During the past two decades, few pursuits have captured the passion of American business as fervently as the quest to unleash the power of people. While some of those pursuits have been fruitful, significant employee engagement remains largely untapped.

In this captivating tale, author and consultant Les Landes offers a new path to the promised land of extraordinary employee engagement. It begins with a thought-provoking premise about the essential differences between human beings and other living creatures—imagination and free will—and how those two qualities are inseparably linked. That premise opens the door to a fresh understanding and appreciation for human nature in the workplace, and it sets the stage for a breakthrough in optimizing employee performance.

The book tells the story of two principal characters: Tom Payton, a human resources and employee communications manager who’s looking for insights on employee engagement as well as a promotion, and David Kay, an enigmatic consultant who guides Tom on a journey of discovery. Over the course of the story, their conversations run the gamut from the silly to the sublime, from the humorous to the serious, from the novelty of Barney the purple dinosaur to the elegant wisdom of Henry David Thoreau.

Together, Tom and David explore essential topics related to employee engagement, such as continuous improvement, performance development, and communication. They also challenge mistaken notions about people in the workplace, and the ideas captured in their dialogue offer approaches to employee engagement based on insights from historically significant thinkers.

This unique business fable shows how tapping into the power and purpose of imagination and free can help you create the type of organization where employees love to work and customers love doing business.

Getting to the Heart of Employee Engagement

The Power and Purpose of Imagination and Free Will in the WorkplaceBy Les Landes

iUniverse, Inc.

Copyright © 2012 Les Landes
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4759-4799-1

Contents

Preface........................................................................ixAcknowledgments................................................................xiIntroduction...................................................................xvPrologue.......................................................................xixchapter 1 What Makes People Work..............................................1chapter 2 Control Is Just Another Word for Predictability.....................10chapter 3 It's the Little Things That Count...................................19chapter 4 The Truths and Realities about Human Beings.........................33chapter 5 Getting the Best Out of People......................................47chapter 6 Focusing on Development Instead of Appraisal........................60chapter 7 Sincere Trust and Belief............................................71chapter 8 Real-Life, Real-Time Communication..................................82chapter 9 Imagine That........................................................95chapter 10 The Perfect Fit....................................................100Epilogue.......................................................................111Appendix A Core Concepts......................................................113Appendix B The ImaginAction System............................................117Appendix C Mission Control....................................................129

Chapter One

What Makes People Work

"Okay. Elemental truths," Tom muttered to himself as he walked down the hall to his office the next morning. "Is that what I've been missing? Is that really why it's been so tough to get people fully on board? What does that mean, anyway?"

"If you take a breath for a second, I might be able to help with those questions," came a reply from out of the blue.

Tom jumped in surprise. He looked up and saw someone standing at the door of a nearby office. The man seemed vaguely familiar, but Tom couldn't place him. He was embarrassed to discover he had been talking loudly enough for someone to hear him.

"Sorry," Tom said, "I didn't know anybody else was around. My name's Tom Payton."

"I know," the man said, reaching out to shake Tom's hand.

"Have we met before?" Tom asked.

"I'm David Kay. I'm a consultant here on a short-term assignment.

I'll just be here for a few days." David continued before Tom could ask him what he was working on. "And by the way ... no apologies necessary. Sometimes, a thought is just too big to keep locked up inside your head."

"Isn't that the truth!" said Tom.

"Mind if I ask what you're puzzled about?" asked David.

"Oh, it's just people stuff," replied Tom.

"From my experience, that's the biggest stuff of all in most companies," said David. "It can get pretty complicated."

"You can say that again," said Tom. Maybe it was the mood of the moment or maybe it was something about David, but Tom suddenly found himself eager to open up and talk about the employee engagement challenges he was facing.

"Right now, I'm feeling pretty overwhelmed, to be honest with you," he continued. "I'm in the human resources and employee communication department, and we've got some big changes in front of us. We just started working on an organization-wide performance improvement effort. It looks promising, but the head of HR and communication who's been leading the project—she's my boss—just told me she's leaving. It's going to be a big shock for everyone."

"So, what are you planning to do now?" asked David as he turned and started down the hall. Tom fell in easily beside him.

"I'm not sure," Tom replied. "I've been here for about ten years, and when the CEO gave us the green light to put together a new employee engagement plan, I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. Now with Marie quitting, I feel like I'm headed the other direction—if you know what I mean."

"So when Marie leaves, where does that leave you and the plan?" asked David.

"I don't know," said Tom. "Marie is a heavy hitter in HR and communication circles, and she carries a lot of weight with senior management. She did a great job of convincing them that we had to do some pretty dramatic things if we were going to stay competitive in the industry."

"Do you think they're going to change their minds now that Marie's leaving?" David asked.

"I doubt it," said Tom. "But they're going to be looking for someone very strong to fill her shoes, and you know what it's like—someone new comes in, and he feels like he has to make his own mark. He brings in his own ideas, and everything we've been working on gets shoved aside. It's the old NIH syndrome. Know what I mean?"

"Not invented here," David said with a smile, nodding thoughtfully.

"I guess you can't blame a person for doing that. I'd probably do the same thing if I was brought in to lead a big change effort."

"Any chance of that happening?" asked David.

"What's that?" Tom asked in return.

"You taking over and leading the change effort," David replied.

"Well, I am throwing my hat in the ring," said Tom hesitantly.

"Marie likes my work, and she's encouraged me to go for it. She even put in a good word to management for me."

"That sounds pretty encouraging," said David. "But you don't sound like a guy who's just been given a great opportunity and a strong endorsement to boot."

"Yeah, I know," said Tom. "That's actually what I was muttering about a few minutes ago. I've been in HR and employee communication for quite a while—most of it right here with this company. Marie hired me, and we've done some good work together. But ..."

Tom hesitated, appearing to struggle for the right words.

"But," he continued, "I just haven't felt like we were getting to the core of what it's going to take to produce some major breakthroughs in employee performance and development."

"Well, what made you think you needed to make any changes in the first place?" asked David.

"Mainly, it's because our productivity and profitability are lagging behind the industry trends," Tom answered.

"You hear that from a lot of companies these days," said David. He spoke casually but with a let's-cut-to-the-chase look. "I'm sure there was more behind it than that."

Tom was surprised at David's comment. It had hit a nerve, but he still wanted to continue the conversation. Suddenly, David stopped in front of an office that was virtually empty except for a desk, a chair, and a phone.

"Is this where you're going to be hanging out?" Tom asked.

"It's not fancy, but it's home for now," David replied with a smile.

"Mind if I come in for a few minutes?" Tom asked. "If you've got some time, I'd like to tell you more about the plan we're working on and get your reaction to it."

"Grab a seat," David offered. He sat down and waited quietly for Tom to continue.

"So, back to your question ... I guess one of my personal reasons for the new engagement plan is because every year I pore over those lists,—you know, like the 100 Best Companies to Work For—and I wonder what they're doing that we're not," Tom said. "Makes you feel a bit jealous, especially when you're in HR."

"I know what you mean," David acknowledged.

"What's more," Tom continued, "most of those companies must've managed to crack...