THE HUMAN COMPLEXITY [7]: THE ART OF ENGAGEMENT
Engagement has different meanings that range from betrothal, appointment or arrangement, employment, a pledge, an obligation, an encounter, conflict, or battle.
It is the act of engaging or the state of being engaged; it is an involvement.
In the workplace, when we say employee engagement, we mean how much an employee is committed to helping their organization achieve its goals. Engagement is demonstrated by how employees think, feel, and act, as well as the emotional connection employees feel towards their organization, their work, and their team.
The above thought holds kernels of what this piece is about. Engagement is the ability to engage. It is a learned communication skill and anyone who is willing to make meaningful impact in their relationship, whatever kind it is, must be prepared to and actually work hard at meaningfully engaging with others.
What would it look or feel like to have:
- A husband who is not ready to engage with his wife or a wife who is not ready to engage with her husband?
- A marketer or sales person who is not ready to engage with a prospect?
- An organization that is not ready to engage with its customers or clients during or after sales process?
- A teacher or instructor who is not ready to engage with his/her student?
- A mentor who is not ready to engage with his or her mentee or protégé?
- Partners in a venture who fail to have critical conversations?
- Friends who fail to engage on issues of common interests but choose to walk the path of assumption?
- Politician seeking electoral office who fails to actively engage with the press or voters?
We can go on and on.
Conversely, what would it be like to engage? What benefits can accrue to stakeholders if or when they engage?
- To pre-imagine the outcomes means to focus on the purpose of the endeavour. It would help to keep the purpose in the front burner.
- The cause is treated as top of the mind and therefore no issues are left unaddressed. Attention is paid to the issue.
- When we engage purposefully, we update, we declutter, and grow in the right way. We activate productivity for all time.
- There is customer satisfaction and success because purpose is always in view, and so, every distraction is reduced or not permitted. We are agile in business.
Why did you set out on the journey in the first place? This is one question we should have in mind always.
Sometimes, our reason for setting out is lost on us as we grow into it. We get complacent and lose drive after initial wins or losses. We lose inertia. But, if we engage with ourselves and with all our stakeholders in our space, we excel always.
Intentionality and being deliberate can definitely fix the problem of losing inertia or drive. When we are intentional and deliberate we are able to discipline ourselves and apply ourselves to roles without seeking validation and this translates to monumental outcomes for us and for those we serve in our community.
We cannot afford to be too proud, too conceited, or complacent to engage for any reason. Humility is a core value for service and sustainability of same. With a good attitude of engagement, we are able to stay in the place of value addition for the customer and thus, go on to attain vision.
When we can engage, we can have good conversations. If we can sustain conversations, we can achieve great things. This is the whole idea behind meaningful engagement after contact has been made and connection established. Unless we are able to engage, purpose is not shared, and where purpose is not shared, it is not achieved. Engagement is a critical value.
