Ravi Pratap Singh

15 Quotes To Inspire Employee Engagement

“When people go to work, they shouldn’t have to leave their hearts at home.”

The above quote by Betty Bender aptly sums up what we, at Learnnovators, unrelentlessly strive to make our workplace into… a home away from home for our employees. A place where our team members are respected, valued, empowered, recognized, motivated… and engaged!

Today’s forward-thinking organizations are no longer content with keeping their employees “satisfied”… instead, they are spending more and more time designing innovative methods to keep their employees “engaged”.

So what exactly is Employee Engagement?

Since William Kahn provided the first formal definition of Employee Engagement in 1990, there have been scores of definitions doing the rounds. But my personal favorite is the one by Kevin Kruse, who defines Employee Engagement as “The emotional commitment the employee has to the organization and its goals.”

Kevin further adds that “This emotional commitment means engaged employees actually care about their work and their company. They don’t work just for a paycheck, or just for the next promotion, but work on behalf of the organization’s goals.”

It is no surprise then that engaged employees display higher levels of INVOLVEMENT and COMMITMENT to the organization’s goals and values, are more MOTIVATED to contribute to the organization’s success, thereby leading to improved PERFORMANCE and PRODUCTIVITY.

I am glad to share 15 quotes on Employee Engagement that inspire us, at Learnnovators, in our quest for creating A GREAT PLACE FOR GREAT PEOPLE TO DO GREAT WORK! Here they are…

1. “To win in the marketplace you must first win in the workplace.” ~ Doug Conant

2. “Always treat your employees exactly as you want them to treat your best customers.” ~ Stephen R. Covey

3. “Employees engage with employers and brands when they’re treated as humans worthy of respect.” ~ Meghan Biro

4. “Highly engaged employees make the customer experience. Disengaged employees break it.” ~ Timothy R. Clark

5. “Research indicates that workers have three prime needs: Interesting work, recognition for doing a good job, and being let in on things that are going on in the company.” ~ Zig Ziglar

6. “When people are financially invested, they want a return. When people are emotionally invested, they want to contribute.” ~ Simon Sinek

7. “Your number one customers are your people. Look after employees first and then customers last.” ~ Ian Hutchinson

8. “The simple act of paying positive attention to people has a great deal to do with productivity.” ~ Tom Peters

9. “Everyone wants to be appreciated, so if you appreciate someone, don’t keep it a secret.” ~ Mary Kay Ash

10. “Employees who believe that management is concerned about them as a whole person – not just an employee – are more productive, more satisfied, more fulfilled. Satisfied employees mean satisfied customers, which leads to profitability.” ~ Anne M. Mulcahy

11. “Engaged employees are in the game for the sake of the game; they believe in the cause of the organization.” ~ Paul Marciano, PhD

12. “Paychecks can’t buy passion.” ~ Brad Federman

13. “The way your employees feel is the way your customers will feel.” ~ Sybil F. Stershic

14. “People want to know they matter and they want to be treated as people. That’s the new talent contract.” ~ Pamela Stroko

15. “Engaged employees stay for what they give (they like their work); disengaged employees stay for what they get (favorable job conditions, growth opportunities, job security).” ~ Blessing White’s The State of Employee Engagement 2008

Which of the above quotes do you particularly like? Do you have your own favorites? What is your take on Employee Engagement? Would be delighted to hear your thoughts…

 

Stubborn on Vision, Flexible on Details

Every entrepreneurial journey begins with a VISION. But as the entrepreneur treads farther and farther away from the familiar environs of his pre-entrepreneurial comfort zones and heads deeper and deeper into the uncertainty-riddled paths of the business world, he finds himself being slowly but surely engulfed in the kinds of pressures that he never even knew existed. At this point, the original vision of a majority of entrepreneurs starts to fade... and before long, darkness takes over!

This 'loss of vision' occurs primarily because most entrepreneurs don't have the guts to stomach short-term losses even when they believe that these losses could potentially lead to long-term gains. They find it easier to cop-out rather than persist with their vision.

This is where Jeff Bezos's philosophy of being "stubborn on vision, but flexible on details" is truly inspirational. The Founder & CEO of Amazon has time and again demonstrated his ability to stand by hugely risky decisions and take on short-term losses because he firmly believed that those decisions would eventually bring long-term gains for his organization. Amazon Web Services and Amazon Kindle are two good cases of Bezos taking on immense pressure from investors and analysts for years on end, but still remaining stubborn on his vision and not giving up until he made enormous successes of these initiatives.

The key, as you can see, is for an entrepreneur to be able to handle the short-term pressures without compromising on the long-term vision... be flexible on the details, if needed, yet stay true to the ultimate vision. 

Bezos makes it seem all too simple, but believe me, it most certainly isn't.

 

Keep A 'Beginner's Mind'

The 'Beginner's Mind' or 'Shoshin' is a concept in Zen Buddhism that refers to "having an attitude of openness, eagerness, and lack of preconceptions when studying a subject, even when studying at an advanced level, just as a beginner in that subject would."

Let me explain this in simple words. When you are a beginner in any activity, you focus all your energy and enthusiasm into accomplishing that activity. Your mind is devoid of unnecessary clutter and your concentration is solely on achieving the task at hand.

Remember the time when you were learning to ride a bicycle as a kid? While seated on the bike, were you not single-mindedly consumed with the process of conquering your dream vehicle... maneuvering the handlebar, pushing the pedal, applying the brakes, et al? Your mind didn't wander even for a fraction of a second to think about what happened at school that morning or what mom was cooking for dinner. You were singularly aware and absorbed in the process of what you were doing at that particular moment. You were in your highest state of consciousness. You were operating at your peak performance levels!

In his bestseller "The Practicing Mind", Thomas M. Sterner calls this the "process-oriented, present minded state". He writes, "Video games offer a natural environment for pulling us into a state of focused present-moment awareness. If you watch people playing a computer game, you will observe how totally focused they are on what they are doing in that moment. Even though the best score possible is the ultimate goal, the participants are only superficially aware of it. The process of playing the game requires all their attention. If you talk to people playing a computer game, they may not even answer you because they are absorbed in the process of the game."

This is exactly how one needs to approach every task. One needs to be in the present moment and focus all attention exclusively on the process... while keeping the mind uncluttered and free of all pressures pertaining to the end result.

To achieve optimum results consistently, one needs to keep a 'Beginner's Mind'.

 

E-Learning Industry: Ruled By Women!!!

    

This morning i woke up to a barrage of advertisements and articles in the newspapers on International Women's Day. Ofcourse, i didn't bother to give any of them a second glance (hope i am not sounding like an MCP!). But i guess the visual impact of the headlines was so powerful that when i walked out of the shower, captions like Woman Power, Celebrating Women, Tribute to Womanhood, Women on Top, were buzzing uncontrollbly in my head. And by the time i got into my car, the buzz had become a cacophony!

As i was driving to office, i began thinking about the giant strides women had taken across various spheres of life. Though they had some catching up to do with men in certain industries, today's women were giving their male coutnerparts a real run for their money in several sectors. My thoughts meandered from one industry to another and i was now beginning to immensely enjoy this "Women Versus Men" face-off. Finally my unusually hyper-analytical brain zoomed in on my own line of business - elearning. And boom... reality struck.

The e-learning industry is being RULED by women!!!

For the uninitiated, Instructional Designers (ID) form the backbone of the e-learning business. In movie-making parlance, their role would be similar to that of a script-writer and director rolled into one. Like there can be no movie without a script-writer/director, there can be no e-learning without an ID! In India, i can confidently say that over 85% of all IDs are women. Worldwide, this ratio may be marginally lower... but only marginally.

Another interesting fact that comes to mind is that a very high percentage of e-learning companies across the world have been set-up and run by women. Incredible, but true.

Any doubts then about the e-learning industry being ruled by women??? Never realised it till this morning... now i do.

More power to women!!! :)

Ideation Without Execution Is Delusion

Most of us have grand ideas about the things we need to do to improve our personal, professional, social, financial and spiritual status. Some of us also manage to go one step further and maintain a laundry list of these ideas with a time-bound plan of action for their implementation. But only a miniscule percentage of us actually get down to executing the ideas, and thereby, have a shot at success.

Unfortunately, execution alone does not guarantee success... FLAWLESS EXECUTION is more likely to help us achieve it.

Any wonder then, that success seems so elusive?

The secret to success, therefore, is not great ideas... but great ideas WITH great execution!

As Robin Sharma says, "Ideation without execution is mere delusion".

Stubborn on Vision, Flexible on Details

Just read an incredible interview of Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon.com.

Jeff's interaction with Steven Levy allows us a peek into the mind of one of the greatest innovators of our times. There are several nuggets of wisdom strewn through the interview. But if i were to pick a single thought as my take-away from the article, then it has to be Amazon's mantra of being "stubborn on vision and flexible on details".

A powerful philosophy, simply told.

No wonder Jeff Bezos owns the web in more ways than you think.

Know When To Let Go

Perseverance. This is the key attribute required of a salesperson. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, perseverance is "the continued effort to do or achieve something despite difficulties, failure or opposition".

That's the reason a salesperson is taught never to get tired of knocking doors irrespective of the number of times the doors get slammed on his/her face. The salesperson is also taught never to take a "NO" from a prospect at face value. Just because a prospect has not bought from you on your first sales call doesn't necessarily mean that s/he cannot be converted to a consumer the next time around.

This "perseverence" mantra is drilled so hard into a salesperson's head that it becomes part of his/her DNA. Though meant to be a boon, perseverence can also become a salesperson's bane. This happens when the salesperson refuses to let go of any of his/her prospects in the hope that the prospect will eventually buy at some point of time. Here, the never-say-die spirit actually makes the salesperson lose his/her ability to "qualify" a prospect as a potential buyer.

Therefore, along with perseverance, a good salesperson should also know when to let go. S/he should be able to judge precisely when a prospect needs to be qualified as "dead" and move on without expending any more time.

Choose Your Customers!

Most organisations gleefully agree to work with every single customer who walks in through their doors. This approach, believe me, could be life-threatening to the organisation.

Choosing your customers carefully and diligently is one of the most critical business decisions you can make. A commercially win-win deal is not the only factor you must consider while choosing a customer. The more important factor is whether the customer can "intellectually engage" with your organisation and help it learn, improve and grow. The value that your organisation will gain from such a customer will most certainly work out to be exponentially higher than the commercial value of the contract with that customer.

A great customer can not only help chart your organisation's path to growth and progress, but also increase the competency levels of your team and motivate them to achieve greater performances. On the other hand, a customer whose only objective is to get the "maximum bang for his buck" can leave your organisation bleeding and your team feeling frustrated and demoralized.

So have the courage to say no. CHOOSE YOUR CUSTOMERS!

Loyalty Is Not Forever

How does one feel when a 13-year relationship comes to an end? Especially when one has remained fiercely loyal despite persistent temptations from relentless suitors?

Anger and Betrayal! These are the two emotions I strongly felt…

For Nokia!

This was the only brand of phone I had used since I went “mobile” 13 years ago. And not for a fleeting moment in all those faithful years did the Blackberrys and iPhones of the world manage to lure me away from my beloved Nokia.

A few weeks ago I decided to become “smart” like the rest of the world and bought myself a Nokia N-97 Mini. Well, suffice to say that it turned out to be a “dumb” decision! I spent a couple of stressful months with Mini. But thankfully, before the problems could become major, I saw my saviour arrive amidst unprecedented media blitzkrieg. Nokia unleashed its long overdue answer to the iPhone… the N8! I promptly bit the bait. And then cursed my fate.

My “power struggle” with the phone started the moment I switched it on. 11 harrowing days later, it was DEAD!!!

The retailer was kind enough (by Indian standards) to replace the departed instrument with a new piece… 8 days later this was DEAD too!!!

8 days!!! Was the phone living up to it’s name??? I wonder… 

Now the retailer started interrogating me like a murder suspect. After all, I had slaughtered two innocent N8s in a matter of 19 days. What was my modus operandi, he wanted to know. And my sinister agenda. He just wouldn’t believe that the phone would get switched off automatically atleast a dozen times a day and then take about 20 minutes before it could be switched on again. Apparently he had sold large numbers of N8s within days of its mega launch and the only two phones that had met their untimely deaths were under my evil custody. The judgment was loud and clear… I was guilty!!!

Before I decided to turn myself in to the cops, I did what the rest of the world does when all else is lost. I turned to the one who knows all… Almighty “G”.

Google, that is!

My prayers were answered in precisely 3 minutes. People of the world, here’s an article and a video that prove my innocence. Nokia N8, indeed has power problems! And I am not talking about it’s power to dominate competition!

From being a die-hard brand advocate to blogging about my disappointment with Nokia, this story once again confirms that consumer patronage cannot be taken for granted. Unlike diamonds, customer loyalty is not forever!

Direct Sales Person Wiped Out?

This morning i woke up to the news about TCS planning to recruit 50,000 employees in 2011. The announcement comes close on the heels of similar such predictions by other Indian IT-BPO majors in the past few weeks. Great!!! Things are certainly beginning to look up again for the industry!!!

The IT-BPO sector has brought glory, greenbacks and growth in abundance to the country and its people. Yet, it has also been singularly responsible for bringing one particular species close to extinction... the direct sales person!

Due to their humongous manpower requirements, year after year the IT-BPO companies fight a virtual "recruitment war" on college/universiy campuses to hire freshers. As a result, almost all final semester students in the metros and surrounding tier-2 cities of India have more than one job offer on hand even before graduating!

Unless someone wants to pursue further studies, every student - the brilliant, the above average, the average, the below average - has a job to go to the day after finishing college. On the face of it, the newbie couldn't have asked for anything better - iconic employer, fancy salary, swanky office, gen-y colleagues. It's an extension of college life... only it's more "hip n happening". And one gets paid handsomely as well.

With this kind of a lifestyle being offered on a platter, who would ever want to go out there in the hot sun or pouring rain and knock doors to sell products and services? It is no surprise then that the direct sales person is almost on the verge of extinction... atleast in the IT-BPO hubs of India.

Will the species survive? Only time will tell.