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Chapter 4: Enablers of Engagement – What has to happen to make engagement work
difference. You have to ensure staff have a voice, that conflicting views are heard.
At the same time effective line management is crucial to balance and direct the
enthusiasm and to ensure that decisions are made. That trade off between
professionalism and passion can sometimes be challenging.”
64 Some of the SMEs we spoke to were wary of employee engagement as
‘management speak’. However whether individual SME leaders articulate it in that
way or as ‘effective management’, it is often key to their business success. As Martin
Hellawell, Managing Driector of Softcat Ltd says: “We don’t talk about employee
engagement here at all but if it’s involving the staff and the business and
communications then that’s what we’re all about and we do it all the time. We haven’t
got a programme to engage people, we’re just a very engaging company. Most of it
comes from very regular and very open communications at all levels in the
organisation and we do lots of it.” 130
65 The key challenge for many SMEs is keeping up the ‘direct’ engagement when the
business grows. Most SME managers seem to agree that the first time ‘employee
engagement’ features is when their business reaches around 20 employees, or, as
Christina Domecq of Spinvox described it to us: “When there are too many people to
take to the pub at once”. It is at this stage when the owner/manager may begin to
lose sight of the individual employee and their role, at the same time as feeling
anxious about relinquishing control of a business they have nurtured into existence.
The engagement challenge can reappear again when the organisation reaches
around 50 employees, by which time middle management will usually have been
put in place, as well as someone responsible for HR. It is throughout this period of
growth when SME owner managers are most in need of advice and support.
66 As small business owners on the Lancaster University LEAD programme told us,
although many owner/managers of SMEs may be technical experts or have in-depth
sector specific knowledge, they often have little or no business or management
experience. It can be difficult to move away from engagement based on personal
relationships to an approach that is more closely linked to the strategy of the
business. It is also often a challenge to introduce middle management into an
organisation whilst still retaining the ‘message’ and values of the enterprise, as well
as ensuring that the original owner / manager is still regarded as the leading figure
in the enterprise.
67 Investing in management skills can also be seen as wasteful in the context of staff
turnover or a lack of internal promotion opportunities. Small business managers
may fear that trained staff may leave for better opportunities elsewhere, negating
the investment in training and development.
68 On the whole, SMEs place less emphasis on formal training than larger
organisations; they may not know what training is available, or may struggle to find
130
Hockey, J, & Ley, I. (2009). Leading for Engagement: How Senior Leaders Engage Their People. Sunningdale:
National School of Government.
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