Tag Archives: worker engagement

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staying curious

Staying Curious Outweighs Growing Complacent

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Are you staying curious? Is there more, or have you mastered everything in sight and now prefer to keep everything exactly the way it is?

The saying is that curiosity killed the cat. It may have killed the mouse too.

Do you enjoy debating issues? Is a good debate something that energizes you?

Debates can be seen through two different lenses.

The first is that debates create winners and losers. Political debates are often structured to attempt to determine a winner. The other, is the loser.

A second view is that a lack of debate causes complacency. More debating means more discovery, more information, and a better outcome.

For workplace engagement, it might be a well-orchestrated balance of both that leads to the best teams moving forward and growing together across time.

Is curiosity important?

Staying Curious

The lifelong learner is curious. Interested to achieve more, interested about what else might work, and curious about different ways of navigating rather than being complacent and stuck.

Those who are curious ask more questions. More questions require intellectual processing, seeing things through a different lens, and careful navigation of what comes next.

Many people strike up a conversation by asking, “What’s up?”

It’s generic, it’s open, and who knows what is going to happen next.

Alternatives might be, “What’s new?” or “What are you up to?”

Finding a new path isn’t always easy. It starts by remaining curious. Nothing is standing still.

Good habits replicated across time can lead to new ways of doing things. Piece by piece, bit by bit, one drop leads to another which eventually fills the bucket.

What you’re building doesn’t happen in an instant. It often just appears that way.

The curious keep building.

A valuable habit is, staying curious.

-DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSPTM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.


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workplace acknowledgment

Workplace Acknowledgment, People Want To Be Seen

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Often there is a quest to be seen and to be heard. Have you considered the impact on workplace acknowledgment?

When was the last time you received kudos for a job well done? When was the last time you gave kudos to someone else?

Workplace engagement can be a challenging issue. How people interact, what motivates them and drives them to keep showing up day after day?

It may be some of the simple things that count.

Seen and Heard

It’s common that people want to be both seen and heard. Once in a while, they want to grab the mic and spit out something that is on their mind.

They may be cheerleading change efforts, or they may be complaining and blaming. The culture of the organization will have a lot to do with who gets the mic and when they get it, what they say.

Perhaps the biggest disconnect comes from the boss not knowing the team. The boss brushes past others in the hallway, has a special parking spot, and drives a very expensive car. The boss may also have a different budget for vacations, there is a difference in the food that they eat, and usually the size and location of their home.

People in the field, holding the front line, and getting dirty are people too.

What are you doing to ensure that people are both seen and heard?

Workplace Acknowledgment

Starting a conversation may be a great way to engage. Asking a polite and considerate question may be another. Praising someone for actions above and beyond the call-of-duty works. A simple thank you may be more powerful than you realize.

Leaders move through their day, sometimes with their vision fixed on getting to the other side of the clock. It is true for the front-line and for the C-Suite.

When you acknowledge a co-worker you’ve just created engagement.

It’s an act that is verifiable and seldom forgotten.

Paychecks matter but are quickly forgotten. When you need more engagement you can start but letting people know that they are seen. Ask a question and listen, then they are heard.

-DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSPTM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.


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worker engagement

Improving Worker Engagement or Calculating Turnover

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Putting the widget in the box may be a job. Today, mostly, this job is automated or is planned for automation soon. Is your organization improving worker engagement?

Things have unfolded rapidly in the past couple of decades.

Unemployment rates are currently trending low. Employers claim difficulty in finding employees and great employees claim finding great employers to be nearly impossible.

Putting widgets in the box doesn’t hold a very promising future. Retail commerce has made this a point. Self-checkouts, Amazon Go, and even McDonald’s restaurant franchises are changing how customers engage.

Automate the Future

Automation may reduce or even eliminate job positions as we once knew them.

The career minded person knows that putting widgets in the box is trending down.

Organizations may view it differently. Many traditional small privately-owned businesses insist on the old-fashioned way. They want to have easily replaceable and replicable workers.

Just put the widget in the box. Do it all day. Go home.

Certainly, we still have legitimate job opportunities that require this, and it isn’t all bad. However, the emerging (and existing) workforce sees this as a dead-end job.

Worker Engagement

It is true that organizational leadership can calculate big profits by dumbing down the work, hiring the least expensive workforce, and asking why turnover and hiring is problematic.

One obstacle with this model is, it doesn’t account for progress.

The model doesn’t take into consideration the cultural attributes of people. Most of all the model expects loyalty from those whose future in that job is as bright as a smoldering candle wick.

Here is an idea. Invite someone to join the team who is responsible to put the widget in the box. Then encourage them to find a way to improve, bring more value, or eliminate (automate) this job.

One job is a box packer, the other, an engineer.

-DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSPTM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

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