This article was originally published by Catherine Archambault, Bernard Coulaty, IÉSEG School of Management.
At a time when there is a critical shortage of talent and faced with the many challenges of the moment, fostering individual and collective commitment is becoming a strategic issue that managers must fully embrace.
Commitment. Here is a theme that is at the heart of the concerns of today's HR leaders and managers. And for good reason: research and practical experience prove that working with engaged employees is a source of sustainable performance for our organizations. But one may ask: if the notion of engagement positively impacts the performance and future of companies, shouldn't engagement be an eminently... strategic topic? And what if engagement was not only a notion carried by HR and operational managers, but also taken up by the management team, wishing to mobilize the full potential of all employees to successfully carry out their strategic transformations?
Commitment at the service of strategy
Engagement is a dimension that is strongly exploited by HR departments and team managers, who wish to find levers to maximize the mobilization and sustainable involvement of their employees in the company. In particular, line managers develop different tactics depending on the levels of engagement observed among their employees: while they adopt a rather directive and factual style in evaluating the performance of their disengaged employees, they invest in developing the skills of their employees in the 'grey zone' - neither engaged nor disengaged. They also rely on their engaged employees to share best practices, while they ensure that their over-engaged employees step back from their involvement in a caring manner.
All these actions have beneficial effects for management on the ground and the deployment of operational projects, and ultimately, on the company's performance. However, it is clear that the notion of commitment is not yet sufficiently assimilated or embodied by top management. In fact, the leaders of many organizations are still not involved in finding concrete ways to foster relational fulfillment, trust, transparency and meaning in the organization. The cause? They may cite a lack of time, an unwillingness to do what they see as micro-management, and a sense that they should be involved in more strategic decision-making. Yet, isn't there something more strategic than involving employees in the implementation of the company's objectives? Doesn't the cultural and leadership model of the company contribute to creating a positive experience for employees, leading to sustainable performance for the entire organization?
Once leaders realize that a strategy is not written in stone, but rather emanates from the day-to-day - and lives by what people do and implement day after day - the "how" of strategy execution becomes paramount to the success of the organization. Yes, top management needs to re-engage in the name of commitment, and to do so in order to positively fuel the development of the company's strategy. But how can this be done?
Engagement and strategy: a recursive dynamic
First of all, top management must be aware of the recursive dynamic between commitment and strategy. The commitment of employees activates the necessary engine to act collectively on behalf of the strategy, and a strong strategy, with strategic statements known and appropriated by all, feeds the commitment.
This double loop is the foundation on which leaders wishing to set up so-called "liberated" companies, such as Valve, Morning Star, Harley-Davidson or Zappos, rely. Indeed, even without a strong desire to liberate their company, leaders realize that engagement serves employees in their rise to autonomy and in their assumption of responsibilities on behalf of the strategy. A committed employee will want to be a force of proposal and to lead the company to the realization of its full potential, with a mindset strongly anchored in the "what could be" versus the "what is".
Conversely, a strong vision (ideally co-created by the employees) will push employees to develop value-bearing initiatives that respond to real market issues. Given their position close to consumers, employees are best placed to develop impactful value propositions and efficient management processes. In short, we need to combine a strong 'raison d'être' that creates meaning with a strategy and actions aimed at giving a good 'raison d'en être' to employees in the field, and both approaches feed each other. This is a great mission for our leaders!
Engaged employees are first and foremost engaged leaders ... and engaging!
Top management must develop the means to bring commitment to life in the organization, in the name of strategy. Three levers are available to them: relationships, trust and meaning.
First, top management can rethink how it engages in the relationships it has with its employees. Without strong relationships, it is a safe bet that employees will be legitimately afraid to commit themselves in the name of strategy. It is the duty of senior managers to create those moments where "being together" and "caring" are the primary objectives. For example, following a strategic presentation, leaders can ask employees to express what makes sense and what doesn't make sense to them about the information presented, and simply to welcome their feelings, by simply being present for them. This will require an active listening posture, which is not too "interventionist".
Secondly, top management can create spaces to encourage the confident autonomy of employees. For example, times when leaders make themselves available to answer questions from their employees will foster a coaching relationship with employees, who will feel more empowered to take on strategic responsibilities.
Finally, top management can create "meaningful" meetings that allow for honest and transparent sharing of information with employees, about the good and the bad - in order to better orient future strategic actions, always keeping benevolence and high standards as the watchwords.
The current period is an unprecedented opportunity to convince top management to put engagement at the top of their agenda: how to ensure individual and collective resilience? What actions can be taken to eliminate internal silos and recreate the conditions for collective commitment, cooperation and reconnection for all? What levers can be used to develop more agile managerial positions? Finally, how can we transform the company's culture and define a 'corporate' raison d'être that gives vision and, above all, meaning to each employee's personal and professional life on a daily basis?
In short, it is possible to re-engage leaders around the theme of employee engagement in the name of corporate strategy. This will require leaders who are humble, close to people, and willing to not only get their "hands dirty" (and that's positive!), but also to be able to "import stress and export energy"! Of course, this is a different, more open posture, which requires a bit of courage: but isn't it this little extra soul that our companies need to develop new sustainable strategies that really respond to the many challenges in this post-crisis period?
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