Download pdf - DNA of Engagement - Inspire Imagine Innovate€¦ · DNA of Engagement How Organizations Build and Sustain Highly Engaging Leaders. ... employee performance, improved employment brand,

R-1596-16-CEO

The Conference Board® and the torch logo are registered trademarks of The Conference Board, Inc.

CEO STRATEGIC IMPLICATIONS

This publication is part of a suite of products on this issue. For additional resources visit:

www.conference-board.org/dna-engagement

Highly Engaging Organizations Matter; Their Leaders Matter Step inside the world’s best-run organizations, and something quickly becomes clear: employees are genuinely excited to be at work. A certain level of energy and enthu-siasm permeates the air: conversations are lively, challenges are embraced, creativity is encouraged, and work gets done with a deep sense of pride and passion. This kind of engaging work environment leads to increased productivity across the organization and eventually improves its business outcomes.

But promoting a culture of engagement is not easy; it requires a robust strategy, an inspiring mission, well-designed human capital programs, effective communica-tion, supportive structures, regular assessments, empowering relationships…and outstanding, highly engaging leaders. We define a highly engaging leader as follows:

A highly engaging leader taps into the intrinsic motivations of followers, causing employees to fully invest themselves in their work. Highly engaging leaders are able to create an environment that elicits high levels of commit-ment and discretionary effort from others which, in turn, unlocks the full potential of employees. The highly engaged leader displays a personal motivation and commitment to his or her own work, which positively affects the engagement and performance of others.

Given the changing nature of the volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) business world, the urgency of effectively developing highly engaging leaders could not be greater. While many organizations aspire to promote a culture of engagement, few actually do.

DNA of EngagementHow Organizations Build and Sustain Highly Engaging Leaders

http://www.conference-board.org/dna-engagement

http://www.conference-board.org/dna-engagement

www.conferenceboard.org2 CEO Strategic Implications DNA of Engagement: How Organizations Build and Sustain Highly Engaging Leaders

Developing a compelling vision

Communicating in a way that brings people along

Setting a clear strategic direction

Builds a high-performanceenvironment by:

Setting high standards

Empowering employees

Creating a sense of urgency

Building relationships one person at a time

Providing rewards & recognition

Driving development and growth

Building trust and acting with Integrity

Challenging status quo and inspiring innovation and creativity

Fostering a culture of collaboration

HEAD

HEART

JOBORGANIZATIONPURPOSE

PASSION

PRIDE

PERSONALFIT

Source: The Conference Board

Based on an analysis of leaders from highly engaged organizations

ARE YOUR LEADERS HIGHLY ENGAGING?Do they exhibit these 12 critical behaviors?

Engaging cultures rise and fall on the basis of several critical elements, with one more critical than any of the others: the quality of leadership that exists within an organization. In the best organizations, leaders at all levels are able to foster a strong sense of purpose, pride, passion, and personal fit by mastering 12 behaviors.

Provides a strong sense of meaning and direction by:

Brings out collectivebrilliance by:

Unlocks full potential of employees by:

www.conferenceboard.org 3CEO Strategic Implications DNA of Engagement: How Organizations Build and Sustain Highly Engaging Leaders

Implications for the Chief Executive OfficerLike everything else in the organization, the tone is set at the top. The CEO plays a unique role in fostering a culture of engagement; his or her dedication is one of the hallmarks of a highly engaging culture. There are several key actions that you, as a CEO, can take:

Align employee engagement work to the mission and purpose of the organization. Connect what your organization does to the aspirations and values of your employees.

Ensure that employee engagement efforts are aligned with the business strategy. See engagement as a cornerstone of how your organization will compete and win in a VUCA world as well as engage customers, shareholders, and stakeholders in the supply chain and the community.

Actively become a champion for engagement and communicate often about its importance. Articulate why it is important and what needs to be done to create a culture of engagement. Galvanize the organization around the necessary steps and regularly communicate progress and celebrate successes.

Address labor shortages and talent retention issues by becoming an employer of choice; this is especially important as you seek to attract members of the millennial generation who will have the option to choose a company more aligned with their values. Make your organization a contender.

Hold your leaders accountable for the engagement of their teams through performance management processes. Make highly engaged teams a prerequisite for advancement and a cornerstone of leadership development processes.

Hold your CHRO accountable for engagement work that integrates the many talent management processes. Ensure that all programs and processes from talent acquisition to learning and development to career development to performance management support engagement efforts.

Hold your CMO accountable for leveraging a highly engaged workforce for brand enhancement. This can be a distinct advantage in the marketplace for both savvy consumers and future employees.


How Do Highly Engaging Leaders Approach Engagement?

1 Top Engagement Actions To build a culture of engagement, a leader must: (1) be trustworthy; (2) build relationships; and (3) communicate effectively.

2 Leadership Qualities Highly engaging leaders are more focused on being available, seeking the ideas and opinions of employees, and building partnerships for shared success than other leaders. They are more aligned with a servant-leader philosophy than a “command and control” approach.

Engaging leaders focus on ideas, well-being, partnership, and availability more so than othersWhat leadership qualities do employees value most from an engaging leader?

Quality Highly engaging

leadersOther

leaders

Trust: A leader who can be trusted 1 1

Integrity: A leader whose actions are consistent with what he/she says 2 2

Ideas: A leader who seeks out employee opinions and ideas 3 6

Purpose: A leader who develops a clear, credible, and inspiring organizational purpose 4 3

Decisions: A leader who makes sound decisions regarding the direction of the business 5 4

Well-being: A leader who is concerned about employee well-being 6 10

Treatment: A leader who makes all employees feel they are an important part of the company 7 5

Partnership: A leader who seeks to build partnership with employees 8 11

Availability: A leader who is accessible to all employees 9 13

Focus: A leader who rewards for success rather than punishing failures 10 7

n=24 n=428

Based on 452 responses from leaders, managers, and supervisors, 24 of whom were designated “highly engaging”

Source: The Engagement Institute™

0 100%

27%

Engaging leaders must be trustworthy, build relationships, and communicate effectively

* Other responses include “provide resources.”

33 12 26 2

PURPOSEProvides a strongsense of meaning

and direction

1. Communication 17%2. Vision 6%3. Strategic direction 4%

PASSIONBrings outcollectivebrilliance

1. Integrity & trust 27%2. Change 4%3. Collaboration 2%

PRIDEBuilds a high-performanceenvironment

1. Standards 7%2. Empowerment 4%3. Urgency 1%

PERSONAL FITUnlocks fullpotential ofemployees

1. Relationships 21%2. Development & growth 3%3. Rewards & recognition 2%

Other*

Based on your experience, what are the top two or three most important thingsa leader must do to be effective at building a culture of engagement?

Based on 365 responses from exemplary leaders, managers and supervisors, 24 of whom were designated “highly engaging”


CHART 1

Engaging leaders must be trustworthy, build relationships, and communicate effectivelyBased on your experience, what are the top two or three most important things a leader must do to be effective at building a culture of engagement?

* Other responses include “provide resources.”Based on 365 responses from exemplary leaders, managers and supervisors, 24 of whom were designated “highly engaging”



3 Behaviors Leaders most often motivate employees by: communicating in a way that brings people along (32 percent); building relationships one person at a time (17 percent); and driving development and growth (12 percent).

4 Challenges and Barriers For highly engaging leaders, the biggest barrier to creating a culture of engagement is ensuring that employees have the right tools and resources to do an effective job; they also perceive removing obstacles as one of the top three factors that impede employee performance.

Highly engaging leaders see top engagement challenges differently: they’re more focused on enabling employeesWhat are the greatest challenges/barriers that get in the way of creating engagement in your organization?

Quality Highly engaging

leadersOther

leaders

Tools and Resources 1 12

Challenging the Status Quo 2 2

Removing Obstacles 3 9

Strategic Direction 4 4

Change/Adaptability 5 1

Engagement 6 10

Teamwork 7 8

Development 8 11

Fairness 9 13

Decision Making 10 6

Strategic Alignment 11 5

Communication 12 7

Prioritization 13 3

Camaraderie 14 16

Innovation 15 14

Values 16 15

n=25 n=329

Based on 354 responses from leaders, managers, and supervisors, 25 of whom were designated “highly engaging”


0 100%

43%

CHART 2

Leaders engage employees through communication, relationships, and development

16 8 33

1. Communication 32%2. Vision 7%3. Strategic direction 4%

1. Collaboration 8%2. Integrity & trust 6%3. Change 2% 1. Standards 4%

2. Empowerment 3%3. Urgency 1%

1. Relationships 17%2. Development & growth 12%3. Rewards & recognition 4%

Specifically, how do you engage and motivate your employees?

Based on 266 responses from exemplary leaders, managers, and employees

PURPOSEProvides a strongsense of meaning

and direction

PASSIONBrings outcollectivebrilliance

PRIDEBuilds a high-performanceenvironment

PERSONAL FITUnlocks fullpotential ofemployees


Leaders engage employees through communication, relationships, and developmentSpecifically, how do you engage and motivate your employees?

Based on 266 responses from exemplary leaders, managers, and employees



What Is the Impact of a Highly Engaging Leader?According to the respondents at 19 exemplar organizations, the highly engaging leaders who propel a culture of engagement promote lower turnover rates, improved employee performance, improved employment brand, higher morale, and higher revenue. Organizations with employee engagement as a key pillar of their business strategy are better able to attract, retain, and incent top talent to consistently want to do what they do best every day. Highly engaging leaders provide direction and support to their teams, develop and retain employees, drive performance, and achieve ever-increasing levels of engagement.

What Are Organizations Doing to Support Leaders at All Levels?The vast majority of our respondents indicated that their talent management programs support employee engagement initiatives. These programs focus on acquisition and onboarding, career development, learning and development, leadership development, performance management, and rewards and recognition, among other things. Some examples of how exemplary organizations leverage their various talent management processes to develop and support highly engaging leaders include:

ACQUISITION AND ONBOARDINGAt Quicken Loans, every new hire, from intern to executive, attends the “ISMs in Action” program led by Chairman Dan Gilbert, who discusses the company’s culture through the 19 “ISMs.” The ISMs serve as the cultural touchstones that guide employees at all levels to fully engage in creating the company’s success. New employees are given the cell phone numbers of both the CEO and the chairman in an effort to foster a transparent and open dialogue.

CAREER DEVELOPMENTTwo career development tools at Accenture have especially helped the company retain its talent. First, Careers Marketplace is a platform designed to offer greater transpar-ency to internal opportunities and make career moves easier—inside the company. In fiscal year 2014, nearly 7,000 people landed new internal positions. Second, Accenture’s Career Connection website and digital updates are the primary sources for career information—these are a collection of resources that its people use to learn more about topics that can contribute to career growth.

LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENTThe commitment of Wipro to learning extends externally to “pre-workforce” members. Wipro’s learning academies reach bachelor of science (BSc) students at the Birla Institute of Technology and Science (in Pilani, Western India), where students can receive academic credit in applications programming (Wipro Academy of Software Excellence, or WASE) and IT infrastructure management (Wipro Infotech Master of Science, or WIMS). The WASE Academy has been offering higher education for the last 20 years and produced over 8,000 postgraduates. Currently, over 12,000 learners are pursuing their higher education in the academy.


LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENTThe Jim Skinner Institute of Leadership at McDonald’s provides training to its system leaders. The curriculum addresses leadership development needs at different points in an employee’s career. Numerous programs bring system leaders together to look at their own leadership skills through assessment, skill development, and coaching. Other programs emphasize learning about the marketplace, business strategy, and customer insights. McDonald’s has accelerated leadership development programs that typically focus on four areas: 1) leading in the McDonald’s brand system in a complex, changing world; 2) creating a climate for continuous improvement and innovation; 3) getting work done through others; and 4) sustaining the McDonald’s brand system for the future.

PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENTTo understand the impact of leadership behavior on engagement and burnout, Mayo Clinic asked more than 3,000 physicians to evaluate their department chairs’ leadership performance against the 12 Leadership Dimensions in the staff survey. Department chairs with higher leadership dimension scores resulted in staff with lower rates of burnout and higher engagement and satisfaction, which helps illustrate physi-cian supervisors’ impact on the well-being and satisfaction of individual physicians. These 12 Leadership Dimensions are now an integral part of leaders’ review processes. Each department chair has a heat map generated from the biannual all-staff surveys that rates his or her execution (measured through patient satisfaction, safety, and revenue) and his or her performance along the 12 Leadership Dimensions.

REWARDS AND RECOGNITIONCardinal Health sees recognition as one of the most critical components of employee engagement. The organization website highlights leaders or teams that are doing great things. These colleagues are also featured in town halls, which are the CEO’s and executive committee’s primary method of direct communication with employees. An interactive experience center at the corporate headquarters uses multimedia to feature leaders and how they are making a difference, building great teams, and are essential to providing care. The Bravo! recognition program allows employees to recognize anyone in the organization, and nonmanagement employees can earn points to redeem for awards. The annual Founders Award recognizes employees who best embody Cardinal Health’s values.

R-1596-16-CEO

ISBN: 978-0-8237-1219-9© 2016 The Conference Board, Inc. All rights reserved.

CONNECT with our experts, your peers, and more thought leadership on this topic: www.conference-board.org/dna-engagementFollow/join the conversation on Twitter #tcbEngagement

OUR EXPERTSRebecca Ray, PhD, Executive Vice President, Knowledge Organization, and Human Capital Practice Lead

Email: [email protected] @RebeccaLeaRayBlog https://hcexchange.conference-board.org/blog/index.cfm

Patrick Hyland, PhD, Director of Research & Development, Sirota

Adam Pressman, Global Director, Client Partnerships, Sirota

David Dye, PhD, Director, Human Capital Practice, Deloitte

Joseph Kaplan, Leader, Employee Engagement Practice, Deloitte

2015 Research Fellows of The Engagement InstituteTM

ABOUT THIS REPORTWhat are the critical behaviors highly engaging leaders must master? How do they approach engagement? And what are organizations doing to support leaders at all levels? These were central questions from the research fellows of The Engagement InstituteTM, a research community of practice that is shifting the engagement conversation from simple data capture to one of strategic intent and alignment. The institute is a joint venture of The Conference Board, Deloitte Consulting LLP, and Sirota. This report includes contributions from these three organizations and the 2015 research fellows, each of whom is responsible for leading engagement at his or her own organization. To learn more or to become a research fellow, please visit https://www.conference-board.org/subsites/index.cfm?id=15136.

LEARN MOREhttps://www.conference-board.org/dna-engagement

ADDITIONAL RESEARCHThe Conference Board CEO Challenge® 2016 Research Report 1599, January 2016Job Satisfaction: 2015 Edition Research Report 1588, September 2015 DNA of High-Performing Organizations Research Report 1576, March 2015

The Conference Board CEO Challenge® 2015 Research Report 1570, January 2015DNA of Engagement: How Organizations Create and Sustain Highly Engaging Cultures Research Report 1564, October 2014Connect, Converse, Create: How Companies Can Generate Value through Internal Social Collaboration Research Report 1543, March 2014DNA of Leaders: Leadership Development Secrets Research Report 1530, August 2013Human Capital in Review: Focus on Employee Engagement (periodical)Happiness Premium: What Companies Should Know about Leveraging Happiness in the Workplace Executive Action Report 394, March 2013

COUNCILSChief Human Resources Officers CouncilCouncil of Human Resources ExecutivesCouncil of Talent Acquisition ExecutivesCouncil of Talent Management ExecutivesCouncil of Talent Management Executives IICouncil on Leadership, Talent and LearningCouncil on Learning, Development and Organizational Performance

Council on Leadership, Talent and LearningTalent Management Leaders CouncilAsia-Pacific Human Resources CouncilAsia-Pacific Talent & Diversity CouncilEmerging Markets Human Resources CouncilHuman Resources Council–MexicoSouth Asia Human Resources Leadership Council

THE CONFERENCE BOARD is a global, independent business membership and research association working in the public interest. Our mission is unique: to provide the world’s leading organizations with the practical knowledge they need to improve their performance and better serve society. The Conference Board is a non-advocacy, not-for-profit entity, holding 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status in the USA.

THE CONFERENCE BOARD, INC. | (www.conferenceboard.org )

AMERICAS | + 1 212 759 0900 | ([email protected] )

ASIA | + 65 6325 3121 | ([email protected] )

EUROPE, MIDDLE EAST, AFRICA | + 32 2 675 54 05 | ([email protected] )

THE CONFERENCE BOARD OF CANADA | + 1 613 526 3280 | www.conferenceboard.ca

PUBLISHING TEAMSara Churchville, Peter Drubin, Kathleen Mercandetti

https://www.conference-board.org/subsites/index.cfm?id=15136

https://www.conference-board.org/subsites/index.cfm?id=15136