Engagement Employees: Resources and Tools

Funeral Industry News Funeral Industry Press Releases September 28, 2014
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Engagement Employees: Resources and Tools

Article By Gregory L. Ferris, Ed D.

In earlier articles written for ConnectingDirectors, I spent a great deal of time providing the reader with a comprehensive overview of employee engagement in the workplace. In the first article, I provided an overview of employee engagement and the studies conducted indicating that only 25% of the workforce is fully engaged in their work while the remaining 75% were either disengaged or actively disengaged. In the next article, I wrote about the consequence of fully engaged employees and their willingness to go the extra mile. Businesses report that fully engaged employees lead to improved productivity, reduced absenteeism, commitment to the business and positive customer satisfaction. The third article addressed the need to measure the level of employee engagement followed by action planning to strengthen the level. The  fourth article communicated on how to systematically roll-out employee engagement. In the final article, I am sharing a resource that has become invaluable to me in my employee engagement work.

 

What I have learned, in my work in funeral homes and other small businesses, is that the door is always open to discover the potential of employees, however the comfort level of the manager remains a concern. Many of my clients often comment that if they had the resources and tools to support employee engagement, it would help them gain confidence to move forward with a solid plan of action. Their point is well taken. The cost is fairly high for commercial resources and often times a license is needed to use the resource. Secondly, the resource is too complicated to use, and the training and facilitation skills, essential for the resource use, might not be adequate.

 

For the past fifteen years my practice has been helping businesses discover solutions. And those solutions have led to maximizing the capacity of employees. During this time period I have utilized numerous resources found in professional catalogs, online searches and ordering from training companies. The resources have been exceptional and well received by the clients

 

There are numerous online resources where you can engage in how to conversations, find resources – videos, case studies, etc. and learn from experts/practitioners. I have found a network, the Employee Engagement Network, to be one of the most impressive and helpful for my professional and client needs. Built from the ground up, by David Zinger, founder, the Network has over 7,000 + national and international members. Using your search engine, enter Employee Engagement Network.  When you enter the webpage you will find a number of icons at the top of the page providing direction: My Page, Members, Resources, Blogs, Videos and Forums. Upon reviewing the page, go to the sign up icon and follow directions to become a member. (IT’S FREE) Once you join the Network you will find some very unselfish members who take great pride in sharing ideas and helping you. The enthusiasm, sensitivity and collegiality of the membership is priceless.

Another unique factor of the Network is that members can participate and/or contribute to the Network. There are even occasions where the insights of members are called forth to contribute to E-Books publications. Most of the resources can be downloaded at your convenience. The best part is that you can easily build a library of employee engagement resources!

 

I particularly like using the Forum where I can submit a question and, before the sun sets, have a number of responses from members. On one occasion, I was struggling with client resistance. I posed the question in the Forum and received over 100 responses in 24 hours. As you can see, the network is very attentive. By the way, you can also start a Forum anytime and invite members.

 

Employee Engagement Resources and Tools conclude a series of five employee engagement articles submitted to ConnectingDirectors. Please feel free to contact me @ GLF46@aol.com or www.Ferrisconsultinggroup.com (AKA, Coaching Group). I am always interested in hearing success stories or helping you discover solutions.