An Interview: Employee engagement built around helping employees take charge of their careers

I was honored to be interviewed by softgarden, the Germany based e-recruiting software company on employee engagement.  Below is the interview that went live today.

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This week we caught up with Industry Expert Ronald Thomas to see what he had to say on the topic of employee engagement. In his previous Senior role at Martha Stewart Living, Ron developed a program to help employees take charge of their careers and essentially develop their own engagement by choosing the right path. We got in touch to find out more.

SOFTGARDEN:
In your recent article on TLNT you discuss how businesses can help employees develop their own engagement, do you think this is a tactic that other, smaller businesses can adopt? Is there is a danger that it could potentially harm staff retention?

Good Times or Bad, Everyone is Watching What Management is Doing

“In the end, I want to know that the next paycheck is coming. Everything else is secondary.”

I thought of that statement from an employee who was afraid that they could be laid off.

When I read about Hewlett-Packard’s impending layoff of 27,000 plus employees, I had a flash back. The subtitle of this announcement was that this would produce cost savings of $3.5 billion.

Plan for the survivors-ALWAYS

Great Managers, Great Leadership; Think of Them as Engagement Maestros

A new VP rides into town for the holidays!

This past week in New York, as in other cities, there were Christmas parties all over town.

In this case, the department got together with drinks, food and holiday festivities. It was a festive occasion with everyone engaged and having a heck of a time. The new VP walks into the room and works it masterfully. He had conversation for everyone; not just fake small talk, but actual conversation with each person about their work and who they were.

A Gen Y person that I know is not satisfied with her job and works for this company. Her complaints were that the job is not challenging and she has nothing to do but basically sit and do make work. She was actively looking for something else, spending lots of time trying to get out.

However, internally she had already been identified as a superstar by all. Although she has been there only a short time, she is known as the go-to person to get it done. She has grasped the business, speaks in meetings, and asks relevant questions that managers have told her that they wished they would have asked.

Employee Engagement? In a Business, It Needs to Start at the Very Top

A fish rots from the head down, as the saying goes.

While the word rot sounds offensive, let’s just say it starts from the top.

This week, I was having a conversation when someone mentioned to me that their new CEO of her company was in town. She was slated to be in the New York office for a couple of days.

This CEO met with the senior staff, and as they gave her a tour of the building, she passed numerous employees. In that passing she acknowledged no one — no eye contact, no nod of the head, and basically no “how are you?”

What an Orchestra Can Teach Us About Employee Engagement

“My first concert will be a special one; it will be in front of a private audience.”

That was the response from the recently hired conductor of the L.A. Philharmonic, Gustavo Dudamel. His approach to classical music is taking the classical music industry by storm. He was (and is) the youngest conductor of a major orchestra in the world. He was only 29 when hired by the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

There was discussion among the board that maybe he is a little too young and unorthodox to hold such a prestigious position. That first statement about the first concert had everyone on the edge of their seats. The question that was twirling around in their mind probably was, WHO is this special audience he’s talking about?

Public television has some of the most amazing documentaries that are always a staple in our house, even if I am the only one watching. I am always partial to classical music and opera. When I saw this special, I knew that it would be one that I would not multi-task while watching.

Conventional Leadership Wisdom is Wrong – and Why We Need to Change

Last Friday, I was interviewed as part of the Executive Conversation Series at the Human Capital Institute where I serve as a member of the Expert Advisory Panel on Talent Management. We spent an amazing hour discussing the The Look of Leadership 3.0

I started my conversation with the analogy about the styles of leadership over the years: Henry Ford, Jack Welch, Steve Jobs, Eric Schmidt, Mark Zuckerberg, etc. If we were able to do a comparative graph, the styles of leadership of each of these legendary individuals and leaders the arc would be off the chart.

Each one is a masterful leader in his own right. Could Henry Ford or Jack Welch manage a workforce today with the same level of success. I personally think not. The evolution of modern leadership requires a different style from what may have been successful years ago.

Why Talent Management is the end all be all for your organization!

HR has gone through so many transformation over the years that as soon as you get the handle on a new process, strategy or title, here comes another take on HR strategy and development. Think of the transactional role, the generalist role, the business partner model and now comes Talent Management.

I decided to do some research to find out where and when that term, talent management came into the HR space. From what I found, it was a term coined by David Watkins of Softscape, published in an article in 1998. This term is so prevalent in today's business environment. Companies are now faced with how to deal with talent due to the expected upheaval that is headed towards company's today.

The Tsunami is coming

Years ago, Paul Revere came galloping across the countryside of Lexington and Concord warning the colonists that “The British are coming!” In Medieval England the town criers were the chief means of communication. Now I am in no way comparing myself to Revere or the town crier in any way but we as HR folks are headed into the storm.

As an avid reader of white papers and research related to Retention, Employee engagement and leadership to name a few, I came across 4 surveys that had me thinking about my above prediction.