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Engaging for success: Enhancing performance through employee engagement 8 There are also those who have a tendency to confuse wishful thinking with positive action on employee engagement. Thus the ACCOR Services Report 92 found that although nearly three in four leaders rate their levels of staff engagement as above average, it appears that the vast majority of them are guessing. “There is a sense that while employers recognise the importance of engagement they don’t quite know what to do about it. The issue seems to lie in their unwillingness to talk the talk and truly relinquish command and control styles of leadership in favour of a relationship based on mutuality. As a result many organisations have tapped into what they want from employees as a result of employee engagement – that is high performance – but they haven’t tapped into what’s in it for the individual who goes the extra mile.” 9 When we reviewed current thinking on employee engagement we found that, whilst many appeared to recognise the importance of employee engagement and the strategic role HR and other professionals could play in increasing engagement levels, many are uncertain of how to enable the conditions for engagement to flourish. Managers and organisational culture 10 Thirdly there remain a large number of disengaging practices in Britain’s workplaces which act as barriers and which if not addressed can stymie attempts to introduce engagement. As Ruth Spellman of the CMI told us, “for a high quality of working life it doesn’t matter so much what the business is but how the people in that business behave.” 93 11 Kingston Business School identified these practices as: ●● Reactive decision-making that fails to address problems in time; ●● Inconsistent management style, based on the attitudes of individual managers which leads to perceptions of unfairness; ●● Lack of fluidity in communications and knowledge sharing, due to rigid communication channels or cultural norms; ●● Low perceptions of senior management visibility and quality of downward communication; ●● Poor work-life balance due to long hours culture. 12 The same report goes on to say that “attitudes to senior managers are often quite negative. The evidence is that only a third of employees have confidence in or trust their senior management team, while only two in five say that directors and senior managers treat employees with respect.” Kingston’s report found that only 40 per cent of employees are satisfied with relations between managers and employees in their organisation; 27 per cent are satisfied with the way their organisation is 92 ACCOR: Reward to Engage 93 CMI evidence to the MacLeod Review 68
Chapter 3: The Barriers to Engagement managed; 32 per cent say that their manager rarely or never discusses their training and development needs with them, 30 per cent rarely or never got feedback on their performance and 25 per cent are rarely or never made to feel their work counts 94 . 13 In their evidence to the review The Co-operative Group pointed to similar potential barriers to individual engagement, including employees’ perceptions that they were not being treated fairly at work, not being helped to improve and develop new skills and realise their potential. 95 Adrian Askew, the General Secretary of Connect, pointed to “the whinge and blame culture that still exists.” 14 Many people we spoke to identified managers’ approaches and behaviours as key factors in disengagement – as one respondent said, they sometimes act as “a great impermeable damp-proof course.” Jeff Kelly, of the Partnership Institute, told us at a round table discussion for this review: “There is a territorial problem and a comfort zone problem. Many feel comfortable with managing staff on an adversarial basis and don’t want to give it up.” 15 Kelly’s point is underlined in a report on programmes undertaken by Professor John Oliver of the Northern Leadership Academy, on behalf of the North West Automotive Alliance between late 2007 and Spring 2009 96 : “… in our view, the biggest challenge is the nervousness and uncertainty in managers moving outside their comfort zones and dealing with employees they may have managed over a long period. Facing up to initial scepticism or even cynicism can dissuade many in this position, particularly as this negative reaction could last for many months.” 16 Ruth Spellman of the CMI also pointed to “poor management skills and ‘amateur managers’ who have an inability to let go and allow staff to take ownership of their work. This results in very good people becoming frustrated about not being allowed to do a good job and become disengaged.” 17 John Oliver believes that the obsession with targets often infects managers’ behaviour and detracts from their ability to interact effectively with their staff. He told us: “Ninety-nine per cent of failure to engage staff is down to management behaviour. The management paradigm which introduced management by objectives and KPIs [key performance indicators] changed the whole way of thinking around good and bad management. Managers often focus on what they are judged on i.e. KPIs. They give the impression on the shop floor that they are much more concerned with outputs than people. There is less humanity and more mechanistic behaviour despite superficial friendliness and a ‘call me Dave’ type lack of formality with staff; I call this kind of manager the ‘friendly automaton’.” 94 Truss, C., Soane, E., Edwards, C., Wisdom, K., Croll, A., And Burnett, J. (2006) Working life: employee attitudes and engagement 2006 CIPD 95 The Co-operative, evidence to the Macleod Review 96 John Oliver (2009) ‘Culture Change and Employee Engagement: Overall Outcomes, Programmes’, Team Enterprise Solutions. 69
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Foreword by Secretary of State This
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