Aligning Your Stars

It’s easy in an organization to spot the bright stars, the individuals who seem to be in the center of all the creativity and positive change. But in fact our organizations have many, many stars – multiple galaxies full of them ranging from barely twinkling to awesomely bright.

When I wrote Business at the Speed of Now I wasn’t focused on all the bright stars because they thrive in the sky of work. I was focused on all the less bright stars that no one currently notices.

Our organizations are filled with people with unseen talent. We get to see them sparkle on rare occasions. But if you could peek into their personal lives you would see people with gifts and talents far beyond what we see at work.

I just wanted to draw attention to the person you regularly see at work who is a fully capable human being – yet is a person who works the way they have been trained to work. Head down. Mouth shut.

There is much discussed about employee engagement that views this body of work as being about employee satisfaction. It’s not. Employee engagement is about tapping into all those stars so they can constantly help your organization grow, create amazing customer experiences, and reduce your costs.

We have so many stars to work with… but we have to get them aligned to where we want them to go.  Then we need to give them the tools, information, development opportunities, and coaching they need to become bright stars – or at least brighter stars. That’s how you drive up employee engagement.

Engaging your employees is not about creating a satisfying environment because that does not assume creativity or going the extra mile.  Instead, employee engagement is about creating specific expectations and the tools needed to excel. It’s about running your business in a way that expects accountability and also enables it.

If every one of your employees really understood where you are trying to take the organization, if they really understood their part, and if they had everything they needed to be a bright star, don’t you think you could better achieve your vision?

Of course you could.