Employee Engagement Beyond the Workplace

My most recent long term client contract had me specialise in Employee Engagement, something I’d done consistently at the Senior and Middle Managers level. But this client need was across the board and at a time when major changes were occuring.

 

With a previous survey of their staff in two states and across three sites suggesting a majority of their staff were feeling less than appreciated I started right at the base level of engagement – I wandered around and talked to people.

And I listened a lot. And when seemingly straight forward fixes to ‘pesky problems’ were identified, I had the authority to fix them and if I couldn’t initiate a fix I explained why not and what the next steps were most likely to be. And I helped fix lots if little things that can be hard to measure because there’s no one ‘big project’ to point to. Working one on one and having what often became very personal conversations doesn’t show up on your KPI list but it matters at a level that sadly, too many HR and senior managers ignore – authenticity

The listening and acting quickly built trust and so when it came time to tackle larger team based issues we had a basis to work from. The results saw a shift from ‘mostly not happy’ to ‘mostly happy’ (different labels across about five metrics being summarised) and all of that at a time when the company was going through the largest growth phase of its 40 year existence, opening a fourth factory location and experiencing an increase of about 25% in overall employee numbers.

But for some employees the overriding sense was ‘there needs to be more to this than just work’ and overwhelmingly these were the younger team members and managers. They needed the bigger project, collectively designed and run and that saw a series of new initiatives emerging. This report picks up so much of what I’d experienced and is highly recommended reading – Understanding How to Engage Millennials

Exploring Strategy Development – the Organisational Evolution model

Oct 17, 2023

An interesting public workshop in Perth in the first week of October introducing a varied group to the Organisational Evolution model. The Org-Ev is the model I developed for the start up of The Australian Strategic Planning Institute in conjunction with Steven Bowman. Given the diversity of the group, there were a number of surprises…

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Perth workshop 5th October almost fully booked

Sep 18, 2023

A note for those of you in Perth that there are just 4 spaces left for the Introduction to the Organisational Evolution Model workshop at Adina Apartments in Perth.  The Org Ev model has been designed to enhance Strategic Planning and decision making and this introductory workshop is aimed at those looking to attend the…

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Delving into Heatwave Scenarios

Sep 12, 2023

Later this month I’ll be facilitating a scenario session looking at the potential impact of a long standing heatwave event for the City of Greater Dandenong here in Australia. Heatwaves kill more people than any other weather event. By a long way. Importantly they also have a ‘fat tail’ with physical impairments to individuals often…

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Introduction to the Organisational Evolution Model workshop in Perth

Sep 9, 2023

Looking Up Feeling Good will be running an workshop on the Organisational Evolution Model in Perth. The Org-Ev model has been used by a wide number of agencies across almost all industry sectors, and was originally developed for the Australian Strategic Planning Institute. The workshop is limited to 25 people and will take place at…

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Sponsoring Vic 55 2s Master’s Hockey

Aug 21, 2023

Looking Up Feeling Good are delighted to be associated with the Victorian over 55 2s at the National Masters Championship coming up in Perth in a few month’s time across September and October. We wish all players well

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Why You Need to Read ‘Invisible Women’ Now

Aug 20, 2023

If you’re involved with setting policy, allocating funding, designing products or services and delivering on them, then one book you simply must have read is the absolutely astounding ‘Invisible Women’ by Caroline Criado Perez. What Perez has done with this book is ALL OF THE RESEARCH you need to have available to you when you…

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Preparing for Heat Waves In a World Primed to Cook

Aug 12, 2023

Are we there yet? Have people finally cottoned on to the idea that maybe, things aren’t going so well for the planet and our place in it? Storms, up; floods, up; fires, up; droughts, up; people being displaced by climate events, up.  The signals are all around us. And yet, as a species we struggle…

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Strategic Impact of Long Term Decision Making

Jul 18, 2023

One of the most challenges aspects for owners of businesses, and also for Boards charged with running businesses, is how to allow for the impact of a decision to unfold over time.  Many listed company Boards will be delaying with a CEO on a limited tenure. The Board will have set expectations for performance and…

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Emerging Risks for Australian LGAs

Jun 8, 2023

Local Governments in Australia face an emerging risk space that many seem unaware of. Brought on by rising costs, especially in business premises rentals, compliance needs and registration costs, research we’ve identified as part of work with a Local Government client is indicating a significant increase in businesses popping up in residential areas. What seems…

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Getting Over it Being Over, Not Over

Oct 27, 2022

It’s been a rather hectic few months here at Looking Up Feeling Good in between getting a complete site rebuild, multiple interstate travel commitments and assisting an assortment of clients trying to deal with one rather interesting challenge – what to do when we’re supposed to be done and dusted with a pandemic, yet we…

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