TZL 1285

PETER ATHERTON, from page 11

❚ ❚ Have a mission that matters. Your organization and its work needs to be both inspirational and aspirational. ❚ ❚ Create the conditions for engagement. Leadership is not just about strategy. To be effective today, leaders need to also own culture, sustainability, diversity, and innovation. ❚ ❚ Model and incentivize the behaviors you want. “Walking the talk” is the only path to true engagement. Managers: ❚ ❚ Care about your people. No one wants to be just an em- ployee. ❚ ❚ Position yourself to succeed. You are at the center of profit and loss, client satisfaction, risk mitigation, and employee engagement. Make sure you have all the necessary train- ing, tools, and resources. ❚ ❚ Value yourself and your time. You need to keep your own “bucket full” before you can fill others’. Employees: ❚ ❚ Know what you want. Always be defining and refining your personal and professional goals. ❚ ❚ Seek to excel. Is anything less really worth your time, ef- fort, and reputation? ❚ ❚ Engage with others and build positive relationships. People are more inclined to help those who take initiative. By understanding the new rules and roles for employee engagement, we can design a better approach to attract, develop, and retain top talent and realize our best future. We will dive deeper into these new rules and our specific roles throughout this four-part series. PETER ATHERTON, P.E. is an industry insider having spent more than 20 years as a successful professional, principal, major owner, and member of the board of directors for a high-achieving AEC firm. Pete is now the President and Founder of ActionsProve, LLC, author of “Reversing Burnout. How to Immediately Engage Top Talent and Grow! A Blueprint for Professionals and Business Owners”, and the creator of the I.M.P.A.C.T. process. He can be reached at pete@actionsprove. com.

ployee engagement is to design work with meaning and pur- pose. Meaning and purpose needs to be from the perspective of the employee. The work, the relationships, and the environment need to create an emotional connection and commitment to the point where it produces “performance-boosting” behaviors. The best strategies align an employee’s interests, goals, and passions with those of the organization and those they serve. ❚ ❚ Performance-based employee engagement. Top employ- ees, especially professionals, want to do well and excel. Mastering our craft and making our name in the AEC indus- try takes time and commitment. An employee engagement strategy focused on accelerating growth and development through performance will yield greater results. As our talent moves into new work and life seasons, employee engagement also needs to evolve. If all parties have done their jobs well, and an employee can- not be engaged through the work, there may be a “fit” issue or there may be intervening factors, such as a life event or burn- out, that need to be managed or addressed. ❚ ❚ Other elements and enhancements. Employee satisfaction, happiness, and wellness are all important and supportive as- pects of employee engagement. A competitive salary, benefits, bonuses, and advancement op- portunities are generally able to “satisfy” employees – but that does not mean they are engaged. Many organizations never reach their full potential when they seek or only measure “em- ployee satisfaction.” Enhanced work environments with programs that connect us, improve health, boost morale, add safety and support, and infuse some fun are also becoming essential features of a thriving culture. ❚ ❚ Doing our jobs. We all have roles in realizing the benefits of employee engagement. Below is a general outline: Leaders:

THE ZWEIG LETTER February 25, 2019, ISSUE 1285

Made with FlippingBook Annual report