Many Paths to Engagement

The inspiration of this article lies not in the fact that the managers you showcased were outstanding mangers, rather that they are truly leaders. The sematics surrounding leadership and management denote specific differences, but those who are ethical, who have no hidden agenda, who articulate clear expectations, and who empower and trust their co-workers are leaders. Regardless of the arena or the leadership style, those who grasp the vision and guide the eventuality, are the ones who help each of us exceed our limits. They are the few. I salute these exemplary individuals.

I took interest in the way Ruiz described the job to his employees as their own business. Putting them in a new state of mind made all the difference and required no extra funds to implement. Thinking creatively is essential for a great management team and both of these managers definitely understand this concept.

An interesting article that echos my feelings on engagement, leaders that excel at creating this prized commodity and ways to replicate their success. Too often I have seen companies try to drive or replicate engagement through the implementation of policies designed to drive certain types of manager behaviour. With a lack of holistic thinking, these policies are often negated by stronger drivers of behaviour such as performance targets of senior managers who are not on the same page. I agree that all managers can learn to develop greater levels of engagement but my experience also shows that some cannot, despite their best efforts. I believe there are people skills at the core of being a great leader of people that some simply do not possess and that cannot be taught. I do agree that the best way to embed this style of leadership is through the initiative that Mars has started. Sharing best practice through informal workshops and conversations is a powerful way to create "communities of practice" (see Etienne Wenger, 2006, Cambridge University Press).
As a foot note I would ask some questions of Mars: The article mentions a manager that was described as "abusive". Was he exited or did he leave of his own accord? How long was his behaviour tolerated? There can be no greater destroyer of engagement that bad management. Does Mars have an active policy of ridding itself of these people? This, for me is the flip side of creating a community of practice, that of seeking out and removing the bad apples.

Thank you for the comments, I am glad this has sparked interest and discussion!

To answer Tony's question, the 'abusive' manager was exited, his style resulted in underperformance that was managed through our performance review process. We do not have an active policy to identify and remove people specifically on the basis of engagement, but engagement is embedded into each associate's performance review as a key component and required discussion point (it is more heavily weighted for managers).

We still have work to do to get to our ultimate goal of sustainable 'world class' engagement across the organization, but what started as a grass-roots initiative to identify "what good looks like" for managers as described here will definitely help us get there!

Wonderful article! It's very wise of Mars to have a Global Project Manager for Employee Engagement and wise of Jennifer to organize the Line Manager Learning Community. How will Jennifer expand the community? It will be critical for prospective community members to understand that employee engagement best practices meet universal human needs for respect, recognition, belonging, autonomy, personal growth and meaning? By developing an awareness of these universal human needs and the effect certain behaviors have on meeting them or creating need deficits that drive dysfunctional and destructive behavior, potential community members will be motivated to join the community and do the hard work that is necessary to develop the habits of engaging leadership. It will be useful for Jennifer to develop the internal communications and training programs that progress leaders from awareness of her work to consideration, trail and loyalty. She's certainly off to a great start and way ahead of most organizations!