Brick walls, dead-ends and blood-out-of-stone are just some of the terms I’ve heard over the years from HR trying to get leadership backing for engagement initiatives. It’s something I’ve been asked to speak about at a key event today: just what does it take to get CEOs and leaders to engage with engagement. Because, let’s face it, there’s nothing quite like the word engagement to switch people off…..is there?
Research, hard facts, case studies and data exists in abundance when it comes to the bottom-line return on engagement investment, so why is it such an elusive, hard sell? Like so many HR professionals, I know what it feels like to come up against objection after objection about why such investment isn’t deemed necessary. But there are things you can do to increase the likelihood of a ‘yes’.
Sometimes, it does come down to walking away from the battle and knowing when the brick wall really is impenetrable. But, more often, it’s about re-thinking, re-framing and re-positioning a solid engagement initiative as anything other than an engagement tactic. After all, engagement really isn’t anything new: CEOs have been closely involved in these types of activities for a long time – they just weren’t labelled as engagement. The label simply makes them easier to identify and measure for communicators.
So what else can we do to ensure engagement sticks on the agenda and gets noticed? Here are my top thoughts:
1) Do your homework: The real key to getting leadership to buy-in to engagement is to get your approach right. Put yourself in their shoes and think about what’s on their mind, what’s important to the organisation, what are the shareholder needs and what hot buttons does the CEO himself/herself have.
2) Talk outcomes, not process: The most important question to ask is ‘what is the outcome we need?’ Then ask yourself what the path is to deliver it. Sadly our passion often means we approach from the ‘what’ stance rather than the ‘why’ sometimes. Rightly, business leaders want to hear about outcomes and not just the process to get there. Show why it’s necessary in order to achieve what the CEO believes the organisation needs, whether it’s a need to be more inventive or the need to reduce staff turnover.
3) Mind your language: Some leaders are naturally more engaging and find the whole area much less daunting than others. I know from our Engagement Intelligence profiling work with many senior leaders that it can often be a revelation to discover areas they’re less strong in when it comes to engaging others for performance. So, what one leader considers the best way to engage others might well not match yours! It might even be they lack the confidence to try a different approach that doesn’t naturally appeal to them. Our role is to listen carefully and ensure we are talking the same language of the person we’re sharing the idea with. Above all, I rarely talk about engagement, I talk about performance.
What’s interesting about this whole area is it’s one we’ve been grappling with for so many years. It’s something people have debated and discussed endlessly and yet it still remains a number one headache for Comms, HR and OD professionals. I question how much of this issue is actually about CEO’s ‘not getting it’ rather than the way in which we present and deliver ideas to those at the top.
At the end of the day it comes down to a basic sanity check with yourself: Is it worth putting this idea forward to them? If you can put your hand on your heart and say yes, it’s probably the right solution, find the best way to position it, and go for it!
