You are engaged!
Sometimes we can fool ourselves into thinking that we’re listening to what our people have to say when in fact, we’re still in ‘broadcast’ mode. People know when they’re being listened to and when they aren’t. One strong sign is when something they contributed makes a difference. Of course, you can’t action everything everyone says – but don’t ask people to engage if you’re not prepared to listen and change what you plan to do as a result.
Social media technologies really can make a difference here – but only if business leaders think of them as listening tools first and ways to communicate second.
Time and again we hear from people who believe that their leaders are going through the ‘engagement’ motions when all they want is for their experience to make a positive difference.
What are you listening to? And more importantly, why?
I loved this picture. Agree that engagement is so often managed like an internal advertising campaign, it’s as if people don’t trust that their own human, warts and all personality is enough. Think you should show this one to all your clients so they are inspired to go out more (big picture in hand)!