Murphy's Law of Employee Engagement

You know the idea of Murphy's Law - if anything can go wrong, it will. Well I was thinking of it, in relation to business leaders and employee engagement. Here is my take on the old adage

1. The more you try and control the conversation, the less likely it is, that there is a conversation.
2. If you believe the employees cannot be trusted with social media, you are creating a culture that will be hurt my social media
3. The more money you throw at employee engagement, the less engaged the people will be....happier maybe in the short term but not necessarily engaged. Do you think Google employees are engaged because of the free meals or because they believe they have a chance to make a difference (and a freedom to make that difference)?
4. The more personality you show as a brand, the less personable you will be to the masses. (However, the more personable you will be to your niche audience)
5. Opening the dialogue, opens the floodgates....but I would rather be ready with my waders than marooned on my own!
6. Engaged employees are harder to deal with - they give more, but then expect more from the leadership. They are demanding - they want to achieve more. To keep the 'followers', a leader needs to keep further ahead.....the motivation switches from you having to motivate disengaged employees, to motivating yourself to stay ahead as a leader of people.
7. The more you put in place simple measures of engagement, the more complex you will realise engagement is....However, ALL engagment CAN be measured.

Employee engagement occurs when you have people who are motivated to come to work, and understand how they are part of achieving the strategy. They know how they fit into the whole picture, they know that they will be recognised and valued for their unique contribution.
Murphy's Law No 8 says the more you do at a corporate leve,l the less likely people will feel it at the individual level.....think personalisation for identity with the overall corporate brand.

Comments

[John Johansen]

Point Number 6 is an interesting one. Yet, thinking about it, I would agree. If a company wants employees to be more engaged internally and externally, they have to be willing to continue to lead and show the way through the new challenges that present themselves.

The groundswell of bottom-up support for social media needs top-down understanding or people will get frustrated very quickly.

[Linda Griffin]

Thanks for a thought provoking post. I have a different view of item #6. Employees may seem harder to deal with to a leader who likes to control events or to one that prefers a more hands off style. If you are an engaged leader who is not threatened by employee feedback, the possibilities to make the project or product better increases exponentially. It actually makes employees easier to deal with because they feel heard and valued.

[Chris Radford]

Point 6 was the big one for me as well. Engaged employees are harder to deal with. We have described these people as internal entrepreneurs, they are willing to kick doors down in the business to make things happen. If you examine the initiatives that have created real growth for a company, it often can be traced to the influence of a few determined individuals who are engaged and determined to make things happen

[Robyn]

Anna, I particularly like number three. Perhaps it's because I'm in the work I do because I want to make a difference. Money cannot buy it. But the satisfaction of taking a risk, and helping others to take a new path, too, really does it.

Isn't it fun to break Murphy's Law?

[Anna Farmery]

Thanks to all for your thoughts. No 6 seems to be provoking :) I don't think my words are quite right....I was trying to say that engaging employees can be more demanding, if you are the kind of manager who just wants an easy life, well you won't find that in engaged employees but then thinking about it ....they wouldn't be engaged! Engaged employees are thrilling, inspiring, energising, they provide your fuel....you can feed off each other. Don't be scared of engaged employees energy...feed from it.

Thanks for stopping by everyone..appreciate it :)