prof katie truss - ppma conference 2010
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The Fulcrum between skills and employee engagement, Presentation on brand new leading edge researchTRANSCRIPT
Creating an Engaged Workforce: The Critical Skill?
Presentation to the PPMA ConferenceMarch 2010
Professor Katie TrussCentre for Research in Employment, Skills and Society
Kingston Business School
“Public sector
managers need
to do better!”“Job cuts signal start of public sector recession”
“2/3 of public sector
HR managers think
they will be directly
affected by expected changes”
“The UK started well
behind other
countries in investing
in our skills base ...
We are not catching
up fast enough”
“350,000 public sector job cuts by 2014”
Financial Pressures
Skills Shortages
Increasing Demands Overload!
So... where does
engagement fit in?
Performance
Engagement
Skills
1.5m Google hits
2010 HR Directors’ ‘key challenge’
CIPD Core Competence
MacLeod Review
Today’s Big Idea
... but what is it?
Involving front-line staff in policymaking?
Creating co-operative governance?
A workplace approach aimed at getting employee commitment to goals and values?
A positive attitude towards the organisation?
William Kahn: 1st Engagement Champion
“ People are constantly bringing in and leaving out various depths of their selves during the course of their work days ... The terms developed to describe these calibrations of self-in-role are personal engagement and personal disengagement. I defined personal engagement as the harnessing of organization members’ selves to their work roles.”
(Kahn, 1990: 693-4).
The ConsortiumPartnership:10 membersacademic teamCIPD 2 years
in-depth research5,500 questionnaires180 interviews
Aim: to explore engagement in context
Amey Mace Nampak Veolia Birmingham City Council NHS Trust Gvt Department Pharmaceuticals Automotive Financial Services
Engagement strategies are interventions intended to raise engagement levels
Engagement is:... a feeling... a mindset... a way of behaving
An Engaged Employee
... thinks hard about work
... discusses work with others
... feels good about work
Affective
SocialIntellectual
The Three Facets of Engagement
Question ...
Can ANY job be engaging?
‘When the Apollo mission was going to the Moon, the journalists were at the launch site and were trying to find someone to give a comment.
One found an old guy who worked there cleaning the floor.
They said to this guy, ‘Well, sir, what do you do here?’
And he replied, ‘I’m putting a man on the moon’.
... And that’s my aspiration, to have our employees thinking they are putting a man on the moon.’
www.photos8.com
WHAT DETERMINES ENGAGEMENT?
Engagement
Individual
Job
Employer
Manager
The potential for work engagement lies within every individual. Realising this is the task of the manager.
Why bother?Wellbeing
Sustainability
Job Satisfaction
Innovation
Performance
Commitment
Engagement Extent
Engaged0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
SocialAffectiveIntellectual
Engagement Frequency
Daily/Once a week0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
SocialAffectiveIntellectual
Implications of low levels of social engagement ...
Types of Engaged Employees
Long Distance Runners
Grand Prix Drivers
Flatliners Pole Vaulters
StrongWeak
Infrequent
Frequent
© Kingston Business School
Rates of Engagement
Long Distance Runners
Grand Prix Drivers
Flatliners Pole Vaulters
© Kingston Business School
43%
14%
10%
33%
Source: Truss et al., (March 2010) Harvard Business Review
Challenges
Flatliners
• Manage negativity
• Remotivate
Long Distance Runners
• From moderate to high
• Deploy to motivate
Pole Vaulters
• Match to interesting jobs
• Set clear objectives
Grand Prix Drivers
• Channel energies
• Role models
How many are there?
Question:
Is engagement always a good thing?
The Engagement CurveStrongly Engaged
Over-Engaged
Neutral
Engaged
Performance and Wellbeing
Disengaged
© Kingston Business School
Engagement Outcomes
Fit Non-Performers6%
Fit Performers32%
Unfit Non-Performers
1%
Unfit Performers2%
Fence Sitters59%
Low
High
Wellb
ein
g
PerformanceHighLow
Sustainable Engagement?
“I had a guy who used to be full-on and he had a heart attack, lovely guy, quite young,
31. When he was in hospital, he starts e-mailing, ‘I spent the weekend in hospital,
they’ve done all these tests on me, I’m just on down for an ECG, but I thought I’d just
copy an e-mail to you, I hope you’re alright’ ... “
The Engagement Equilibrium
Disengaged Employees
EngagedEmployees
Engagement Drivers
Engagement
Meaningfulwork
Supportive work setting
Senior management
Linemanagement style
Voice
Person-job fit
Alfes, Truss et al. (2010)
Meaningfulness My organisation inspires me to do the best in my job 40%
Meaningfulness My work gives me a sense of personal accomplishment 74%
Voice I have the opportunity to contribute my views before decisions are made that affect me
38%
Line Management
My manager motivates me to be more effective in my job
61%
Person-Job Fit I have the skills I need to do my job effectively 87%
Supportive Work Setting
I am treated fairly at work 79%
http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/news/2010/february/people-survey.aspx
Results of the Civil Service People Survey 2009
How does Engagement work?
Management style
Meaning-fulness
Positive emotions
Engagement
Personal investment in
work
Performance
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Self-Actualisation
Esteem
Belonging
Safety
Physiological
The Meaning of Meaning
Viktor Frankl1904-1997Holocaust survivor
“We must never forget that we may also find meaning in life even when confronted with a hopeless situation, when facing a fate that cannot be changed.”
Kahn’s 3 Dimensions of Meaningfulness
The Role:• Role fit• Influence
Interactions:• Respectful• Insightful
The Task:• Challenging• Creative• Varied
Meaningfulness
Kahn (1990)
“I am providing an essential service for several hundred thousand people, in fact, probably for half a million people. So I provide a meaningful service to my customers. And I think that carries with it a social and environmental and corporate responsibility which makes it meaningful as well.”
Manager, Veolia
The Engagement Ladder
Awareness of engagement
Staff Survey Engagement Survey
Developing top-level interventions
Getting line managers on board
Developing and embedding a holistic engagement strategy
Engagement ‘Business as Usual’
© Kingston Business School
“What do I do on Monday?”David MacLeod
Measure engagement
levels
Articulate the strategy
Get line- manager buy-in
Generate buzz
Align people and jobs
Open communication
channels
Moving up the Ladder
© Kingston Business School
• Visible recognition• Staff charter• Engagement
champions
• Local self-led problem-solving teams
• Involving people• Keeping people
informed
• Volunteer schemes
• Payroll giving• Linking with local
colleges
• Clarity of expectations
• Birmingham Council’s ‘Dragons’ Den’
Valuing performance
Valuing the community
Valuing people
Valuing opinions
© Kingston Business School
Kingston Engagement Consortium: Where Next?
Consortium re-forming with CIPD support
2 years of collaboration
Mix of old and new partners
Focus on unravelling key drivers
Performance
Engagement
Skills