TM - August 2007 - (Page 23) ensure business success. How about the highly engaged workforce at Wang Labs in the early 1980s? Before the introduction of personal computers, Wang enjoyed a huge share of the word processing market. Although it workforce was highly engaged, the company’s sense of the market was that men wouldn’t do word processing and that the personal computer was just a fad. condition for ensuring business success. Engagement is also a function of factors that can be beyond the control of the human resources function — leadership vision, innovative products and technology and efficient processes all play vital roles. For this reason, engagement needs to be viewed through a wider lens. The HR function and its flagship employee survey program can play a vital role in this bigger picture. Tracking Engagement at BMO Financial Group But survey results alone can’t increase engagement or productivity. That is why BMO expects its front-line supervisors to respond to the survey results with an action plan that addresses the areas causing dissatisfaction within their group. Showing employees that their input can create results is important because it keeps worker participation in these vital communications high, Taggart said. “When choosing to work for a company, the most important thing to people is feeling like they’re involved and part of the success of the company,” she said. “The way that you get people to stay involved is to show that their voice is creating change.” Personal communication is also necessary at all levels of the organization to accurately track employee engagement, Taggart explained. Skip-level managers play a critical part in monitoring how employees engage with their direct supervisors, and conversations between workers and senior management often can uncover issues missed in the survey, she said. “Having different levels of management walking around, being involved in the company, provides a good barometer of what people are thinking and how they’re feeling,” she said. “So, our leadership style is very much to encourage two-way, open dialogue.” Senior leadership also can communicate directly with the employee population through the company’s Water Cooler online forum. CEO Bill Downe started the message board when he took over in March to help him get in touch with the company’s workforce. To spark discussion, he intermittently posts questions related to the way the organization is run. He then comments on the organization’s stance on the issue or asks the relevant department to discuss its plans for addressing the topic. By consistently responding to the results of the employee survey and actively listening to the concerns of its workforce, BMO has put together a detailed and accurate picture of its employee engagement. Both its engagement scores and participation rates have steadily increased every year — 84 percent of the workforce participated in 2006 — showing that tracking efforts have been a success, Taggart said. “We’re in this for the long haul, so there’s a lot to be said for being consistent,” she said. “Even though we had a lot of leadership change going on this year, our engagement survey results were still very strong. We have great, committed employees who really care about this company.” How about the highly engaged crew at Microsoft in the mid-1990s, sitting atop a dominant economic model but slowly responding to the Internet wave about to crest? To Microsoft’s credit, a few lone voices and Bill Gates’ about-face allowed the computer giant to redeploy itself for success. Engaged employees, though, can just as easily walk off a cliff in their zeal for the organization. Clearly, engagement is a necessary but insufficient Optimizing for Business Success No doubt, companies need smart, energized people. They also need great ideas and operational execution. In combination, these factors describe an organization that is aligned for success: • Strategy Deployment: Creating a valuable journey. • Employee Engagement: Committing to the journey. August 2007 talent management magazine www.TalentMgt.com 23 http://www.TalentMgt.com
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