HR experts speak about and evangelise about ‘engagement’. What does this mean? Of course engagement is all about the 4E’s: getting people excited, empathetic, ecstatic and energetic about the company and what it does. There’s nothing wrong with that, but how is that achieved? Some HR professionals think it is enough to post the words engagement on every wall, website and WC in the company, in the vain hope that the repetition will somehow rub off on staff.In reality it takes a lot more.
High Growth companies use a variety of tools and techniques some of which include:
– Setting people free to decide how they go about their work but be clear about the demands / end results – high growth leaders worry about the destination but provide some scope over the journey.
– Encourage constructive and destructive deviance in the pursuit of better / quicker ways to do existing things.
– Encourage spontaneous behaviour by leaving some aspects of work unplanned and unstructured.
– Where performance matters, insist on good prior preparation.
In addition High Growth Companies:
– Ensure their teams focus on what counts and what gets results.
– Give team members discretion on the means of production whilst being precise on the ends of production.
– Create a vacancy if any team member appears pretty vacant!
