Wright Results

Employee? 5 questions about your own engagement.

This week’s postings — today, Wednesday and Thursday — turn the table. Each of the next three days, I’ll list 5 specific ways you can look at, like or dislike, decide to upgrade (or not) your own employee engagement.

Starting with 5 questions. Why not set aside some time, perhaps 30 minutes each of the next 5 days. Then ask and answer one of these questions each day. Consider how [...]

Giving the manager more to do?

I know, managers already have more than plenty to do! But it’s a sure bet that these 3 management actions boost engagement by employees. And it’s a fact that engaged employees need less management hand-holding. So, consider

Planning communication. The more often and the more ways a manager talks to an employee, the more opportunities the employees has to feel meaningful, valuable, and appreciated. That means more reasons the [...]

Developing employee engagement: management’s role

Evidence gives responsibility for employee engagement to managers and their management style. But is that responsibility to direct employees to engage or to develop their engagement (and engagement culture)?

Douglas McGregor, in The Human Side of Enterprise (1960), said: “The effectiveness of organizations could be at least doubled if managers could discover how to tap into the unrealized potential present in their workforces.”

McGregor [...]

Do you manage to success? You can!

Manager → Management Style → Engagement → Success

The above sequence pretty much says it all. And more often than not business owners look at that sequence on the back of my business card and nod their heads. Sometimes they even say, “That’s what every business needs to remember.”

Then they focus on what they hope will contribute to success but which too often has nothing to do with managers, their style, or employee engagement.

Here’s the case made simple:

Success comes from employee [...]

If you plan to engage, plan to communicate

One more post about communicating, the #1 key to improving employee engagement.

How much and how well a manager communicates with an employee directly determine how readily that employee engages in her work performance.

It’s easy to think, I’ll pay more attention to communicating with every one of my employees. Then it’s even easier to push that idea to the back burner.

So build a plan to communicate regularly with each individual [...]

Communicate well? Commit to even better.

Communicate well? Great. You can communicate even better.

No matter how excellent a communicator one is, she can always communicate better.

No matter how engaged your business’s employees are, they can always be a bit more engaged.

Those two “betters” go together.

Improve the quantity and quality of your communication and you’ll see the quantity and quality of your employees’ engagement rise. I suggest three meaningful (but not too [...]

How you can communicate engagement with employees

DiSC Assessment

The business that practices consistent communication throughout it organization always demonstrates higher levels of employee engagement. Those businesses are typically more successful.

Consider the value to your business of

Consciously improving communication among employees. Gaining clear awareness of how employees perceive their work and workplace. Identifying a new employee’s or candidate’s preferences regarding work style. Knowing specific behaviors (above and beyond just skills) each employee contributes to your [...]

Speaking engagement #4

Let’s take a quick look at the most prominent presentation tool used today: Power Point.

More exactly, let’s look at 5 specific ways to make your Power Point deck (of slides) truly complement your presentation. Rather than distract from it.

One point per slide. Clarify and specify points…one at a time.

Visual is better than text. Your slides should illustrate what you say. Not be required reading.

lllustrate your point. [...]

Speaking engagement #3

I’m continuing this (busy) week with the idea of “speaking engagement”…not the paid-to-present kind. Rather the presentation that allows you to engage your audience fully and favorably in what you have to say.

Content is what it’s all about, literally. Here are 5 ideas to keep in mind as you work with your content.

1. Have a solid base. If your presentation is factual, be sure your info is accurate. [...]

Speaking engagement #2

Continuing about communicating with the power to engage….

Lots of evidence that the manager’s power to communicate effectively with employees is root cause of employees’ become engaged…and staying engaged.

Here are 4 quick and easy tips for starting your presentation, whether it’s big and formal or personal and informal:

Start with a Question. By opening any meeting with a question and then waiting for the individual(s) to answer, you immediately create [...]