Employee Engagement Hinges on “Thinking Managers”

When it comes to bridging the engagement gap, are your managers part of the problem or part of the solution?

If you weren’t able to attend Ann Herrmann-Nehdi’s recent HRDQ-U webinar, “Developing ‘Thinking Managers’ to Bridge the Engagement Gap,” here’s a taste of what you missed:

• Survey after survey shows that a large portion of the workforce is either only partially engaged or totally disengaged.
• US businesses lose $11 billion annually as a result of employee turnover.
• Managers account for as much as 70% of variance in employee engagement scores.
• Everyone processes information differently based on how they prefer to think, and these preferences affect what will engage them, what will frustrate them, how they prefer to get work done, and what kinds of work will inspire them to give it their all.

There’s a wealth of research showing that managers not only play a large role in whether or not employees are engaged, they often don't seem to know what will actually engage them. Unless managers learn how to individualize engagement, which starts with understanding the implications of thinking preferences on their own actions as well as their employees’, these scary numbers aren’t going to go away.

During the webinar, Ann outlined a 5-step process—Own, Value, Stretch, Align, Coach—to help managers build their thinking agility and apply what we know about thinking and the brain to individualize engagement.

If you missed the webinar, you can still get access this timely, actionable information. The archive is now available on the HRDQ-U website for on-demand viewing.

What’s the biggest barrier to engagement in your organization? Tweet us your thoughts @herrmannintl.