Here are resources I highly recommend to anyone who is interested in getting up to speed and understanding employee engagement as well as staying plugged-in to the emerging employee engagement marketplace of ideas.  I will continue to add to this post as I consider new resources and I encourage you to add resources you highly recommend to the comments section below.

Overview of Employee Engagement

To begin, download this FREE digital copy of Fired Up or Burned Out: How to Reignite Your Team’s Passion, Creativity and Productivity.  It describes the elements of a culture that motivates people to give their best efforts and align their behavior with organizational goals.   The book was published by Thomas Nelson Publishers in 2007 and has been widely endorsed including by bestselling author Marshall Goldsmith, Leader to Leader founder Frances Hesselbien, and the global executive search firm founder Russell Reynolds, Jr., to name a few.  Full disclosure: I wrote this book after years of research and I believe in its contents.  The book includes 20 case studies of leaders throughout history from business, government, the social sector and sports who created cultures that engaged the people.  It also contains best practices and group study questions. If you prefer a copy of the book over the download, you can purchase it through booksellers including Amazon.com or 800-CEO-READ.  If you prefer to read a brief overview of the ideas from the book, here is a free download of the manifesto I wrote for changethis.com entitled The Connection Culture: A New Source of Competitive Advantage.

Other books I’ve read and highly recommend as overviews of employee engagement are The Enthusiastic Employee, First Break All the Rules and Happy Hour is 9-to-5.

Books on Organizations That Engage Employees

It’s Not About the Coffee by Howard Behar

Pour Your Heart Into It by Howard Schultz

Setting the Table by Danny Meyer

Small Giants by Bo Burlingham

The Great Game of Business by Jack Stack and Bo Burlingham

Why Is Everyone Smiling? by Paul Spiegelman

[more to come]

Articles/Case Studies

Warren Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway

Ed Camul of Pixar Animation

Chicago Bulls Basketball Dynasty

Frances Hesselbein of the Girl Scouts of the USA

A.G. Lafley of P&G

Ann Mulcahy of Xerox

Dr. Herbert Pardes of New York-Preybyterian Hospital

Howell Raines of The New York Times (Note: Shows How Not to Engage Employees)

Anita Roddick of The Body Shop

President FDR

Howard Schultz of Starbucks

The Rock band U2

General George Washington

World War II Generals Bradley, Marshall and Eisenhower

Employee Engagement Communities and Marketplace of Ideas

There are several organizations doing outstanding work on employee engagement that I have faith in based on my personal interactions with individuals in them.

The Employee Engagement Network, founded and maintained by David Zinger, is the best place to connect online with individuals who are interested in the field.  It is an absolute must for anyone committed to advancing the field.

Other organizations I know and respect that are involved in employee engagement  include:

American Society for Training and Development

American Management Association

Athenaonline.com (and its parent, the Institute for Management Studies)

Best Practice Institute

Blessing White

Corporate Executive Board’s Corporate Leadership Council

DDI

Forum for People Performance Management and Measurement (part of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism)

Gallup Organization

Great Place to Work Institute

Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership

Human Capital Institute

Leader to Leader Institute

Linkage

LRN

Maritz

Society for Human Resource Management

Talentkeepers

Towers Watson

Valtera

Winning Workplaces

WorldBlu

During difficult times it’s natural for anxious individuals to retreat into isolation, a state that nearly always results in diminished productivity. When it comes to the amount of effort employees put in their work, research by the Corporate Leadership Council has shown that emotional connections are on average four times as important as rational factors.  Emotional connections arise when employees feel: 1) proud of their organization’s mission, values and reputation, 2) valued by their supervisor and colleagues, and 3) informed and that their opinions and ideas about matters that are important to them are considered by decision-makers before decisions are made.

Recently I visited an impressive organization that is poised to continue performing well even through the challenging economic environment we are presently facing. The Beryl Companies is a Bedford, Texas-based organization that focuses on call center support for hospitals.  Its three-year average operating margin of 15 percent is more than double that of its next best public competitor. The firm is widely considered to be the crème-de-la-creme provider in its industry.  Beryl has also been recognized as one of the best workplaces in America.

One key to Beryl’s success is that it knows how to maintain trust, cooperation and esprit de corps among its employees. Paul Spiegelman, Beryl’s CEO, advocates a “circle of growth” philosophy that says employee loyalty leads to customer loyalty which results in profitable business. Beryl achieves employee loyalty by helping employees feel connected to the company.

Beryl makes its employees feel proud.  In the company’s “Right Start” program for new employees they not only learn what Beryl does but why they do it.  Beryl’s mission is to “connect people to healthcare.”  In the middle of the call center floor there are electronic scoreboard-like screens that continuously track a variety of metrics including the number of connections Beryl call center workers have made year-to-date with individuals seeking physician referrals. The day I visited Beryl, the board showed an astounding 4.1 million connections had been made through early November. Beryl’s track record of operational excellence is also a source of pride for employees.

Beryl values its employees and that makes them feel more connected to the company and to their Beryl colleagues. It does this in a variety of ways.  The physical environment at Beryl is pleasant.  Employees have access to training to help them learn and grow.  The company maintains a “family style support network” to reach out and help employees and their families when they are in need. Beryl encourages camaraderie by sponsoring the “Beryl Book Club,” family-friendly events, “Beryl Outreach” events to help a designated community-based organization each year, a “Beryl Life” magazine for families who have members working at Beryl, and the “Beryl Well” program to encourage healthy lifestyles.

Another reason that Beryl employees feel so connected to the organization is that Spiegelman and his management team actively inform and consider the opinions and ideas of Beryl employees.  Beryl shares its financial and operational performance results each month with all employees in several town hall meetings.  Spiegelman also meets monthly with 12-15 employees for a “chat and chew” informal lunch discussion. In all of these forums it helps that Spiegelman and his management team members are approachable, open-minded and curious. To further give employees a voice and make sure that “no stone is unturned,” Spiegelman even maintains an “Ask Paul” intranet site to field questions and consider recommendations.  

Every organization would be wise to make sure its employees feel connected to their organization. During this economic storm, their future may depend on it.

Paul Spiegelman, CEO of the Beryl Companies, has written a wonderful book about Beryl Companies and its extraordinary culture.  Rather than write a review of Paul’s book, I’m posting the review written by the business maven and book reviewer extraordinaire Robert Morris (see below).  On Monday at 11:00 AM Eastern, I will be hosting a webcast with Paul Spiegelman and you can sign up for it by clicking on employee engagement.

Robert Morris review of Why Is Everyone Smiling?

As I began to share Paul Spiegelman’s thoughts about “the secret behind passion, productivity, and profit,” I realized that there really isn’t a “secret” to be revealed. Rather, the challenge is to assemble and then – key point – retain those people who are so excited about being part of a given organization that they eagerly and cheerfully go what Napoleon Hill once characterized as “the extra mile” to add value to their organization and to its customers. It is no coincidence that many (most?) of those on Fortune’s annual list of the “most admired companies” are also #1 or #2 in their respective industries in terms of profitability and cap value. They also have the highest retention rate of valued employees and far more applicants for an open position than do any of their competitors. In fact, those who work for competitors are the most eager to work for them. The title of Spiegelman’s book is apt: If an organization’s employees (or if you prefer, as do Wal-Mart and JCPenney, associates) are not smiling, you can be certain that its customers aren’t.

This is an especially personal book and it must be because Spiegelman is obviously a passionate as well as a thoughtful and sensitive person. However, what he shares is really not about him; rather, it is about others within and beyond the Beryl organization who have found joy for themselves and created joy for others in the modern workplace, one in which, regrettably, joy is seldom experienced. I especially appreciate his provision of “stories” shared by thoughtful and caring people such as Julia, John, Melanie, Michael, Lance, Jared, Lali, Juli, Maricela, and Rhonda. Throughout the narrative, Spiegelman also includes a number of communiqués between and among people who are struggling to understand important business issues, to solve problems, and to share (often with stark candor) their opinions about a given situation. However different high-performance organizations may be in every other respect, all of them are transparent in terms of communication, cooperation, and most importantly, collaboration.

In the final chapter, Spiegelman explains that he wrote this book to “share simple secrets that might help other leaders successfully advance their business. I wrote it as an appeal for old-fashioned values in the commercial arena, with special emphasis on treating coworkers well.” The “stories” provided by others provide a human context for each of the “simple lessons.” In this instance, I am reminded of what Oliver Wendell Holmes once observed: “I would not give a fig for the simplicity this side of complexity, but I would give my life for the simplicity on the other side of complexity.” What Spiegelman and his Beryl associates share may seem “simple” and that’s true, but only if viewed within the context of Holmes’s observation.

There is a great deal of substantial value to be learned from this book. That said, the challenge to each reader is to apply lessons learned effectively and consistently. Awaiting them is what Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert I. Sutton have aptly characterized as “The Knowing-Doing Gap.” I agree with former Texas football coach Darrell Royal: “potential” means “you ain’t done it yet.” Credit Spiegelman and his Beryl associates with sharing what they have learned about the “what” and “how” of establishing and then sustaining passion, productivity, and profit within any organization (regardless of size or nature) by putting a smile on everyone’s face, by having fun, and thus sharing a sense of joy in what they do and how they do it…together. It remains for each reader to apply effectively what she or he has learned.

About Robert Morris

Throughout his career, Robert Morris has divided his time and energy almost equally between the academic world and the business world. After earning an M.A. degree in comparative literature from Yale University, he taught at two boarding schools in New England for the next 13 years while also coaching varsity football and basketball. He then served as Director and CEO of The National Humanities Faculty, the school division of the National Endowment for the Humanities. He and his staff supervised hundreds of humanities projects throughout the United States while raising millions of dollars each year to fund them.

Later, he founded and served as CEO of his own company (a public relations firm) based in Dallas that was eventually purchased by the largest advertising agency in the Southwest, then as SVP he headed its PR business unit until one of his clients, Scripps-Howard, hired him to be publisher and CEO of The Dallas Business Journal. In recent years, he has sustained his practice as an independent management consultant, based in Dallas.

Twelve years ago, he returned to the classroom as an adjunct professor of English at Eastfield College and, for the next ten years taught two sections of freshman, Introduction to Writing” and “Introduction to Literature.” Seven years ago, he began to review business books online for the US and UK Web sites of both Amazon and Borders who currently rank him #9 among their Top 100 Reviewers. Meanwhile, he continues to provide consulting services to dozens of major corporate clients. His specialties include what he calls “accelerated executive development” as well as knowledge management and performance measurement. Feature articles about him have appeared in the Harvard Business Journal, Inc. Magazine, and The Wall Street Journal.

Tune in on Monday September, 29 at 11:00 AM Eastern to hear my guest Paul Spiegelman, CEO of Beryl Companies, talk about the remarkable corporate culture at Beryl and how it has resulted in high levels of employee engagement and retention.  This organization is one of the best examples of a Connection Culture that I am aware of and Paul is an extraordinary leader and author of Why is Everyone Smiling?  

For more about the webcast click on employee engagement.