Fishburn Hedges

03.11.2008

Fishburn Hedges director, Paul Sweetman, spoke to Gorkana about how organisations can build better relationships with their people.

The term ‘engagement’ is increasingly common in all areas of  communication. Whether used in relation to the public, to communities or even the media, it’s intended to describe the process of making connections between different audiences. But what relevance does the concept have within the workplace?

In essence, employee engagement is about building effective relationships between an organisation and its people. Nothing more complicated than that. It’s about making sure employees understand the company strategy, how they fit in and what they are expected to contribute.

But it’s not one-way traffic; gaining the trust and confidence of employees also means seeking their views and feedback, understanding any issues and seeking to address them. In other words, effective engagement relies on establishing consistent dialogue with employees in a bid to identify any concerns that might disrupt the relationship, and taking action before these evolve into problems.

On the face of it, this may sound pretty obvious. But effective employee engagement doesn’t happen by itself, nor is it an area in which HR departments, management teams or communication departments can tackle alone. They all have something to contribute, but each from their own perspective. What is needed is a structured and cohesive approach to engagement (encompassing often wide variations between teams, territories or departments) that keeps pace with changing business needs. In this environment, effective employee research, internal communication, brand engagement and change management become crucial building blocks for success. 

The evidence of impact is strong. There’s plenty of research which clearly makes the link between highly engaged employees and better business performance, whether that’s an increase in customer loyalty, stakeholder understanding or a rise in sales. Intuitively, it makes sense too; we all form opinions of companies through the people we deal with, and if the experience isn’t as advertised, we’re likely to be disappointed and take our business elsewhere. How those company representatives are prepared to deal with us, the way they understand the context to their role and the way they are supported to carry them out lies at the heart of effective employee engagement. Each interaction can strengthen or undermine confidence in the company, its appeal to those it deals with and its corporate reputation as a whole.

Importantly, it’s about more than issuing leaflets or giving speeches to try and ‘rally the troops’. Effective engagement is a cultural requirement, it must underpin the way the company works with its people across all its various ‘touchpoints’. So, think about briefing systems within your company, the way leaders communicate, the way managers behave, performance management processes, communication channels and even simple things like signage around the company. What signals do these give out about the company and its desire to engage with its employees? Do current systems communicate clear messages about the company and give employees the chance to raise questions or concerns? Do they give employees in different parts of the company the information, tools and support to play the part expected of them? If not, what could you do differently to close the gap and create closer alignment between the company and the people on whom it depends?

The circumstances in which effective employee engagement really comes into its own include areas like company branding, where you want to ensure their people are committed to delivering a customer experience that reflects and delivers their brand’s promise in all that they do. Equally, in times of change, it’s a crucial part of weathering the storm whilst focusing people on ‘business as usual’. In fact, in the turbulent times that we are currently experiencing it’s more vital than ever to engage employees at all levels of the organisation, to help generate the commitment required. And if the messages are not good, effective engagement can be the difference between success and failure: employees may not agree with some of the decisions made, but at least they will understand the reasons why.

Employee engagement is a step beyond ‘internal communication’, but it’s not something that should be shrouded in mystique. It’s nothing more than organisational common sense – a commodity that will be invaluable in the coming months as we face an increasingly challenging business and economic environment.