Employee Engagement
In
Turbulent Times
By,
Mr. Deepak Bharara
Director HR – Lanco Infratech Ltd
Should the context of TIME be our Focus?
Or
How We proactively & productively engage employees?
Land
Acquisition
Local
Agitations
Cost of Power
- State control
on selling of
Power
Project
Finance
Challenges of Power
Sector
Poor Health
of Discoms/
SEBs
Availability of
EPC
Contractor at
Remote
Locations
FUEL
LINKAGES
(Coal/Gas)
Project
Management
Capability
Regulatory
Challenges
Succession
planningcreation of
leadership
pipeline
Ensuring
system
effectiveness
Challenges
of
LANCO
Value Based
Leadership
Fuel
Availability &
Logistics of
Fuel
Evacuation
Effective
Project
Management
- Timely
Completion
Capability
Development
to meet
dynamic
business
scenario
Impact of Economic Slowdown on Employees
Low
Engagement
Low
Productivity
• Insecurity – Downsizing/Salary cuts/ withdrawal of benefits
• Unable to anticipate the future
• Heavy workload with limited resources and/or salary
• Direct correlation between the level of employee
engagement and the productivity/success of the business
organization.
• Difficult economic phases create pressure to optimize
resources and results
What makes good companies great is their ability to attract, retain, and engage the right
employees – in difficult times, even more so.
Factors that Influence
Environment/
Time
[Non
Controllable]
Leadership drives Engagement
•
The Cascading effect : Engagement starts at top, and without engaged senior leadership,
companies are not be able to engage the hearts and minds of their employees.
•
Turbulent times call for bold leadership in all sectors and in spheres
•
It is essential to learn leadership fundamentals, in order to maintain high morale.
•
Make sure that all individuals are in the correct positions and have strong leadership skills in place
in order to face challenges.
•
Engage with leaders who have successfully thrive during difficult economic times.
•
Develop a strong leadership pipeline in an organization.
•
Engaged managers are more likely to build engaged teams
Distinctive Leadership practices influencing Engagement
 Connecting with employees
 Effectively communicate the organisation’s goals and objectives
 Consistently demonstrate the organisation’s values in all behaviours and actions
 Appropriately balance employee interests with those of the organisation
 Fill employees with excitement for the future of the organisation
 Performance focussed
 Effectively communicate the organisation’s goals and objectives
 Empower managers and employees and instil a culture of accountability
 Set aggressive goals at all levels of the organisation
 Future and development oriented
 Communicate the importance of spending time on feedback and provide performance
coaching
 Fill employees with excitement about the future of the organisation
 Effectively communicate the skills/capabilities employees must develop for future success
 Invest in long-term growth opportunities, even during difficult times
*Source: Aon Hewitt
Re-Engagement in Tough Times
 Stay Centred to your Core Values
 Explicitly Support your Employee
 Solicit Employee Feedback
 Communicate Up Front with Employees
 Commit to Your Employee’s Employment
 Enhance Career Growth , Learning & Development
 Increase Recognition
 Demonstrate a strong commitment to employee well being
 Innovative and sustainable business practices
Engagement – Responsibility at different Levels
 Employee Engagement is the responsibility of the entire work force and at all
levels in the organization
 Individual Level
 Managerial level
 Executive level
Responsibility at Individual Level
Engagement is fundamentally an individualized equation – reflects each person’s
unique relationship with work
Individuals must:
 Own their engagement – they are ultimately responsible for their personal and professional
success
 Be clear on their core values and goals – if they do not know what is important to them, they
will not find it in their current job, or potentially in any other
 Take action –need to take Initiative
 To Build their skill sets
 To Articulate their interests
 To Satisfy their core values
 To Identify ways to apply their talents to achieve organization’s goals
 To Have conversations about reshaping their jobs
 To Clarify their work priorities
 To Get the support they need from Managers
Responsibility at Managerial Level
Managers matter – they work in the core where employee engagement happens – or does not –
their sphere of control is limited – they can’t change direction if the organization is stumbling, and
they can’t actually make employees Engaged
 Managers must, however:
 Take control of their own engagement – remember they are individual employees first, managers
second
 Facilitate team members’ unique engagement equations through coaching – understand each
member’s unique interests, talents and aspirations – align individuals’ passions and proficiencies with
clearly articulated organizational priorities and projects – keep the dialogue going by providing
feedback, course corrections and development opportunities to ensure high performance
 Build Relationships – drop the veil of your positions and become known to employees, sharing
personal motivation for work, challenges, appropriate weaknesses, the reasons they came to the
organization – and why they stay
 Appreciate team dynamics – need to deal quickly with potential problems and also capitalize on the
enthusiasm and work ethic of Engaged team members to ignite the team as a whole
Responsibility at Executive Level
Executive Behaviour sometimes matters more than manager actions – after all, they
have the farthest reach
To fulfill their ‘individual’ and ‘manager’ responsibilities, Executives need to –
 Commit or quit – regularly reflect on why they joined and why they stay
 Pay attention to engagement of their direct reports – if they expect leaders at all levels to coach
their people to higher levels of engagement but do not do it themselves, they undermine their message
Executives also need to –
 Talk about engagement with passion – weave engagement into the daily workplace conversations
 Build a culture that fuels engagement – promote practices that propel High Performance and
weed out practices that undermine performance
 Inspire commit & trust – communicate ‘what’ and ‘why’ of decisions, demonstrate visible
commitment to organization success in their ‘Actions’
 Set a clear direction – Clearly Articulated Compelling Vision Strategy
LANCO Infratech Limited
From 2006 - 2013
A Saga of High Growth to Slow Down
LANCO’s Rapid Growth (2006-10)
Levels
Individual
Manager
Executive
Engagement Initiatives
1. Work on cross functional roles
2. Taking new projects/ responsibilities
3. Aligning oneself with the big picture
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Rewards & Recognition
Transparent Performance Management
Aligning individual KRA’s with Business Goals
Team Parties
Celebration of special Occasions
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Building Leadership Framework
Working on Succession Management
Building the Lanco Culture
Organization Structuring
Technological Up gradation
LANCO’s Slow Down (2010-13)
Levels
Engagement Initiatives
Individual
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Manager
1. Carving out new roles for team members within function/other function
/other group company
2. Town Halls
3. Coffee Meetings
4. Celebrating small successes
5. Developing Team Members
6. Cost Control Measures
Executive
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Developing knowledge & skills Level
Cross Functional Projects
Participating in open sessions with seniors & HR
Revisiting processes
Cost Control initiatives
Open & Transparent Communication
Building organization Culture
Focusing on Values of the organization
Re aligning Organization Structure
Cost Efficient Culture
Mistakes to be Avoided during Employee Engagement Initiatives
1. Consistently asking for feedback and not taking action once received
2. Glossing over the hard stuff, and without getting to the root of real issues. If an organisation focuses only
on fun without addressing the core issues, fun activities are wasted
3. Not outlining clear ownership between HR, and business units, and within business units, or ensuring the
action owners have the authority required to make critical changes
4. Connecting engagement to performance measures without monitoring the negative impacts it can
create, e.g. Gaming. Although what gets measured, gets done, measuring the wrong things can create
adverse effects
5. Trying to change the engagement score, rather than fix the issues that make up the score. Programmes
focused on changing engagement must be connected to business core values, and tied to the
operating principles and behaviour of the organisation
6. Misjudging the performance anatomy, culture or values of an organisation. How a company performs
on engagement is in many ways tied to the performance anatomy of their organisation, its culture,
personality and leadership
POWER OF EMPLOYEES ENGAGEMENT
- DIAL/HIAL
Or
-Turnaround
a
REAL TIME SUCESSS STORIES on Active Employees Engagement
Top Trends Lead to Focus on Employee EngagementUnprecedented Changes are happening in global market
place
 Employee-employer relationship evolving/changing to partnerships
 Increased demand for work life balance
 HR’s greater role in promoting the link between employee performance
and its impact on business goals
 Increasing focus on selective retention for keeping mission critical talent
 Work intensification as employers increase productivity with fewer
employees and resources
 Acquiring and keeping key talent re-emerging as top issues of concern
 Decline in traditional communication methods and increase in cyber
communication
 Needs, wants and behaviors of the talent pool driving changes in
attraction, selection and retention practices