« #2 Marathon Training: Week 2 | Main | You Want Surprise and Delight with Your Employee Engagement? »

March 18, 2014

Three Questions

What’s in it for me?

Why should I care?

Why should I believe?

We all ask ourselves those questions throughout our day. Even the most selfless person, the most altruistic, the Mother Teresa among us, will make decisions based on the answers to these three questions.

How do you answer those questions from your employees’ perspective?

How does your employee engagement program answer those questions for your employees. Not you; not your board nor your agency.

How will your employees interpret your actions, your decisions, the company mission and purpose to answer those three questions for themselves?

As you go about executing ways to boost your employee loyalty, retain your key talent, raise your employee engagement scores, how will those decisions be interpreted by your employees as they ask these three questions:

What’s in it for me?

Why should I care?

Why should I believe?

I read and hear a lot of ideas on how to improve employee engagement and loyalty and retain key talent. And those planning these strategies and programs, tactics and trinkets, are very excited about their ideas and programs. They have created programs, etc that answer these three questions for themselves in ways they find satisfactory; as do consultants and agencies who help them with their solutions. Them being the company and their being the agency.

But what I see too often is an echo-chamber discussion that offers answers for the participants in these planning stages. And employees are not included. Ironic in a dark and comic way, that employee engagement planning sessions omit employees.

So, let's say you're not ready to invite employees into your employee engagement planning session. Cool. It happens. I made that mistake.

One way to span that gap of understanding is to ask yourself, If our employees saw this plan, how would they answer these three questions from their perspective?

What’s in it for me?

Why should I care?

Why should I believe?

Disclaimer: I am not smart enough to conceive of these questions. However, I am smart enough to remember hearing them at a Gazelles Growth conference from 2006 or 2007. Verne Harnish, The Growth Guy, shared them during a presentation. They have stuck with me ever since.

 

Posted on March 18, 2014 at 10:57 AM in employee engagement |

| | | |

Comments

Feed You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.

The comments to this entry are closed.

Introduction - Recognize THEM!

Chapter 1: Recognize THEM!

Here's Where Employee Engagement Went

Recent Posts

Archives

More...

Categories

Books I've Read and Recommend

  • Jackie Huba: Monster Loyalty: How Lady Gaga Turns Followers into Fanatics

    Jackie Huba: Monster Loyalty: How Lady Gaga Turns Followers into Fanatics
    a bigger challenge than I predicted. It’s not what to say that challenged me. It’s what NOT to say. I start reading and within 3-4 paragraphs, I’m nodding my head and saying Yes, yes, exactly. Bam. Bam, baby. Yeah, come on. Can I get a witness. Then I want to share verbatim Jackie’s translation of Gaga’s strategy. Here’s why. It’s a strategy with 7 steps that any, ANY, business can execute under its own terms and under its own budget no matter how small or large. Granted, I enjoy reading this strategy as it’s applied to Gaga. And Jackie's a good writer. But, what's really inspiring is understanding how even a car wash could apply this strategy with these 7 steps and find success. You could build a global empire selling gardening mulch if you followed these 7 steps. And you could lower your advertising and marketing budgets, to boot.

  • Kevin Allen: The Case of the Missing Cutlery: A Leadership Course for the Rising Star

    Kevin Allen: The Case of the Missing Cutlery: A Leadership Course for the Rising Star
    Yes! Finally a leadership book and author who bring empathy, caring and listening to the front of the leadership room instead of insisting it sit in the back, laughed at or ignored with no champion and certainly no budget to help spotlight its role in creating engaged leaders. He had me as a reader and fan on the first page of his introduction. Here’s what he wrote: Years later, when I was made Executive Vice President at McCann Erickson Worldwide ... I came to realize that the gift of human empathy, which had guided me through those early days at Marriott, would allow me to steer literally thousands of people to row in the direction of McCann Erickson’s future. I’ve learned things the hard way, through trial and error, mostly error. Through it all, I came to realize people follow you because of who you are; because you have come to understand the deep desires and hopes of your people; and because, by connecting with them, you have created a culture and a common cause they believe in.

  • Chuck Blakeman: Why Employees Are Always a Bad Idea

    Chuck Blakeman: Why Employees Are Always a Bad Idea
    I love this book. It's true that I say this about every book I review here. And why shouldn't I? Why waste time reviewing a book I don't love. That being said...Why Employees Are Always a Bad Idea: (and other business diseases of the industrial age) is one of my favorite business books for a long time. It starts with the title. It's eye-catching, provocative, right? Mentally, it's a head-slap, positing a theorem inside your head then pounding it home with AlwayandBad to let you know you're not getting away; you're going to have your mind changed. Right now. As I kept looking at the title, tilting my head like a dog - one side to the other - I began to smile. I read a kindred spirit. Here's a rebel, a true disruptor, someone who's willing speak up, take a stand; I like that. I might not agree with what I'm about to read, but his title made me smile without being cloying or clever so I knew I was in for a good ride.

  • Stephen Lynch: Business Execution for RESULTS: A practical guide for leaders of small to mid-sized firms

    Stephen Lynch: Business Execution for RESULTS: A practical guide for leaders of small to mid-sized firms
    I'm an avid reader, always have been. I've read a lot of business books and I’ve led a small business. I recommend you read Business Execution for Results: A Practical Guide for Leaders of Small to Mid-Sized Firms. It is a very, very good book, among the best, most usable business books I’ve read. As a writer, he does things that make the reading very pleasant, very inspiring, very engaging. Very good. He offers personal stories, anecdotes, little clips. They’re genuine, sincere, well-organized to capture your attention, engage you in the story that illustrates the next lesson. I found myself thinking...I can relate...I am relating....I see, feel, remember this personally. And Stephen’s writing is very crisp, very concise in taking you from these stories to the principle with each chapter...and as important to the steps you’re going to take to generate the results you want to see. No hitch in the reading flow. VERY nice.

  • Kerry Patterson: Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes are High

    Kerry Patterson: Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes are High
    I came with low expectations. I was severely disappointed. It's a great book. This is a well-written, timely, book with tips and reminders and steps to take with each page you read. Real-world examples, real-world steps, to create real, meaningful conversations when the stakes are high. (*****)

  • Gregg Fraley: Jack's Notebook: A business novel about creative problem solving

    Gregg Fraley: Jack's Notebook: A business novel about creative problem solving
    I read this book completel, too. That should say enough. Even more, I plan to read it again this month. It's a great story whose purpose is to share useful, practical, tips and steps you can take to more effectively and more creatively solve challenges. (*****)

TypePad Profile

Get updates on my activity. Follow me on my Profile.

ShareThis

  • ShareThis

Feedburner

Subscribe to this blog's feed

Get Basecamp

  • I Recommend Basecamp from 37 Signals

Ice Rocket

  • Ice Rocket

Google Analytics

GAR

Blog powered by Typepad
Member since 04/2008