First & Foremost
Companies have figured out what the best leaders knew all along: a strategy is only as good as the people and the systems that carry it out.
The most brilliant business idea takes scores of no less brilliant insights at every step of the execution in order to make it in the real world. These insights must come from people at every level of the organization.
In 1969, Thomas J. Watson, Jr, the second CEO of IBM, said,
“There are a lot of ideas worth listening to in this company. Let’s be sure we’re paying attention. We are never so rich in ideas that we can afford not to.”
Old news, right?
The new news is that business insights favor a particular state of mind that business psychologists call employee engagement.
They also agree that being engaged in one’s work is not a permanent characteristic of any individual. Rather, it is the way our mind responds when certain conditions are present.
Employee engagement starts with an individual. From there, it can go out like a light or spread like wildfire.
Companies that have learned to sustain, connect, and communicate engagement in their ranks have created something larger than the sum of its parts – an engaged workplace.
The whys of an engaged workplace are well-known:
- higher productivity
- better customer service
- lower turnover
Now what about the hows? How can rank-and-file employees, managers, and executives each contribute to an engaged culture?
Research shows that these 22 practices of some of the happiest workplaces in America can transform your daily experience, your team, and your business.