Your Contributions Matter

In our last blog you read about the role of appreciation in employee engagement, I’d like to introduce you to another component of the Life Strategies’ Employee Engagement model: Contribution. Engagement means being involved and invested in the future or organization. It’s about actively contributing to making your organization more successful. In light of this, organizations need to show employees how their contributions are linked to corporate successes.

Engagement is much more than just contributing through your regular work duties; it’s how involved you are with the “bigger picture.” Consider the following:

• Are you an individual who actively contributes to shaping the organization?


• Are you solicited for feedback on the direction of the organization?

Effective contribution is a partnership – good employers provide opportunities to get involved and good employees avail themselves of those opportunities. In return, employees get opportunities to cross train, take on stretch assignments, and explore other opportunities within the organization.

Appreciation Makes a Difference!

Appreciation is a core component of two of Life Strategies’ models: Employee Engagement and Let’s CHAT! (a coaching tool). The element was embedded into both models for very similar reasons – many people today feel underappreciated...and appreciation does make a significant difference. According to the Bully Free at Work Blog, Appreciation is one of the top 3 things that leaders can do to minimize the impact of a disrespectful workplace. An article from CIO.com reported a US Department of Labor survey indicating that 64% of people who had left their jobs said they’d left because they didn’t feel appreciated. The same article reported a startling stat from Gallup – 70% of those surveyed said they received “no praise or recognition in the workplace.” No wonder so many leave!

Let’s CHAT! is an acronym for Communicate, Help, Appreciate, and Take Action. When I developed the Let’s CHAT! model to help managers and supervisors with coaching conversations, it was to respond to some of our corporate clients’ in-house surveys indicating that a significant number of employees felt unappreciated. However, there was considerable pushback from managers and supervisors who found the “appreciation” step of the process awkward and forced – they asked if they could replace it with “Analyse” instead. It’s so much easier to engage in problem-solving conversations with our colleagues than it is to show authentic appreciation! Therefore, we stuck to our original model and left appreciation intact. Years later, in Deirdre Pickerell’s research on employee engagement, we weren’t at all surprised to see Appreciation surface as a fundamental component of engagement, also making a significant contribution to employee retention.

Looking for creative ways to show your appreciation? Here are 80 to get you started!

Interested in reading more? Consider Dr. Noelle Nelson’s book, The Power of Appreciation in Business.

Still looking for more? Join me in a one-week e-course to learn more about the Let’s CHAT! model, beginning November 17, 2010. Let’s CHAT! will also be a component of our 3 day leadership training (Keeping Employees Engaged During Business Transformation ) beginning October 20, 2010. To learn more about employee engagement, join Deirdre for a 2 week e-course beginning October 27th (Career Management at Work: Keeping Employees Engaged).