Employee Engagement in the Real World

Guest Interview

Bill Finnegan, Executive Coach, RainPath®

In our previous post, we highlighted research about the importance of employee engagement in attracting, retaining, and developing talent. While a lot of engagement advice seems simple on the surface, some long-time business owners struggle to make it happen.

So we asked international business consultant Bill Finnegan, founder and president of RainPath®, what advice he gives clients who want to improve employee engagement.

Q. What are the 3 most important tips you give clients who need to improve employee engagement and retention?

BF: The first is to strive for authentic engagement. Too often firms “talk the talk” but don’t follow through in practice. It is not easy. Many executives are uncomfortable engaging employees in a genuine manner. So we coach executives about what work needs to be done before “engagement” is implemented as a practice.

Second, I suggest that fear-inspiring managers be stripped of leadership roles or let go. The practice of using fear to motivate action falls under the timeworn, top down “father (mother) knows best” mentality.

Trying to herd people into a command-and-control formation to achieve a business objective doesn’t work. Not today. Share on X
This old school approach is antithetical to authentic engagement.

Third, we emphasize authentic collaboration. Too often, executives merely pay lip service to this notion. And employees know it. And resent it. Collaboration is hard work, and collaboration is co-joined with “engagement”. You can’t have one without the other. Authentic collaboration is proactive by leadership. It is a choice, a decision, then a consistent practice.

Many clients fear that collaboration leads to indecision. It doesn’t. Employees need to understand that at the end of day a decision will be made and leadership will make it.

All of this is common sense. Sadly it is not common practice. I have worked with firms with 150% turnover in certain departments and yet leadership refuses to look at themselves as a root cause. They do not engage, do not seek input from employees, and lead by fear.

Q. How much has this advice shifted over the past two years?

BF: The environment has shifted. One might consider the past two years as the great awakening for workers. On many levels, the pandemic has profoundly reminded people of their mortality. Life plans went awry through factors beyond our control. Wealth was accumulated at the top while workers experienced sudden, unceremonious job losses.

My point is that the advice hasn’t shifted, but the urgency for implementing it has. Employee engagement is not something that is simply nice to have. It is a must have.

Often it starts with coaching leaders and explaining how to engage, what collaboration really is, and how to practice it. I have often met objections by owners. They fear these practices are a sign of weakness. This is a miscalculation and misunderstanding for the practice is in truth a strength and demonstration of courage.

Q. What advice would you give managers in workplaces in which some office employees can work remotely a few days a week while production workers must be on-site every day? Is this type of situation causing resentment or conflicts and reducing engagement among employees?

BF: Yes and yes. The problem is you can’t produce millions of labels, packages, or machine parts in your home kitchen. Leadership needs to acknowledge reality with production workers. Just be upfront. Let them know you know. Show appreciation for production workers in ways you haven’t before.

Simple, genuine gestures go a long way. Hot summer day in the plant? Gatorade for all. Friday BBQ. Do the easy stuff to acknowledge and appreciate.

Those employees working remotely? When they are in the office, get them out on the floor or make a visit to the warehouse. Have them meet the people working in production to see what they do.

This is not just a task to check off at the end of day in office. Be authentic and genuinely interested. Ask production people questions. The protest that production people can’t be interfered with and hurts productivity is a poor excuse. There are breaks in production schedules.

Have lunch(es) with remote and production employees. The non-production workers may (will) actually learn things that are useful. And yes, this approach is consistent with, and supports, the practice of authentic engagement.