Beyond Employee Engagement

Employee engagement is a key contemporary topic in organizations. It often features as one of the high level performance metric. There are credible research articles on how organizations with more engaged employees outperform lesser counterparts on hard performance indicators. In my view, Employee Engagement is a manifestation. It is a lag indicator of something deeper.

 

When powerful majority investors and/or board puts ambitious expectations- bordering on greed on its operating management, then the challenge is – can employee engagement be driven as a philosophy or it degenrates into a mere set of fancy buzzwords and initiatives? Explosion of knowledge/information and global connectedness- thanks to technology- has made a profound impact on employee demographics and behaviors. They cannot be convinced by empty rhetoric. It’s the time for authentic leadership- stating and standing for what ones believes in.

 

I see a silent but definite shift in behavior of the workforce today. Noticeably, it is a pleasure watching  Gen-Y workforce traits at work. They are unafraid to speak their mind out, want work-life balance and want to do something meaningful in and through their work.

 

Leadership with dual standards will be increasingly tested and challenged in years to come. There may be expressed disapproval or passive resistance or even turnover- but contemporary workforce is not going to accept substandard or two faced leadership.

 

Time for new paradigms, fresh perspectives and deeper search of leadership ethics…fascinating indeed!