Do you think of your company as a rental car?

Yesterday, I attended an IABC webinar on employee engagement, led by Steve Crescenzo.

Steve shared with us his five keys to fostering an environment where employees feel engaged and provided tremendous examples of organizations that are doing the right things.

Steve’s top 5:

1. Bring employees inside the loop: tell them what drives the business and why and answer the question – why should they care? Then, tell them what you want them to do.
2. Show them what they do matters: feature the people closest to the work when telling the story
3. Help employees be ambassadors for the organization: when employees are asked, “What do you do for a living?” have we prepared them to tell a good story or hung them out to dry?
4. Let them talk to each other: organizations must trust their employees to act like adults
5. Show them their opinions matter: organizations should communicate the what and the why down, but allow for the how to come from the employees

Steve gave us an analogy to help us understand what true engagement looks and feels like. He asked us to think about a time we rented a car and whether anyone had taken it through a carwash or changed its oil. Of course the answer is no – because we don’t care that much about a rental car. Employees who aren’t engaged think about their companies like rental cars. They show up, do their work, get paid, and go home. When employees are truly engaged they feel like owners of the company and act accordingly.

As I sat through the webinar I made mental notes about the different organizations I’ve worked for and which ones did a good job of engaging their employees and which ones had a lot of work to do. I thought about the specific actions (or inaction) that made me feel engaged or made me see my company like I would a rental car.

I’m interested in hearing your stories – have you worked for an organization that made you feel truly engaged? What did they do? Have you worked for a company that had it all wrong? What did they do that made you feel this way?

Leave me a comment or send me a message!