David MacLeod Explains Why Britain’s Engage for Success Movement Has Taken Hold

Backed by the commitment of Prime Minister David Cameron, the topic of employee engagement is a bonafide movement in Great Britain. David MacLeod, co-founder, with his professional colleague Nita Clarke, of the Engage for Success effort at Engageforsuccess.org, the U.K., says the mission of the organization is to raise the profile of engagement “and then shine light on good practices.” MacLeod says that “the thing about having the Prime Minister launch the task force is that politicians have the ability to convene business and community leaders like no other. Having him involved was extremely helpful in terms of getting interest and support.”  Despite Cameron’s backing, MacLeod says employee engagement isn’t a general media topic in Great Britain, “and yet the topic is getting more attention in the broader media as it relates to culture in particular. But the two words ‘employee engagement’ still are not talked about in the business press.” This could change, MacLeod suggests, as the country is dealing with a serious productivity issue that will be a top priority for Cameron in his second term that could raise visibility for the topic of employee engagement. “Human resources is not the only target,” he explains. “[but] it is one route to the target. Human resources management need to understand how to be experts in this, because someone has to make employee engagement happen on a practical level, and it would seem human resources is the place for this to happen. MacLeod says other sectors that need to be addressed include chief executives, financial leaders and marketers, all of whom have a stake in engagement. “If you’re explaining yourself as a trustworthy brand, to sustain that you have to make sure your employees can deliver. So the reality of needing to make sure there is a complete consistency between the external and internal is now critical. Marketing now needs to understand this.” For more information, go to www.Engageforsuccess.org.