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The premise of my work is captured in the sub-title of my book, Difference Works: “Improving Retention, Productivity and Profitability through Inclusion.” My work is about helping business leaders be more successful. I think everyone should understand the link between inclusion and better results.
There is a lot of research showing that businesses with employees who are more engaged get better results. For example the Corporate Executive Board published “The Effort Dividend, Driving Employee Performance and Retention through Engagement” in 2004. Gallup has demonstrated that engagement is a leading indicator of financial outcomes. And the 2010 book Re-Engage: How America’s Best Places to Work Inspire Extra Effort in Extraordinary Times explores ways to maximize engagement in tough circumstances.
What is “engagement”? Essentially engaged employees feel valued, included and cared about; they have a sense of “belonging.” In today’s diverse workforce, engaging the bulk of your workers may not be as easy as when there was less diversity. To capture the upsides of engagement, it must be wide and deep. It will not work if engagement is limited to those employees who look, think and act like those at the top. To have broad engagement, all kinds of employees must experience a sense of belonging. That is where inclusion comes in.
Think of a time when you were in a familiar group where you felt liked or regarded. What happened in that situation to your energy and focus? How “engaged” did you feel? Now imagine a situation in which you felt like an outsider; you felt different; it was hard to be heard or understood. If you are a minority in a workplace that is primarily Anglo American, you may experience this often. If you are a member of the majority in your workplace, imagine a time when you were with people different from you. You may have been the only male at a meeting of business women. You may have been an American in another country where the language and customs were foreign to you. You may have been the only heterosexual at a Gay Pride gathering. In this situation, where was your focus? Did you spend energy worrying that you “stuck out like a sore thumb” or trying to figure out the norms of the group or how to fit in? What did this do to your “engagement”?
At work, when an employee’s energy or focus spent in these ways, it takes away from focus on getting the job done. It is harder to do one’s best work. Inclusion minimizes the number of employees who spend energy trying to fit in. It maximizes the number of employees who feel accepted and valued. And so it maximizes the number of employees who feel engaged and do their best work.
This is why the skills of inclusion are so important to today’s leaders. It is not about “them.” It is not just the “right thing to do.” It is about getting the best results! Inclusive leaders create cultures where engagement is broad and deep, which results in higher productivity and a better bottom line.
How have you seen engagement—or a person’s comfort level—influence the quantity or quality of work?
I have seen engagement and created engagement, with difficulty. It is very hard to engage everyone at the same time when you have individuals who joined the company at different times. Of course people can bond with people for any time, but there is always a sense of a special bond because of some memory, event or other special remembrance. I believe those special bonds can override the engagement developed when a company develops a new mission, vision or initiative and ensures that everyone is included. This is also difficult with individuals at different locations. Therefore, it is my belief that there are many levels of engagement.
I believe as an HR Professional, one has to be able to link with the individual on each level of engagement in some way. This is where the emotional intelligence is very important.
I also believe that the level of participation and the type of participation of senior management and all who supervisor must be one voice. All must speak the same language of the engagement or it just becomes a flavor of the month. I do believe if the senior managers support the engagement and make it very clear why this engagement is important to the company and to everyone, miracles can happen. The Company becomes part of who you are and the productivity sky rockets because the employees have invested in the county with their heart and soul. This is the way it should be. We spent so much of our life working. Why shouldn’t it be with such passion. It is the way I need to work and love to work.
I have always believed that everyone has to be viewed as part of the company with the same opportunity to voice ideas, to question and to share. There are so many successful companies that work differently, treat employees as partners in the business by trusting them, valuing them and caring about them. These companies find out that they get more in the end through productivity, innovation, and through a value proposition. The Company gets people who will go that extra mile. On the flip side, I have no doubt that there have been many lost opportunities because of egos, because of silo organizations, because someone “important” does not like change, because of distrust, because of favoritism or the opposite, because people prefer to hire in their own image, because diversity is frightening to them, etc. I am sure you know of many more reasons.
In my last company, which was a gift company, we had a licensed character which was a dog called Zelda. Zelda was a wise dog. She wrote positive and inspirational books. She had one poster which she signed for me which was my favorite, because I believed in it. Zelda said: Why Bee Normal? The use of the Bee is because bees are not supposed to be able to fly aeronautically, but since they don’t know that, they fly.
As the HR professional at my last company, I would try different things to engage the employee population. I had a punching bag in the office. I explained to all why it was there. After the first angry employee had an argument with the supervisor and did a little yelling and cursing in my office, many more came to talk about their problems in a place they felt safe and a place they trusted. This is how you build trust. With trust, engagement follows.
I am good at this. Unfortunately, I perceive companies today are looking for the status quo or what is safe. I have been unemployed for a long time. I have come close, but unless there is an offer of employment, close doesn’t mean anything. I may not be an unconventional candidate, but why bee normal. It is a new world, with new ideas and new ways of doing things.I have a lot to offer a company. As you asked above, “What is “engagement”? Essentially engaged employees feel valued, included and cared about; they have a sense of “belonging.” In today’s diverse workforce, engaging the bulk of your workers may not be as easy as when there was less diversity. Could it be that companies are trying to go back to less diversity? ” The true question here is; Is the workforce truly diversified?
It has been my experience, since I lost my job that companies want people who have worked in the same industries, with the same backgrounds, with the same knowledge, with the same years of experience and nothing different will be accepted. This is not diversity. This is hiring in your own image.One recruiter told me that companies are looking for people who move every two years. Since I stayed at my last company for 10 years until they filed for Chapter 7 Liquidation Bankruptcy, I was not considered for the position. I find something wrong here. We talk about engagement and holding on to talent.
What is more important to you? There are times I have been made to feel invisible. Is it me or is it the times?
Blanche Cordero
Human Resources Professional
(C) 201-264-4247
81 Deerfield Terrace
Mahwah, New Jersey 07430
*A leader’s role is to raise people’s aspirations for what they can become and to release their energies so they will try to get there.”
– David R. Gergen