21 Steps to Build an Ingaged Company

 I am excited to announce that a new and expanded edition of my book Ingaging Leadership will be published soon by Motivational Press. Please visit this blog often to know more about it.Today, I would like to share just a small selection of the big ideas the book contains. They are 21 focused and powerful steps you can take today to build a more Ingaged workforce.21 Steps to Build a More Ingaged Company

1. Strive to create an organization where everyone works together in partnership.
2. Invite and encourage everyone to define, shape and implement the organization’s vision and mission.
3. Ask for help and offer it when needed, because doing so is a sign of strength, not weakness.
4. Work side-by-side with employees to create individual plans for their growth and advancement in the company.
5. Cultivate a culture where negativism is discouraged and good attitudes take hold.
6. Enable people to do what they want to do, instead of telling them what to do.
7. Explain what the company is doing, clarify the reasoning behind plans, and invite people to contribute.
8. Fight complacency (“if it ain’t broke . . .”) and lead a search for opportunities to grow.
9. Involve employees in long-term succession planning that helps them shape a bright future for themselves and for the organization.
10. Invite everyone to help create strategic plans for long-term growth.
11. Listen actively and attentively, but stay attuned to hearing what other people say that is right, not what is wrong.
12. Set aside personal opinions and allow people to try things that are risky if they truly believe in them.
13. Make “big questions” (“What do we stand for?” . . . “What makes us unique?” . . . “What makes people want to work here and build their future with us?”) a central part of company life discussions and processes.
14. Offer benefits that are so good, employees would never think of working anywhere else.
15. Invite people to help plan and create a company that values families and a healthy work/life balance.
16. Openly share company financial data and other critical information, so that all stakeholders know how the enterprise is really doing.
17. Recruit and hire employees who have not just skills, but values that fit with your company’s.
18. Solicit 360ᴼ feedback about their own leadership activities, and share that feedback with everyone.
19. Surround themselves with people whose skills and abilities are different from, or better than, their own.
20. Take pains to differentiate facts from opinions.
21. Utilize performance reviews as opportunities to discover new ways for employees to develop their own visions and plans for their futures in the organization.