The technological advances of the digital age seem tailor made for enabling an engaged and high performing global workforce. \u00a0One reason is that emerging technologies can actively support key human development needs. \u00a0For example, adult learning experts tell us that great human development is social, collaborative, immediately relevant, and self-directed\u2014all features that can be enhanced by today\u2019s technology.<\/p>\n
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In the digital age, members of the global workforce have the capability to be more connected, more collaborative, and have greater personal impact than ever before. More knowledge is immediately available to them\u2014in more delivery choices\u2014than at any time in history. Clearly, the digital age is creating a workplace optimized for high levels of workforce engagement. \u00a0Or is it?<\/p>\n
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Over a year after its publication, I\u2019m still reeling from the results of Gallup\u2019s 2013 Global Workforce Study<\/i>. \u00a0In sum, it found that only 13% of people in 142 countries reported they are engaged in their work. \u00a0Further, it found that 24% of people reported they are \u201cactively disengaged\u201d from their work. \u00a0If the Gallup data are accurate\u2014or even partially accurate\u2014think about the implications for the global economy. \u00a0Even more, think about the implications for humanity as expressed in the quality of work life for millions.<\/p>\n
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The theme of the 7th Annual Global Drucker Forum is Claiming Our Humanity: \u00a0Managing in the Digital Age.<\/i> \u00a0A great first step in claiming our humanity is creating workplaces that optimize human engagement. \u00a0Here are four observations about managing workforce engagement more effectively.<\/p>\n
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A key reason is change. \u00a0A powerful artifact of the digital age is nearly continuous organizational change\u2014including periodic disruptive change. \u00a0These cascading changes can affect workforce engagement\u2014either positively or negatively\u2014depending upon the quality of leadership.<\/p>\n
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Some of our research for the book Choosing Change<\/i> is relevant here. \u00a0It suggested that when leaders use their experience and insight to actively help people make sense of the changing environment\u2014people are able to change their perceptions of change from negative to positive. \u00a0An event that was perceived as a personal threat is reframed as an opportunity for personal development\u2014and as an opportunity to shape the future of the organization.<\/p>\n
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To be clear, the kind of leadership suggested here isn\u2019t passive or merely intellectual\u2014and it\u2019s not just about communicating better. \u00a0The best change leaders are passionate and courageous. They deliberately position themselves between the initial chaos of large-scale change and the workforce. They help people better understand the purpose and opportunities of the change effort and<\/i> they use the change effort to accelerate the development of people. \u00a0Finally, and perhaps most importantly, they assure that no one is left behind. \u00a0This kind of leadership sets the stage for higher levels of engagement (and performance).<\/p>\n
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Until recently, much of the emphasis on better understanding the role of leaders in workforce engagement focused on the C-suite. \u00a0However, data from Gallup, the Conference Board, the Association for Talent Development (ATD), and others, is indicating that leadership at the line is a key factor in engagement. \u00a0In engagement surveys, people often highlight their personal relationship with their supervisor as a key factor in their engagement.<\/p>\n
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There is also substantial anecdotal data underscoring the role of the first line leader in engagement. \u00a0For example, in my professional life, I am seeing a general\u2014and often strong\u2014dissatisfaction with the quality of leadership at the line. This dissatisfaction can manifest itself differently across cultures\u2014but is on the minds of many of my colleagues around the world.<\/p>\n
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Senior leadership is also critically important in building workforce engagement to be sure. \u00a0A key role is redefining the position of first line leader to emphasize a stronger role in workforce engagement. \u00a0Another key role is creating, reinforcing, and modelling an organization-wide culture of engagement.<\/p>\n
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Last month, I attended ATD\u2019s global conference in Orlando, Florida, along with almost 11,000 talent development professionals from 100 countries. \u00a0Speaking to people from five continents about engagement, I noted that the dissatisfaction reported with first line leaders seldom related to poor technical or business skills. \u00a0Instead, it focused on leaders\u2019 poor personal skills–their inability or unwillingness to invest energy in building their teams. \u00a0By \u201cbuilding their teams,\u201d I mean such activities as: \u00a0knowing team members as individuals, personally investing in team member development, helping team members navigate organizational changes, creating an environment of trust and fairness, and providing a sense of \u201chigher purpose.\u201d<\/p>\n
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When I asked people to describe a great first line leader\u2014they often described the ability to do two things: \u00a0Perform the technical aspects of the job and<\/i> personally invest in building the talent of their team.<\/p>\n
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Said another way, great leadership at the line is about everyone. \u00a0About a century ago, the great Mary Parker Follett wrote a classic article entitled \u201cThe Essentials of Leadership.\u201d \u00a0While this article is rich for many reasons, a key one is its treatment of the critical role of the follower in organizational life. To Follett, \u201cfollowership\u201d was active and important. \u00a0In a real way, it completed the equation that is leadership.<\/p>\n
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I\u2019m suggesting that great teams have more than engaging leaders, they have engaging members. \u00a0We each have the responsibility to our organization, our team, and ourselves to \u201cself-engage.\u201d A great step in improving workforce engagement is building into our teams and organizations more competence in self-engagement.<\/p>\n
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The digital age can enable us to do more than merely claim our humanity: \u00a0It can foster a renaissance for human achievement in organizations. \u00a0The digital age can enable greater human innovation, creativity, and complex problem solving power than ever before. \u00a0It can enable greater connectedness, collaboration, personal impact\u2014and ultimately more meaning in work for tens of millions. \u00a0It can enable all of this only if effectively led. \u00a0Let\u2019s build a generation of leaders who are technically excellent and people focused.<\/p>\n
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About the author:<\/strong> The technological advances of the digital age seem tailor made for enabling an engaged and high performing global workforce. \u00a0One<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":""},"categories":[144],"tags":[99,107],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.druckerforum.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.druckerforum.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.druckerforum.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.druckerforum.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.druckerforum.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=873"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.druckerforum.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":876,"href":"https:\/\/www.druckerforum.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873\/revisions\/876"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.druckerforum.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.druckerforum.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.druckerforum.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nWalter McFarland is the founder of Windmill Human Performance, the past Board Chair of the Association for Talent Development (ATD) and co-author of Choosing Change <\/i>from McGraw Hill.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"