(Here are some comments I recently provided on a LinkedIn Group discussion about Employee Engagement vs. Employee Empowerment)

I’m a big believer in employee engagement and have discussed related topics in a few blog posts (see www.granadaadvisors.com/blog). A few thoughts:

1. IDENTIFYING THE “WHY”: Engagement is a function of the passion they feel towards their work. They are passionate if they are working towards a purpose they believe in. Getting collective buy-in around this is no small trick. Apple seems to have done it with their “Challenge the Status Quo” / “Think Different” mantra. People within the organization really believe this. At the beginning a recent interview, Steve Jobs mentioned that staying focused on why they do what they do at Apple is of primary importance (see: D8 Conference interview http://bit.ly/bPGust ). Dave Ulrich from the RBL group has written a book on this as well (see Video 1 on “The Why of Work” at http://bit.ly/drP9HT ). Simon Sinek has a great video on Ted.com that talks about this.

2. MOTIVATING THE COGNITIVE ELITE: Dan Pink boils down the science of motivation in a really great video at Ted.com into three main concepts: Autonomy, Mastery, Purpose. Millennials, in particular, are very interested in finding purpose through their work. A sense of “Why” the business exists can give them that. Millennials also do not want to be micromanaged, but want to work the way they have grown accustomed to working — anywhere, anytime, using the tools they like to use. In our organization, we call this the ROWE — Results Only Work Environment — (as per Dan Pink). Throw out the schedules and “office hours,” give them access to the tools they want to use, and recognize that their unconventional methods of getting things done may be a driver for innovation within your organization.

3. RECOGNITION — DOING IT RIGHT: Finally, providing recognition the right way is really important. Recognition should be reward behavior that is in line with the interests of the organization (its strategic plan), be immediate, and be public. For more info on how to impactfully utilize employee recognition, I would recommend a book called The Carrot Principle ( http://carrots.com/books/carrot_principle ).

I hope that helps!

Brad Heitmann
Chief Executive Officer
Granada Advisors | Crux & Gage
Mobile: +1.801.824.4168 | Skype / Twitter: bradheitmann
bradheitmann@granadaadvisors.com | brad@cruxandgage.com