Showaddywaddy had a Top Ten song in the Singles Chart in 1978. As a young Engineer, I had just seen work colleagues upset that I’d made their job easier. The pay and conditions were unchanged, but they were upset. Showwaddywaddy’s “I wonder why?” summed up my surprise.
Thus began 25 years of experiment, research and academics into employee engagement, or morale as we called it then.
During this time, I was The Operations Guy, with increasing seniority.
The Ops Guy’s life is simple: reduce costs, increase productivity, deliver what the Customer wants and achieve monthly invoicing. How hard can that be?
The sectors were all internationally competitive tech product businesses where we competed with the US, Germany, China, Taiwan, Korea and more.
Do you think I am a big fan of “Employee Engagement” because the process made my people happy?
Employee Engagement is about as useful as a one-handed clap.
I’ll write about the other hand and the tremendous results you get using both hands next time.