Would you say that employee engagement is essential for organisational
survival?
Possibly not. After all, if reports and surveys are to be believed, very few
organisations today have the levels of engagement that they can be proud of.
And yet …
A report in the January 13 business section of the UK Sunday Times questioning
the ability to revive the fortunes of the 129 year old institution that is
Marks & Spencer, tells a sad story. It describes conversations with two
named employees. The first apparently states, “The ready meal section is great and the dips are perfect for a dinner
party.” However, when asked about the clothes (the historic foundation of the
retailer’s business) she says, “I’ve never
been upstairs. I’ve never asked a friend where her top is from and heard ‘M&S’.
And you wouldn’t want to admit it if it was.” Her friend agreed. “The last clothing I bought was a pair of bed socks for my dad. My mum
is 50 – too young to be getting clothes from here.”
Wow! With comments like that from the company’s own employees, you really do
have to worry for its future, don’t you? But is it the employees’ fault or management’s?
Surely any company, and especially one that has been going through difficult
times, should have winning its employees’ support and making them its champions
as its number one objective. They should be the greatest advocates for its
products and services. Yet somehow this basic requirement seems to be totally
overlooked by modern business executives. They continue to cling to the old
belief that the only people capable of turning things around are the cadre in
the Board Room and Executive suite.
In doing so they:-
- Completely ignore fact that they are not the only people capable of having (good)
ideas; - Overlook, and effectively waste, a massive
resource (and that one which not only cares but has a vested interest in the
business’ ultimate success); - Increase the odds of the ultimate business
failure – to the detriment of all.
Hopefully someone at M&S will wise up. But the real tragedy is that this
scenario is representative of most businesses today. Have you had a good look
at yours recently?