High performing teams epitomise what true engagement means
and achieves. They operate in a state of situational awareness that fosters
initiative and satisfaction. Everyone on the team knows their particular role,
how their work relates to others, and the plan.
Individuals act through an understanding of the bigger
picture – the collective aims, how everyone in the team is working towards
them, and the issues of the moment. It is a system that acknowledges those
closest to the activity or problem have the most immediate insight, and that
they can apply initiative to good effect if they have a good understanding of
the wider intent and situation. Empowerment is inherent, motivation becomes
intrinsic, and engagement increases.
There is still a need for leadership. It is a distinct
function just like any other – without leadership, ‘complicated’ descends into
‘chaos’ and whilst it is true that leaders can cause dysfunction, it is also
true that only leadership can prevent it.
But leaders need to stay focused on their slice of the
contribution just as much as every other player and exercise the same levels of
faith in those around them. Leaders provide the alignment; they keep an eye out
across the team, look over the horizon and communicate priorities. They enable,
they join dots, they decide.
Engagement is a two-way flow, through formal channels,
around informal networks and through watching out. It is a product of the
environment people work in; it cannot be contrived.
The challenge for leaders therefore is to create an
environment where people are sufficiently informed to realise what is
significant, sufficiently aware of who needs to know, and sufficiently
confident to speak.
Creating that environment starts from the top and first principles,
with a clear articulation of what the organisation stands for and where it is
heading - in straightforward not abstract terms. Values need to be sincere,
lived and the automatic reference point for how everyone deals with colleagues
and customers alike.
It is an active process. There needs to be rolling feedback
on where the organisation is on the journey, its immediate challenges, and the
priorities. The latter two should be a standing agenda item in every management
forum – where are we and has the situation changed?
And people need to be involved, not just informed, because
there comes a point where no single player has eyes on all of the working
parts. Pivotal, early indicators of a changing situation may be seen first at
the front, while the impacts of new ideas and ways of working invisible to
those at the top will be uppermost in those who have to live with them.
Engagement creates antennae.
So there needs to be active conduits for those at the coal
face to report what they are seeing into management forums, providing routine
visibility and a speaking part. As organisations grow, no single player has the
cognitive capacity to unlock complex, technical, and interdependent all on
their own and engagement becomes the differentiator; game-changing information,
insight and intellect can originate from anywhere in the organisation.
And the most important role for leaders in creating an
environment for engagement to thrive, is to keep things in balance. Systems and
processes must not hoover information for the sake of it, people are quick to
detect and it sends negative signals deep into an organisation. Conversely,
leaders can help educate the difference between what is important, what is
timely, and simply what is happening – streamlining communications and sending
positive signals of empowerment and trust. Processes become handrails, not job
descriptions.
At the end of the day, ‘feelgood’ is a powerful motivator.
Engagement is a marque of ownership and symbiotic – engagement with the ethos
and purpose of an organisation, and its collective success that is rewarded
intrinsically by a feeling of worth, security and a level of autonomy. It does not cede control, there has to be a
hand on the tiller and board decisions remain board decisions. Sometimes, tough
strategic choices will still have to be made, but they will be better informed
and more understood, or possibly even averted through a culture of shared
awareness and mutual support.
