every day of the week.

So you're a manager. Now what?

Dan Bobinski

As managers, we can either choose to value and develop our team members or we can look for ways to elevate our own stature. Do you know which category you fall into?

A recipe for employee motivation

Morten Bennedsen

Absenteeism is less prevalent in family firms than in non-family firms. That’s because how much time employees take off and hence the effort they put into their jobs is largely a factor of an organisation’s culture.

The harmful effects of workplace incivility

Quy Huy

Far from being trivial, incivility and low-level unpleasantness in the workplace can have disastrous results. But managers can - and should - do something about it.

Believe, and help others see why they should, too

Dan Bobinski

The power of belief is foundational to success. People who look at a challenge and say 'I can't' have already determined their outcome. That's why it is so important that managers engage team members by communicating belief in their abilities.

Workforce development or workforce disaffection?

Paul Daley

Many large businesses build their workforce development plans on the creation of a corporate elite who are fast-tracked to become the leaders of the future. But could this model of talent management be seriously flawed?

A is for Apathy

Max McKeown

If you're a manager, ask yourself this. Does your existence at work overcome apathy or add to it? Because what's the point of your job if it isn't to provide evidence that effort is worthwhile and that things can be better?

Great cultures the key to outperforming the pack

Dawna Jones

Despite all the evidence that companies with great workplace cultures outperform the pack, many organizations still fail to understand that’s it the power of the human spirit, not incentives, that will solve their disengagement problem.

Can a coin help to rebuild employee engagement?

James M. Kerr

Now that the business climate seems to be improving, do we need to design and implement sophisticated strategies to regenerate a sense of team in our firms? No, a much simpler approach can be even more effective.

Employee engagement? Forget it

Wayne Turmel

Engagement isn’t something that organizations can foist upon people or buy with better benefits or free pizza. People are engaged (or not) because they choose to be; it’s something that comes from within them. If you don’t believe me, just consider your love life.

Morale: a moving target

Duane Dike

What a difference a CEO can make!

Duane Dike

It might have been like something out of a TV soap opera, but the extraordinary saga of U.S. supermarket chain, Market Basket, is a powerful reminder of the difference that a CEO can make to a business and the value of mutual respect.

Simple ways to engage remote team members

Wayne Turmel

The reasons people become disengaged are numerous and infuriatingly complex. But there are some simple ways to pre-empt this that are particularly useful when you're team isn't in the same place at the same time.

Engage people by showing how their work contributes

Dan Bobinski

One of the secrets to creating passionate, engaged employees and to motivate teams to top performance is actually very simple. Engage people's desire to contribute by showing them how their work is part of the bigger picture.

Disengagement: when the flame dies

Peter Vajda

Disengaged, under-performing employees damage morale and hurt the bottom line. But people don't become disengaged by accident. It's the culture of the organization and the behavior of leaders and managers that determine whether employees are turned on or switched off.

Four levels of employee engagement

Mitch McCrimmon

The reason employees become disengaged is because management takes the lion's share of ownership. So if you want to build real employee engagement, relinquish your monopoly on leadership, change the way you view employees and push ownership down throughout the organization.

Employee engagement: the what, why and how

Andy Parsley

Employee engagement is the new Holy Grail for organisations worldwide. But what exactly does it mean? Why is it so important? And if you haven't got enough of it, how can you get some more?

Ten universal principles of the workplace

Dan Bobinski

Management fads come and go, but there are certain principles of good management that should be set in stone. So without further ado, here are 10 fundamental truths that together create a healthy, engaged and high-performing workplace.

12 questions to measure team engagement

Wayne Turmel

How engaged in their work are the people in your team? How do you know? These questions are critical to all managers, whether they manage a team directly or have people spread across the planet over whom they don't have direct control.

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More on Engagement & Motivation

Engage me or enrage me

Max McKeown

More managers and leaders ask me 'how to engage' and, 'how to innovate' than any other question. As well they might, given that so many of us have to disengage just to survive their endless ill-conceived meetings, badly-laid plans, and the waste, day by day, minute by minute, of our lives.

How storytelling creates a connected workforce

Andrew Thorp

Encouraging employees to share their experiences and insights connects an organisation to itself and to its customers, and it is something that should lie at the heart of every organisation's communication policy.

Core responsibilities for effective managers

Dan Bobinski

Most people who quit their jobs don't quit their jobs, they quit their boss. In other words, they get tired of dealing with someone who's not doing what's needed in the management role.

Five ways to help your sales team

Dan Bobinski

Selling is wrought with failure, rejection, and frustration. That's why your sales team needs to be nurtured, encouraged and supported. It might take a little effort, but remember, if your sales stop, so does your business.

Are your people growing or going?

Wayne Turmel

How can managers get the same commitment and hard work from a contractor or remote worker as they'd expect from someone with their eye on the corner office? The key is to help them grow.

Why your remote team members feel unloved

Wayne Turmel

Building long-term relationships with remote workers is tough, but vitally important. Because when people feel unappreciated they become less engaged. And people who are less engaged quickly become less productive.

The power of project reviews

James M. Kerr

There are few better ways to engage staff in business transformation than to institute a project review panel process. Done right the benefits will be seen not just at the project level, but on the overall employee engagement front, too.

High performance employees need to be inspired

Andre de Waal

To become a High Performance Organization (HPO) it is obviously vital to hire and retain the right employees. But employees like these don't grow on trees. An in particular, you need to inspire them.

The power of influencers

David Dumeresque

Every organisation has its influencers - individuals towards whom others gravitate, who engender trust and who can engage and motivate others. But few managers try to identify these individuals and nurture them.

The importance of not being ernest

Siobhan Hammond

Laughter is a powerful tool which can achieve astounding results for businesses. So let's use it to transform the workplace into a place of positivity, productivity and engagement.

A new variety of carrot?

Bob Selden

The metaphor of carrots as motivators is still alive and well. But carrots don't work for all of the people all of the time. So how do we package reward and remuneration to meet the needs of people at all levels of an organisation?

Beyond the pot of gold

Emma Murray

Non-existent bonuses, fewer promotions, mass redundancies and stringent budget-cuts. In times of austerity, what really incentivizes employees to get out of bed in the morning?

Getting into the FLOW

Mark A Smith

Flow is about achieving a state of focused high-performance and enjoyment where the challenge level is a match for skill level. Athletes call this place 'the zone', but it's something that you can achieve at work, too.

Give employees what they really want

Jack Wiley

There are seven key elements that contribute to the engagement, commitment, retention and overall satisfaction of employees. There's no mystery to any of them - in fact they can be achieved with little or no expense while delivering real improvements in operational performance.

Does austerity breed negativity?

Emma Murray

A hiring freeze is one thing. But cost-saving can quickly become counter-productive. And austerity measures like removing pot plants and rationing paper are only undermining morale and boosting negativity.

How to make work meaningful

Myra White

It's hardly surprising that levels of employee engagement are at an all-time low when so many of us are essentially modern-day serfs. A large part of the value that we create at work simply feeds the greed of the people at the top. And where's the meaning in that?

The bold employee experience

Shaun Smith

If you want to deliver a great customer experience you must first create an engaging employee experience. And what what motivates employees is feeling connected to the brand promise.

Gimme, gimme, gimme!

Karsten Jonsen

Many generations have said 'today's young people only think of themselves,' but this time around it may be true. So is 'Generation Me' a real phenomenon – and if it is, what are the implications for business and society?

Learning from the old beans

Peter Taylor

Every organisation faces the challenge of bringing on board and developing raw talent. So as far as project managers are concerned, what are the keys to a successful induction?

Respect, trust, confidence and Facebook

Bob Selden

If you don't want to see your firm being slammed by an unhappy employee on Facebook, ask yourself whether you have a culture of recognition within your company. Because such comments invariably stem from someone's lack of trust in their employer. And that comes down to poor management and leadership.

More Good Stuff

Green business: the HR angle

Gareth Kane

If a business is really serious about being environmentally responsible, it has to taking the environment out of the environmental manager's office and embed it in the DNA of the organisation – and that includes the HR department.

Money, happiness and motivation

Bob Selden

The first thing Clive Palmer did when he bought a loss-making Australian nickel refinery in July 2009 was to raise the of pay of its employees and then ask them how to run the business. The results have been impressive – and so too Clive Palmer's generosity in return.

Exciting work is key to engagement

Jack Wiley

Is your work exciting? If so, you're much more likely to be motivated. But can a business case be made for 'exciting work' and what can managers do to improve productivity and make the work of their teams more engaging?

How to engage employees

Mitch McCrimmon

Traditionally, executives climbed the ladder by being decisive and by appearing to know what they are talking about, not by listening to others and being great facilitators. This is why real employee engagement can be so difficult to achieve.

HR and the new normal

Andrea Adams

More and more business leaders who have survived the recession and are rebuilding their organisations are coming to realise that their business models must be overhauled and that the old ways of improving performance and managing change will no longer work.

Rewriting the rules of work

David Thompson

The rules of work are changing. Commitment, hard work and loyalty counted for little during the tough times. As a result, people are reviewing their loyalties. They want work that is on their terms. And that poses some real challenges for those who those who manage and lead businesses.

Presenting work to best advantage.

Janet Howd

A common complaint these days is that new entrants into the workforce don't want to put any effort into learning new skills. Nonsense. The real problem is that mangers are unable to tap into their obvious and zealous work ethic.

Dealing with negative energy

Jean-Francois Manzoni

Since the recession began, many organizations have had to cut costs, lose staff and demand more from their remaining employees. But this can lead to negative energy and a loss of goodwill. So how do you keep your employees on board for the road to recovery?

Trust and collaboration: a virtuous circle

Andy Atkins

Trust is an essential requirement of effective leaders. Without trust, leaders have no followers. And if they want to build trust, leaders need to understand that trust as driven more by aligned commitment and shared responsibility than by an assessment of individual capabilities.

Keeping up in a down economy

Bob Nelson

The real toll of the recession is its impact on everyday people. Smart managers know that creating a climate of fear isn't going to help. Instead, they need to focus on the right things that together create a more motivating work environment for their employees.

Employee engagement in tough times

Marcia Xenitelis

How do you inspire confidence and innovation in an organization whose employees are worried sick about their jobs? The answer isn't that complicated – and it doesn't involve employee engagement surveys.

Getting the most out of your people

Charles Helliwell

For all the talk about its importance, the vast majority of organisations simply don't take employee engagement seriously. And they never will until those who run these organisations acknowledge that every employee is a potential asset, not a liability.

The benefits of pamper power

Joe Barnhart

Despite what bankers continue to claim, money buys neither happiness nor loyal employees. So throwing good money after bad isn't a long-term solution for employees suffering from occasional feelings of low job satisfaction. There are lots of tools in the box – tools like pamper power.

The psychological contract during the downturn

Graham Dietz

While many companies concentrate on physical employment contracts during a downturn, the psychological contract often gets overlooked. Dr Graham Dietz of Durham Business School warns against this and offers advice on ensuring your company's contract remains in good health.

Strategic visioning

James M. Kerr

If an organization really wants to attract and retain the best and brightest, a good place to start is by painting a vision. I don't mean some tired mission statement, I mean something with depth, something so compelling that the average working professional wants to be part of it.

Three ways to impress your employees

Dan Bobinski

Some employers act as if they shouldn't worry about impressing their employees unless it has to do with flaunting their wealth. But most know that when they make an effort to impress their staff, the result is increased commitment and productivity.