Training Industry Magazine - Leadership 2015 Special Edition - 19

FIGURE 1.

* Pseudo compliance occurs when the employee gives the
impression he or she is positive and expending some energy, but
in reality, the individual is not.
* Waiting and seeing is when the employee chooses to put his or
her energy on hold. The employee is sitting in the stands rather
than playing on the field. The employee remains neutral and is
withholding energy until he or she either better understands the
situation or is swayed to act in some form or manner.
* Disengagement is when the individual has quit and stayed or
has made the decision to leave but is still employed. They are
negative and have no energy for work. They may be saying to
themselves, "I can't wait until I am out of here."

IMPLICATIONS FOR LEADERSHIP
If up to 80 percent of employees are potentially inactive, with a
career objective to stay under the radar and remain undiscovered,
a key responsibility of leadership becomes to refocus, re-energize
and reboot engagement.
Through our research, we learned employees want answers to
issues surrounding questions like:
* Why should we get excited about re-engaging?
* How will we be held personally accountable?
* How will we provide input to what is happening and be
informed about important issues?
* How do we work effectively with each other?
* How will we be supported?
* How is leadership showing up?
From these questions, five elements were identified that can
directly reboot both dimensions of engagement, leading to high
engagement. The good news is all five elements can by tangibly
influenced by leadership.
Here are the five ways that directly plug into the choice to reboot
engagement and/or remain engaged:
* Perceived Opportunity. Engagement happens when
employees feel they are part of something important and have
something to believe in.

* Personal Accountability. Engagement happens when
employees are clear on what is expected of them and know
the importance of giving their best. When this is the case,
personal accountability increases.
* Connectedness. Engagement happens when employees
feel connected with each other, focus on mutual interest and
operate with shared responsibility. They create a collaborative
mindset.
* Inclusion. Engagement happens when employees are wellinformed, involved and have an opportunity to openly express
their thoughts and feelings. Simply stated, people want to feel
"in" on things.
* Validation. Engagement happens when employees feel
they matter. Three elements of interest include support,
recognition and rewards.

PUTTING TANGIBLES AROUND THE INTANGIBLES
If we all understand the importance of improving employee
engagement, what are organizations doing about it? When
an engaged organization becomes unplugged and loses their
energy, what is their strategy to reboot engagement? Which
companies will find a way to change the flow of energy going out
of the organization toward one where positive energy flows in?
Which leaders will know how to engineer their culture for higher
engagement?
While these are all open-ended questions, one known fact is
that leadership is key. Leaders can either give energy or they
can take energy. Developing tangible ways to reboot employee
engagement can add surge protection to ensure alignment to
your organizational goals and strategies.
Tom Roth is chief operating officer for Wilson Learning Worldwide. He
has more than 35 years of experience developing and implementing
human performance improvement solutions, and co-author of the book,
"Creating the High-Performance Team." Email Tom.

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Training Industry Magazine - Leadership 2015 Special Edition

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