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Breaking Down Silos

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ENGAGING WITH THE DISENGAGED organizaton he had dealings with said about senior management:
In general, about 60% of the employees of well-managed, I used to see complete incompetence. We got all this favor-of-the-
well- resourced organizatons are engaged at present. When an month stuf. We fgured that leaders were trying to please each other
organizaton reaches the dizzy heights of 75% or 80%, champagne or someone other than us – the people who do the work. We just
corks pop. There’s no reason why average engagement scores assumed that leaders couldn’t agree on what came next... they’re just Fuel the behaviors that deliver results
shouldn’t be in the low 90% range – or higher. In the pre-internet era, not very good at helping us understand things.
the convenient excuse for why this wasn’t possible was that getng
the message out to every individual was both tme-consuming and If senior executves are good at anything it should be planning
ofen broad-brush. But with the capability now to tailor messages skills. They’ve usually had 20 or 30 years to practce, so they should
down to the individual level and receive virtually instant response, be beter at it than most people. If “strategic” means anything, it
there’s no reason why employees can’t be fully engaged for most of should mean you have a plan. Of course, before you do anything, you
the tme they’re at work. should do some research – it may be formal and cost a fortune, or
it may be undertaken by your team and cost almost nothing. But do
Of course, it’s not always as easy to get full commitment from some. You’d be surprised how many organizatons launch into major
channel partners and advocates, simply because their economic change initatves on the whim of an artcle the CEO saw in a business
tes are less binding. But if Amazon can ofer millions of consumers magazine that may have no relevance at all to the organizaton or
the books they actually want to buy on what seems like a personal its industry.
recommendaton based on previous buying habits, it’s only a mater
of tme before organizatonal partners will receive tailored messages You should examine the skills of those who will be required to
that resonate with their own team, rather than having to think how manage the change. If brand engagement is a mix of hard-nosed
this organizatonal message could be applied to their own local HR calculatons and marketng communicaton skills, does your
situaton. The resources to do this already exist in terms of line team (and the internal management infrastructure) know enough
management and access to policy informaton. Where it ofen fails technically about how to get leverage from any actvity you may put
at the individual level is having good communicaton tools and, to into place?
be honest, remembering to keep team members informed in a way
they’ll relate to. What incentves are you going to put in place to encourage
change? It’s an old saying in business that “what gets rewarded gets
ENGAGEMENT AND LOYALTY done.” It doesn’t have to be life-changing. Ofen, small rewards and
When commentators frst started writng about the potental efects lots of recogniton are powerful enough. An incentve, however small,
of the internet on working life, remote working was hailed as the signals to employees and the channel that this is an initatve you
model for future organizatons. The atractve and compelling want to be taken seriously, not just a “nice-to-have.”
idea was that “in the future” most people would have a portolio
working week, largely based at home, and that a typical jobholder Once these steps have been gone through, go through them
would interact with his or her colleagues over the “net” and only again and again at every stage so you’re constantly questioning
work a few hours a day for any one employer. Just like the futurist whether you’ve asked enough questions, got the right skills,
myth of vitamin pills being substtuted for food and space travel for communicated the change effectively and offered participants a
all, it hasn’t come to pass. The vast majority of workers stll travel reason to change their behavior. If any of these steps are missing
to a fxed locaton to work, and the best work is done by being in or poorly addressed it’s likely your engagement ambitions will
close human contact with groups of other people. Although fexible also fall short. That’s a plan – so your brand engagement activity
work arrangements are more common, they’re stll not the way the is now “strategic.”
majority of the workforce earns its living today.
In the fnal analysis, brand engagement is all about loyalty from
For that reason, efectve engagement is stll largely about fxed both paid and unpaid partners, and it shouldn’t mater whether
locaton programs for large numbers of people who share common you’re employed by the same organizaton, work in the same building,
corporate values and goals. But the introducton of channel partners work in the channel or are an unpaid, individual advocate. The more
and advocates into the engagement mix suggests that – through digital organizatons become, the more likely that reputatons will be Engagement Strategies Loyalty Programs
corporate social media – engagement can be promoted in a much managed digitally and stakeholder values will rise and fall based on
more tmely, informal and widely dispersed way than ever before. who tweeted what to whom and when. The walls and silos are falling. Travel Incentives Consultation
Rather than simply letng it happen, however, the process can
be engineered in such a way that organizatons can control the A POTENTIAL DISCONNECT
communicaton of their values and create loyalty beyond the confnes There’s no doubt that a major factor driving the need for better Merchandise Rewards ROI Analysis
of bricks-and-mortar fxed locatons and the gossip around the water engagement is the different ways Baby Boomers and Generation Y
cooler – it can be actvely managed in the ether rather than just use communication channels and media. With the raising of official Technology Solutions Debit Cards
passively promoted. retirement ages for Baby Boomers and the proliferation of social
media channels used by younger generations, there’s a real danger
GET A PLAN of a disconnect in communication within organizations. Meeting & Event Planning DMC Services
Employees are prety smart. They can spot a turkey from a long
way of. In Jim Haudan’s entertaining and insightul book, The Art of Older workers aren’t retring anytme soon, so organizatons
Engagement (2008), he describes what a frontline associate of an that ignore the generaton gap and the diferences in how they

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18 engagement strategies Vol.18 Issue 1 engagement strategies Vol.18 Issue 1 19