Harder - The workplace engagement solution: find a common mission, vision, and purpose with all of todays employees

Lisa Hagan, you are the proof that a literary agent can be brilliant and loving; Linda Sivertsen, my book whisperer, you pushed and cheered me into becoming a very real writer; Paul Archambault, you lighten and brighten my every day; David Philp, your elegant mentorship has opened doors into a better life; Kim Shepherd, force of nature, you make full living my only alternative; Laura Garrett, my sister, friend, and confidante; Mindy Zasloff, house mother, brilliant talent expert, and colleague-for-life, Barbara Chardavoyne, every day you demonstrate love, kindness, respect, and care; Brenda Eddy, my mentor, wise elder, and friend, I am a better human being because of you; Larry Schwartz, an ideal example of all that can come out of this work, brilliant, kind, a role model and friend; Carolyn Soper, you elevate life to art and devote every day to skipping; Michael Beckwith, my spiritual inspiration; Safire Rose, who helped me dismantle anger and righteousness, and flood that void with light; Cherie Carter-Scott, who gave me the courage to jump without a parachute; and Gail Lapins, fearlessness personified, you gave me the foundation to pursue all that I want.

Contents

The Great Disengagement

According to Gallups most recent global engagement survey, only 13 percent of the worlds workers are engaged. With numbers like this, how do we get anything done? Well, we do it in a trance.

The truth is that most of us want to be enthused, awake, involved, interested, happy, grateful, and connected with our work. We also want to work in environments that inspire these characteristics. But unfortunately, until we understand how our workers fell into the trance and learn how to end it permanently, billions will be needlessly lost in productivity and profit every single day.

This 13-percent work engagement statistic isnt a business problem; it is a national tragedy that extends far beyond the workplace. The malaise behind these figures impacts every aspect of our culture. The trance kills customer relationships, livelihoods, and personal satisfaction. The trance kills people. The trance shows up in the lab worker who lost the blood work or the receptionist who doesnt remember your name. The trance shows up in a doctor who mindlessly issues orders to everyone around him as you lay right there in his presence, fighting for your life. He never talks directly to you. I call it the great disengagement.

We encounter the great disengagement every single day. We run into it at the grocery store where someone tersely answers, If it isnt on the shelf, we dont have it or having products break just days if not hours after bringing them home. We recognize disengagement when our boss tells us to shut up or hell make sure we regret it. We see it in the CEOs who blindly clip away at the bench strength of their organizations for lazy short-term financial gains. We feel it when flight attendants raise the temperature in the cabin of our plane, just so more passengers will sleep through their flights.

If 87 percent of the world is disengaged, the odds are high that we will only meet one person out of 10 who impacts us like an unexpected gift, a singular light that brightens our day. They may look us in the eye and tell us we are valued. We will remember them for sure. That is, unless we are also in a trance. And like an irritating and unwelcome friend, the trance follows us home to disengage our families. We pass the trance on to our children.

Attempts to break the trance have turned into a big business. Employee engagement is the single most popular talent initiative in organizations today. As Josh Bersin states, CEOs are bending over backwards to make their company a great place to work. Free food, unlimited vacation, yoga classes, and lavish educational benefits are becoming common. But as all this attention shifts toward the health and happiness of staff, employee engagement remains surprisingly low. Bersin cites Gallup, Glassdoor, and Quantum Workplace research; Gallup states one-third of employees are engaged, Glassdoor averages engagement at a C+ (3.1 out of 5), and Quantum Workplace says engagement is at its lowest level in about a decade.