Strategic Engagement Course Project

ILRHR556: Strategic Engagement

Cornell University ILR School

“Strategic Engagement” Course Project

Part One: Get Ready to Survey

In this module, you performed an audit of critical practices within your company. Now you will use those results to plan the improvements you can make (or recommend).

Instructions:

Review the audit presented earlier in this module.
Outline your ideas for how you can respond to each critical need.

At your company, do employees know what the strategic focus of their engagement should be? If not, what can you do tohelp bring about greater understanding?
Notes:
How clearly do both your leadership and your employees understand what engagement means? If they do not have a clear understanding, what can you do to help improve their understanding?
Notes:
Are you measuring employee engagement currently through surveys?
Notes:
Do your senior leaders openly communicate the fundamental ways in which employee engagement contributes vitally to the organization’s ability to create and sustain competitive advantage? If not, what do you think you can do to improve this communication?
Notes:
Is there a common expectation for what engagement means for both the organization and its employees? If not, what can you do to bring about a shared understanding?
Notes:
Is your company’s engagement strategy visibly woven into the design and implementation of all HR practices, such as your training, your orientation, and your regular staff meetings? If not, where can you make (or recommend) improvements?
Notes:

Part Two:Interpret the Results

This part of the course project is the longest part of the project, with three substantial sections. In this part, you will make plans for analyzing and interpreting your engagement data.

A. Instructions

You can work through this worksheet on your own, assuming you have access to the information necessary. You can also use it as a springboard for group discussion with your leadership team.
Complete all items on this worksheet, offering your interpretation and rationale for what the data means.

Reflect on the most recent employee engagement survey results. What do you think explains the results that you see?
Notes:
Reflect on the lowest scores. Why do you think scores are lower in one function than another?
Notes:
As you talk to employees, can you collect stories that can help you to interpret the results and develop initial hypotheses about possible root causes?
Notes:
Consider what you learned about the drivers of engagement. Based on your interpretation of your survey data, whatdo you think are the drivers that warrant the most attention?
Notes:
Identify two action items that you think might help to address the drivers of engagement or disengagement within your work group.
Notes:
What additional engagement data do you think your organization needs?
Notes:

B. Instructions:

Now you will try to identify the existing workplace factors that may be at the root of sub-optimal levels of engagement. This critical work will help you address those root causes at the organizational level and take steps towards improvement.

Identify a work group within your organization that has reported sub-optimal levels of engagement in surveys. You can complete this section as a reflection activity, drawing on your own past experience with a disengaged work group, or complete it as an interview, asking these questions of someone you who is working with a group that is reporting low levels of engagement.
Using the questions below as a guide, reflect on which issues associated with the three different drivers of engagement—psychological meaningfulness, psychological safety, and psychological availability—may represent potential explanations for the sub-optimal levels of engagement.
Remember to follow Professor Nishii’s recommendation for an iterative process of asking “Why?” until you arrive at a root cause. (Why are the results what they are? Why are people reporting X and Y? and so on.)
At the bottom of the worksheet, summarize your “diagnosis” or hypothesis about the two or three factors that you believe might be most important to address in an effort to increase engagement.

I. Briefly describe the work group you have chosen to examine in this exercise:
II. Psychological Meaningfulness
Questions: / Describe your observations:
How meaningful or rewarding is the work itself? Is there significant variety, challenge, significance, and clarity associated with the tasks that make up the relevant job(s)?
How is the level of fit between employees’ knowledge, skills, and abilities and the demands of the job?
How strongly do employees identify with the values and mission associated with the job and with the broader organization?
Do the employees have opportunities to make decisions that impact the way the job is done? What about input into decisions that impact the broader organization?
Do the employees receive the feedback that they need in order to understand how well they are doing on the job, and which they can use to continually improve their performance and redirect their energies?
What is the quality of interactions among employees like? Do people share information and coordinate well with each other? Help each other? Engage in meaningful interactions that are personally rewarding?
Do the employees feel appreciated and valued for the work that they do?
III. Psychological Safety
Questions: / Describe your observations:
Do the employees feel safe in expressing their views or ideas?
Are there risks associated with taking initiative by expressing disagreement or trying to make changes or improvements to the way that things are done?
Can the employees rely on being treated fairly?
Does it seem that some types of employees have privilege (i.e., access to resources and opportunities) that others don’t?
Does the manager play favorites?
Does the manager trust employees (or you), for example to be able to make good decisions, or to act in the best interest of the organization?
Do employees (or you) trust the manager? Management in general?
Do managers’ actions align with their words (i.e., do they do what they say they will do)?
Are some employees (or you) up against negative or erroneous stereotypes?
Is there a norm for people to be open to learning, especially from mistakes and each other?
IV. Psychological Availability
Questions: / Describe your observations:
Are employees (or you) under significant levels of stress resulting from long working hours, intense pressures to deliver (results, deadlines), being understaffed, or difficult working conditions?
Are employees (or you) experiencing strain on the job as a result of feeling like they lack the preparation, skills, or confidence to do what is being asked of them?
Are there any other significant sources of frustration or anxiety that may be causing emotional exhaustion among employees?
Are employees being supported to meet their non-work needs? For example, being given flexibility in when/where they do some of their work, or having a manager and coworkers who are sympathetic to the challenges associated with juggling multiple roles?
Do employees have the opportunity to experience meaningful sources of engagement in their non-work lives?
V. Conclusions
Summary: / Offer your conclusions:
What have you determined to be the root causes for low levels of engagement in this case?
Summarize your “diagnosis” or hypothesis about the two or three factors that you believe might be most important to address in an effort to increase engagement.
What are your recommendations for improvements?

C. Instructions

Management strategies based on the drivers of engagements are outlined below. They all relate to the conditions for engagement, and are all within the sphere of influence of individual line managers. Which ones do you think will be most helpful to your efforts in improving engagement in your workplace?

Take note: One reason that engagement efforts may be disappointing is that some companies try to transform a lot of cultural dynamics all at once. Professor Nishii recommends that managers will get better results when they start with a few smaller successes, which then provide a basis for expanding. Consider the management strategies listed below. Choose the ones that you think will yield the best results for your needs.

Complete the grid below.
Engagement-Driven Management Strategies / Could We Do Better? (If So, Should It Be a Priority?) / Notes:
Take the time to understand their employees: set aside time at the beginning of meetings for informal conversations, approach the conversations like they are valuable, not a waste of time. / Yes / No
Managers can provide opportunities for people to interact informally. / Yes / No
Managers can show concern when people are dealing with personal issues or working too hard; they can be human. / Yes / No
Managers can pay close attention to the way that jobs are designed: do employees have meaningful opportunities and means to coordinate and support each other? / Yes / No
“Highly engaged” organizations implement highly visible mechanisms for recognizing and rewarding employees who demonstrate strategically focused behavioral engagement. Managers can implement these mechanisms. / Yes / No
Managers can communicate to employees that the organization recognizes them as individuals and values their specific contributions. / Yes / No
Managers can demonstrate that they trust employees to put their full energy and commitment to work; without it, people spend energy protecting themselves. / Yes / No
Line managers can influence psychological safety by treating employees fairly, such that employees don’t feel vulnerable and unsupported by their manager and organization. / Yes / No
Employees are more likely to take initiative when they feel that doing so is supported by their manager. Managers can help by encouraging a learning orientation and reacting to “mistakes” as learning opportunities rather than punishable offenses. / Yes / No
People care more about whether the process is fair than about the outcome. If they feel that the process is fair, then they can live with the decision. Managers can demonstrate the fairness of decisions being made. / Yes / No
Managers can offer resources to buffer employee exhaustion, such as opportunities to rest and blow off steam, support for attending to non-work responsibilities when needed, and helping to cultivate employee confidence in their abilities. / Yes / No

Part Three: Take Key Steps to Success

In this module, you heard from Professor Nishii about some of the recommended best practices and procedures that organizations can put into place to get the maximum results from engagement efforts. Now you will put that information to good use by outlining the concrete steps you will take.

A. Instructions:

Review Professor Nishii’s recommendations for steps that managers can take, below. These steps, taken in order, are her best practices for organizational results.
You may want to bring these into a leadership discussion with your colleagues to discuss which are most appropriate for use in your organization.
Identify which of them you will take as you move forward. What will you do (or recommend the organization can do)?

Professor Nishii’s Recommended Steps for Managers
Steps: / What will we do to implement this step:

Examine engagement scores

Understand engagement scores before sharing them with others

Consider the impact that you, the leader, have had in the level of engagement. (Look at the scores from the perspective of the staff.)

Explain and share the results.

Ensure staff has a clear understanding or the purpose and importance of increasing employee engagement.

Present results so that everyone will understand what the scores mean.

Encourage balanced discussion of strengths and opportunities for improvement.

Explore possibilities.

Get input on individual action plans that you are considering.

Lead brainstorming of actions that the group can undertake. Consider impact and effort of various ways to increase engagement.

Create meaningful action plans that require the group to “stretch and grow.

Include short- and long-term action plans.

Anticipate obstacles or barriers to success.

B. Borrow Success

Instructions:

Review the list of best practices in use at other organizations.
You will assess two practices that would lend themselves well to your culture and mission, and make notes for how you might incorporate them into your plans.

Best Practices in Use at Other Organizations
1. Leaders at organizations with high engagement integrate goals for improving engagement scores into leaders' annual performance or development plans; they hold leaders accountable for following through.
2. Organizations with high engagement expect their leaders to be transparent with the survey results and have them discuss findings and develop action plans with their teams.
3. Organizations with high engagement invite leaders to facilitate forums such as town hall meetings, business unit meetings, and/or online discussion forums for sharing survey results.
4. Organizations with high engagement ask employees to report whether their managers have actually taken action on the previous engagement surveys' results.
5. Organizations with high engagement disseminate success stories.
6. Highly engaged organizations incorporate engagement principles into their employee recognition programs; leaders share positive examples to inspire and drive organizational buy-in.
7. Highly engaged organizations empower employees to identify and act upon solutions that contribute to organizational objectives; they display a relative absence of “red tape” or rigid policies that inhibit innovation, cooperation, or responsiveness.
8. Some organizations offer cohort-based training, establishing a sense of belonging for new employees and allowing them to form relationships and support networks early on.
9. Some organizations use communication and storytelling; regional leaders share ideas, photos, and successes in company newsletters; innovations and new ideas are shared via internal bulletin boards. Employee testimonials echo and emphasize company values in practice.
10. In onboarding efforts, employees create a development plan for their first six weeks; they create a performance/development plan for their first year. These plans are aligned with at least one of the company’s strategic priorities so employees can see and connect how their work directly contributes to organizational outcomes.
11. Some organizations hire for a good cultural “fit,” and use the hiring process as a time to begin engaging employees in the mission and culture.
Best Practice Assessment (Pick two practices from list to assess below)
Which best practice are you assessing? You can indicate with number.
How could you borrow, or adapt, this practice for maximum results in your organization?
Notes:
Which best practice are you assessing? You can indicate with number.
How could you borrow, or adapt, this practice for maximum results in your organization?
Notes:

To submit this assignment, please refer to the instructions in the course.