ABSTRACT

This book explains the importance of employee engagement – It defines what it is, what it will do for your business, and how you can achieve it as well as sustain it. It covers the history of employee engagement along with why employees were formerly much more engaged with their work and company than they are currently.

The author explains, in depth, why employees want to be engaged but are not. He discusses the emotional, psychological and social forces that make engagement, the state that people naturally and continually attempt to achieve. Furthermore, he makes a compelling case that engagement is not only natural, but, when achieved, it also creates a happy and productive workforce where employees are not only emotionally but also physically more healthy.

You will learn exactly how a business can not only cause this engagement to surface, but also how to sustain it. He presents a complete discussion of the "basics and beyond" that are required to support a system of engagement. He explains engagement as a system and how to interpret and utilize a system diagram using the "high leverage points" to further fuel and sustain engagement.

The book then provides a critical and comprehensive series of discussions of precisely what management must do to unlock the power of a fully engaged workforce. In addition to learning how to measure engagement, there are detailed discussions, along with two confirming case studies, of how to improve your levels of engagement.

Essentially, the author examines engagement from top to bottom integrating the theories of the scholars, with the experiences of the practitioners. In so doing he can explain, in simple terms, how engagement can be achieved and why people try so hard to create a fully engaged workforce with both the best of intentions and a true passion to achieve it … yet fall short.

There is a simple reason -- achieving engagement is all about management and the many changes that must be made, and that raises the crucial question: Is management both willing and able to recognize, accept, and execute the needed paradigm shifts? The stark reality is that the changes that must first occur are in the thoughts, beliefs, and actions of the management team. This book gives you a path to follow that may achieve just that. And the remaining question for the senior management is: What are you prepared to do?

The mystery of achieving engagement is known, the science is known, the answers are not technically complicated, and now it comes down to a simple choice: Are you or are you not willing to change? And with that choice, there are resultant consequences. It is no more complicated than that.

part 1|2 pages

Engagement Background and Theory

chapter Chapter 1|22 pages

Background Information

chapter Chapter 2|14 pages

History and Current State

chapter Chapter 3|18 pages

Engagement Theory –  A Top-Down Perspective

chapter Chapter 4|26 pages

Issues with The Theory

chapter Chapter 5|12 pages

Toward a Practical Definition

part 1I|2 pages

Management Basics

chapter Chapter 6|26 pages

Management 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0

chapter Chapter 7|22 pages

Management and Leadership – The Basics

part III|2 pages

The Six Eclectic Management Skills

chapter Chapter 8|28 pages

Management and Leadership – The Two Lost Skills

chapter Chapter 9|18 pages

Management and Leadership – The Two New Skills

chapter Chapter 10|26 pages

Management and Leadership –  The Two Key Skills

part IV|2 pages

The Role of Motivation in Engagement

chapter Chapter 11|28 pages

On Motivation

chapter Chapter 12|20 pages

Intrinsic Motivation

part V|2 pages

Creating a Fully Engaged Workforce

chapter Chapter 13|10 pages

Systems and Systems Thinking

chapter Chapter 14|26 pages

System Dynamics and Engagement

chapter Chapter 15|42 pages

Activating the Engagement System

chapter Chapter 16|26 pages

Completing the Engagement System

part VI|2 pages

Improving Engagement

chapter Chapter 17|26 pages

Engagement and Your RES

chapter Chapter 18|16 pages

The Action Plan

chapter Chapter 19|8 pages

Final Thoughts