Engagement: Lessons from History
"Fact One: The business world is now very familiar with the benefits of an holistic approach to Employee Engagement, thanks mainly to the MacLeod Report released a decade or so a go.
Fact Two: The benefits of this holistic approach to employee engagement are now accepted to be transformational, if properly applied.
Fact Three: UK adoption has been been very poor across all sectors of the working population whether public or private, big or small.
Fact Four: Despite the national inertia, over the last ten years, QuoLux™ has developed a remarkable record on incorporating employee engagement into all aspects of real time, not theoretic, management.
The reason: it develops enthusiasts and supports senior management directly through its LEAD™ programme and indirectly through its supportive network. The outcome, if transferred to the national economy, would be worth billions and advance our place in world competitiveness."
This introduction to the guest blog comes from John Oliver OBE, former CEO of Leyland Trucks and one of our LEAD™ Masterclass speakers. John has a long-standing interest in the theory and application of Employee Engagement and contributed to the MacLeod Report (formally titled Engaging for Success: enhancing performance through employee engagement, published in 2009). Providing expert insights and evidence, he also acted as a case study for "radical" employee engagement, particularly within the manufacturing sector.
This is what John shared recently:
"I recently resurrected some old case studies in Engagement from my days with Optima and Team Enterprise Solutions. The exercise reinforced three conclusions about the philosophy:
1. You can't be half in with engagement to extract the benefits. The key decision makers have to do a lot more than simply express permission: they have to believe, practice and exemplify the value system underpinning engagement. And be perceived to be doing so.
2. The benefits of engagement, whether expressed in hard metrics or in cultural advancement, are far, far greater than generally proclaimed. All the case studies showed productivity improvement at 40% or higher, alongside massive increases in turnover, profitability and quality. Adopting engagement as all-embracing organisational philosophy seems to offer the possibility of total transformation.
3. All the case studies were characterised by leaders who led from the front. Whilst differing greatly in personality, they all seemed to exhibit personal humility with a deliberate suppression of their own egos, an absolute belief in building workforce self-esteem though keen interpersonal skills alongside a detailed understanding or focus on the business needs.
It is this last element that has made me reflect. I have always believed that charisma was a totally unnecessary trait in being a great manager. Belief in people and a dedication to excellence were far more important. But each of the successful case studies, and there are quite a few that didn't succeed, was led by someone remarkable.
Dick Frost made a huge success at Leigh Paints with his infectious optimism and restless searching for changes to the status quo. On the other hand, David Judge at Cormar Carpets took a small and vulnerable carpet manufacturer into an industry leader by a combination of intellect and a strong belief in team working and innovation. Sir Bernard O'Connell at Runshaw College believed in excellence backed up by a strong work ethic and a willingness to challenge traditional approaches. Sir Julian Hartley at Blackpool NHS was equally impactful but in a quietly influential manner where he set a personal example in building a strong team and motivating them.
So, although I am still convinced that the traditional model of a great leader being strong, directive and independently minded is flawed in today's world, perhaps engagement does demand exceptional leaders to extract the transformational success seen in these case studies."
John's reflections land with a particular resonance for us at QuoLux™. Because what he describes - leaders who combine personal humility with an unshakeable belief in their people, who lead from the front whilst suppressing their own ego, who balance a deep understanding of business needs with investment in human potential - is precisely what we seek to develop through LEAD™.
The leaders John highlights are not remarkable because they were born that way, but because they chose to operate differently; they committed fully, not halfway. They believed in engagement as a way of leading, every day and in every interaction, not just as a policy or a programme.
And that, perhaps, is John's most important conclusion of all. Engagement does demand exceptional leaders, but exceptional leadership, as John highlights above, is less about personality type and more about conviction, consistency and the courage to put your people first.
The national picture John describes - widespread awareness, poor adoption and untapped potential worth billions to the UK economy - hasn't changed dramatically since the MacLeod Report was published. But the evidence from our LEAD™ delegates and from the leaders John has studied across decades, tells a different story: transformation is possible, and it starts with the decision to be all in.
If you'd like to explore what that looks like in practice, the LEAD™ programme might be exactly the conversation worth having. If you'd like to find out more, please contact us here.
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