OrgHealth - Culture for engagement

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Organisation culture for engagement

Engagement has been described as ‘a positive, fulfilling, work-related state of mind that is characterised by vigour, dedication and absorption’.

Vigour is characterised by ‘high levels of energy and mental resilience whilst working, and a willingness to invest effort in one’s work, and persistence in the face of difficulties’.

Dedication refers to ‘being strongly involved in one’s work and experiencing a sense of significance, enthusiasm, inspiration, pride and challenge’.

Absorption is characterised by being ‘fully concentrated and happily engrossed in one’s work, whereby time passes quickly and one has difficulty with detaching oneself from work’.

It is not solely the personality, character, skills and knowledge of the individual that determines whether or not he/she becomes engaged with their workplace.

Most important is the encouragement provided by managers that determines whether or not someone becomes engaged with their workplace.

Management encouragement only occurs in an organisational culture that provides the environment where engagement can thrive. We call this a culture of responsibility and trust.

The characteristics of a culture of responsibility and trust that enables engagement to thrive includes:

Clarity of purpose

The ability to make clear and unambiguous the purpose of the organisation in ways that are simply expressed, and in ways that employees and the public can understand and relate to.

The structures

The ability to structure organisations in ways that enable employees to be engaged in decisions about themselves and their work.

The ‘rules’

The ability to recruit managers based on the convergence of clear and unambiguous expectations of the skills, knowledge and experience needed for the job and those of the applicant, together with the personal characteristics set out in this Code.
The ability to ensure that training and development (the acquisition of skills, knowledge and experience) meets the needs of the organisation and those of the trainee; that training is based on sound learning experiences, and that the training is applied in practice.
The ability to provide employees with challenges in their work.
The ability to create and maintain teams of people who are sufficiently trusting of each other that they can critique each other’s work without fear of humiliation or retribution, and in the knowledge that lessons can be learnt and applied.
The ability to communicate – the process of interpreting messages, conveying them intelligibly, seeking responses, and reacting positively to the responses.
The ability to engage employees and clients in the processes and critical decisions that affect them.
The ability to performance appraise employees regularly and routinely as part of the bloodstream of management, together with the ability to provide appropriate supporting resources to raise performance where needed.
The ability to nurture employees by providing opportunities to gain wider skills, knowledge and experience, and the ability to use these in practice in career development.
The ability to safeguard the opportunity to complete tasks, projects and assignments undertaken by employees.
The ability to encourage employees in their work, and to encourage limited risks in their contribution to the work of the organisation.
The ability to respond positively to employee domestic crisis.
The ability to create and maintain openness (transparency) in the management of the organisation.

Our consultancy service helps organisations to create and sustain a culture of responsibility and trust, which is the environment in which staff engagement can thrive, and where individuals and organisations achieve success beyond expectation.

Call us on 0845 833 1597 or email us to discover how we can help you and your organisation develop a culture of responsibility and trust that leads to improved staff engagement with the workplace.