Category: Engagement

Twelve Miles In These Shoes

Today, March 18th 2011 I walked 12 miles in these worn out trainers to a customer’s office to do some work. Why? To help raise funds for Red Nose Day, simple as that.

I managed to cover the 12.4 miles in 3 hours and 2 minutes.

I took my camera and Garmin GPS so I will post some video clips and the GPS track of the route later. I also left occasional tweets along the way to let folk know how badly I was feeling!

If you would like to help ease my pain a little, there is a donations page here. Some very kind people have donated a total of over £200 so far. Thanks to:

Ailsa, Deadbeat Mum, Jose, Peter, Alison, David, Clare, Candice, Chris, Alison, Uka, Stewart, Rachel, Michelle, eva, Julia, Tijen, Flora and Angela.

Update: GPS track – shows I managed an average moving speed of 4.4mph, oh if only I hadn’t had to stop at the lights so often eh!

12 mile walk to work for Red Nose Day
12 mile walk to work for Red Nose Day

The Art of Engagement

I spent last night having my brain stretched at a debate called “Employee Engagement, art or science? Fact or fiction? The event was put on by Matt O’Neill and his team at Event Extra Limited and was hosted at Baker Tilly’s offices in London. The panel included Sean Trainor, John Smythe and Karen Drury.

The atmosphere was charged, helped in part by the fact that the event was being filmed. Maybe folks were hoping to deliver Oscar winning performances?

The debate moved at a good speed between the panellists, each offering different and sufficiently opposing views to make the conversation stimulating. Sean Trainor in particular was up for a fight and had some edge about him, and some humour too. I’m afraid I found the audience’s participation somewhat less stimulating. Too often folks were handed the mike only to….well, go on a bit. And I felt there were a couple of pretty poorly executed plugs too.  That said Brad Jennings made a powerful pitch for the need to see employee and customer and brand experience as connected elements of what makes work engaging. I think it was a shame that the chair, who managed the panel quite well, could not assert the same effect on the audience.

Art or science? I prefer to see engagement as an art. I believe it is fundamentally a conversational thing, and that it is simple too. And that does not make it easy. I love the arts and I love helping people to make work better.

I enjoyed Karen’s point about the slavish need for consultants to connect engagement so directly to measurable results. Personally I often tell the board of prospective clients that together we don’t really know what we’re doing. We’re going on a journey of discovery which my experience and global research shows us can lead to lots of real benefits and lots of fun. Will it work? That is largely down to them. I’m not ashamed to say I don’t have the answers; it’s usually the folk at the front line who do. I can help draw those answers and insights, and together we can shape a different future for the customer. Does that cost me business? Probably – but it’s business from half hearted folk that I wouldn’t want anyway and at least we both found out early on that we aren’t suited.

Overall I thought the event was well run and good fun. Well done Matt and co. I look forward to hearing the debate continue.

Other resources: Scott McKenzie’s Collective Conversation Blog

Employee Recognition

There’s a Simpson’s episode I love, called “Brother, Can You Spare Two Dimes?” The plot starts: A routine physical exam at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant reveals that Homer Simpson has become infertile after being exposed to radiation. Fearing a lawsuit, plant owner Mr. Burns awards Homer with the “First Annual Montgomery Burns Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Excellence” and a $2,000 prize in exchange for a legal waiver freeing the nuclear plant of all liability. Homer is dazzled by the award and Burns is off the hook. Good work Mr. Burns. Eeeeeexcellent in fact.

Employee recognition is a topic which seems to divide folk. I know people who love to get formal recognition, a certificate and a prize similar to Homer’s, and I know folk who hate it. However it is done, one of the things which sits at the heart of good recognition is a sense of immediacy, and another is authenticity.

With this in mind I want to share a couple of fantastic award categories which have been sent in to me. I’ve made them anonymous, apart from that they are repeated verbatim, in full. These were ‘awarded’ every two months, and the wording on the certificates was always the same.

Significant contribution award

For demonstrating outstanding quality ingenuity or perseverance and maintaining an excellent level of professionalism

Team award

For teams displaying initiative through innovation by improving current practices or identifying and solving problems

Monty Burns would be proud of these – how might you feel if you received one?