Achieve Organizational Advancement by Investing In Human Capital: 6 ways to engage employeesEven though 25 years of organizational research indicates that individual behaviors are hard-wired by the time employees enter the workforce, you can shift organizational behaviors. You can guide employees toward supporting team development, the business case for change and new strategic business objectives.As a result, you create a culture that aligns, manages, changes and engages your employees. And with that comes increased performance.Like any good recipe for increased organization and workforce performance improvement, having the right ingredients integrated together , supported by an investment in your people and kept in balance, yields a predictable increased performance outcome. Sinclair GroupSG0a1e033b-5563-44c7-aaa8-abced7fe8f88Mark HordesSenior Vice President - Organizational ExcellenceIncreased performance78d4c946-cfc5-4b4f-b238-3d1061ea24f8[To set forth six ways in which] leadership can positively affect the level of employee engagemente03f8581-f210-404a-9dfb-f65a80c555e3Employee EngagementEmployee engagement is:1. The degree to which employees identify with the company along with their willingness and ability to contribute to the company's success.2. The extent to which employees put discretionary effort into their work, in the form of extra time, brainpower and energy. It's a conscious choice an employee makes that includes rational (thoughtful planning), emotional (feeling and attachment) and behavioral (time and effort) components.3. Not something a company does with or to an employee. It's something an employee chooses to do.Employee engagement is a revitalized way to define an old concept:A psychological contract where the organization invests emotionally in its workforce. In exchange, employees make a similar emotional investment, investing their discretionary effort into their work and delivering superior performance. Since engagement is largely emotional, it requires meeting basic human needs in the workplace to support and sustain top performers. It also requires that the nature and design of the work itself, as a motivator, be considered as to whether it provides opportunities for achievement, recognition, challenge, responsibility and growth.CommunicationIncrease communication using an unrelenting and disciplined approach, which is open and honest, two-way and uses multiple methods.e3102b97-0297-4551-bb9c-b9919bee5c3b143e72a74-837d-4f4e-adc4-ee1d15ceea6442e274b8-285d-4f13-b684-423a77380273CommunicationOpennessTo be specifiedTo be reported6146d741-590f-461e-a3e2-aa947bdcb5abCommuncationHonestyTo be specifiedTo be reportedcddfd9f7-0bba-4c3f-8e60-c3e478f4c7d0CommunicationMethodsTo be specifiedTo be reportedGrowth & DevelopmentEmbrace employee growth and development with training opportunities, job design and career discussions.afb4b1bc-2d67-4410-a0b1-c4287a7bdb582Employees296d97d2-d2e6-4b38-8470-6dc666eda50a42e274b8-285d-4f13-b684-423a77380273TrainingOpportunitiesTo be specifiedTo be reported5effaf88-aad5-482d-a9c9-716fc5bb3598Job DesignTo be specifiedTo be reported01c70e04-3f2c-433d-9a2b-ffbe525b5118Career DiscussionsTo be specifiedTo be reportedProcesses & ToolsMake it easy to take pride in work and accomplishments by providing best-practice work processes and tools and removing barriers.994db808-49dd-4c2a-b51b-d610e7a021c332d2e7af3-30c9-426a-a980-f38f4371af2042e274b8-285d-4f13-b684-423a77380273ProcessesBest PracticesTo be specifiedTo be reported139d1b8f-691b-45e3-8009-1360abf7bfceToolsEase of UseTo be specifiedTo be reported37821702-b712-4144-995d-960ccf46ddd6BarriersRemovalTo be specifiedTo be reportedAppreciation & RecognitionProvide public appreciation and tangible recognition that is personal and team-based, frequent and timely.777fb1b2-f0b6-4eec-addd-333117e6d40a4530e3101-0511-4c8c-93c2-db103bba3c9442e274b8-285d-4f13-b684-423a77380273RecognitionTimelinessTo be specifiedTo be reportedOpportunitiesLook for opportunities for employee involvement and create openings for their choice to engage such as the use of network cross-function teams.b763c554-b598-47cc-8394-f1dca90114cb55954dd40-4e52-4418-9481-a24685a6118842e274b8-285d-4f13-b684-423a77380273Employee EngagementOpportunitiesTo be specifiedTo be reportedResources, Training & CapitalMake employee engagement a strategic initiative supported resources, training and capital.3f5970c1-9006-441c-bc3b-e1660e541ee96dda5f651-9890-4395-b4a5-e630575140a142e274b8-285d-4f13-b684-423a77380273ResourcesTo be specifiedTo be reported2d284efd-c8d5-462e-9a9c-4c946faf8b15TrainingTo be specifiedTo be reportedf15fe12f-652c-4236-94a9-817247593fdcCapitalDollarsTo be specifiedTo be reportedWorkforce BehaviorsShift workforce behaviors 70e28d9d-5d0a-40fa-b943-07c26403feef6.1Follow these four simple steps to make it happen:f7764ee2-a2bd-4b10-bf7d-807b28e26792Culture AlignmentConduct a culture alignment assessment with all employees.6ccdbb12-8ee6-490d-8637-3f5dc10729c16.1.1Taking a pulse of the current state of an organization’s culture is a critical first step of an effective intervention process.For example, determining the values, behaviors and personal work styles of an organization provides the needed data to define the size of the gap between today’s culture and the aligned one you’re working towards. This assessment process also gives you the capability to track cultural shifts over time. This will be helpful to your management team when they are asked to resource interventions and fund activities to reach the new and aligned cultural status.Employeesf58b5093-034d-497c-be15-ac8637c92297Values, Behaviors & Work StylesDeterminationTo be specifiedTo be reportedLeadership StylePromote one leadership style.de8d57ce-983d-4475-8ea2-472585b27a5b6.1.2Undoubtedly, management consultants and theorists promote dozens of leadership approaches. Approaches include situational leadership and participative management to leading from the top and transformational leadership. All of these example approaches have merit. The danger comes when your leadership team sends managers to different leadership training, and everyone comes back with a different approach. It's the fastest way to create confusion for employees as they work for multiple leaders and with other employees who work with other leaders. Pick and promote one leadership approach for everyone to follow and train everyone on its principles and practices... Choose a leadership approach that instills positive mutual purpose and intent. After establishing this, skills in active listening, decision-making through alignment and using challenge as a positive process, can create the level of leadership success you seek for your company.LeadersPerformera060cb04-caa3-4e09-ad9a-dcd60913f40aLeadership StyleDeterminationTo be specifiedTo be reportedAlignmentCreate a clear line of sight to reach alignment. 3c35db2e-2e5e-4a06-8e25-d6b11a24a8376.1.3Do we all agree? Does anyone not agree? Do we have consensus? Are we all aligned? Is anyone not aligned? Wow! This can be confusing. It’s essential to teach employees and teams how to be aligned and supportive with the decisions they make. The secret lies in teaching everyone how to question effectively, listen actively and demonstrate open advocacy, while stressing authenticity.Alignment comes about when employees are clear on how to gain alignment on the small steps that ultimately build into larger areas of agreement. Having an effective protocol to communicate and reach alignment within our team helps to make alignment a reality.Performer5fc9cee7-1f27-47eb-a8d0-9dd227d37fd2Line of SightClarityTo be specifiedTo be reportedTrainingTrain on how to distinguish assumptions from facts. 8b4ebf0b-297e-4893-a290-4b51185cd96f6.1.4There's a significant distinction between making assumptions and examining facts. Sometimes there are not enough facts to make an assumption about a situation that employees face and need to solve. In this case, employees can only search for more facts, or in other cases, employees may not safely assume anything based on the information provided. This is a very difficult behavior to change. People jump to conclusions quickly based on their cultural biases, personal history or current experience.It's a lesson worth teaching. Help employees reach a higher level of consciousness by being aware of the differences between assumptions and facts, and to know when they need more information. The benefits of this type of learning have broad and far-reaching implications on how an organization works and how employees develop and implement solutions.Performerbdac84ec-da02-4fc2-9d9f-ffa38c6e1444DiscernmentCapabilityTo be specifiedTo be reported2013-11-16http://www.sinclairgroup.com/editor_uploads/documents/Article_Achieve%20Organizational%20Advancement.pdfOwenAmburOwen.Ambur@verizon.net