Project Excellence in Poland is going well. Since October we have been heavily involved in helping an off shore service centre develop its people enagement capabilities. A combination of coaching, consultation and training is beginning to have some very positve effects. We have a few more sessions to come and after this and true to Mission’s ethos we will have created the internal capabilities and confidence for many of the leaders to do it for themselves. I am back in Warsaw next week. A great city, one that I would recommend. I will take some pictures this time.

Working harder than ever - drafting workbooks, organising dates and meeting new associates. Also gearing up for Barcelona in a few weeks time.

Ian Gardiner has written an excellent article for CNN, follow the link to read more.

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/BUSINESS/02/05/military.lessons.warfare.business/

index.html?iref=allsearch

Have been reading the CIPD’s latest report on engagement very interesting but not telling us anything new in my opinion. There are no silver bullets in increasing employee engagement. Just do the basics very well and provide the space for your employees to express their ideas. At mission we believe there are 5 core needs that have to be met by every employer: (1) Recognition - for the value they add (2) An emotional connection with their colleagues (3) Freedom of action within discrete boundaries (4) Feedback on their position and standing in relation to their peers (5) Clarity of role and place within the hierarchy.

People go to work to earn the respect of their colleagues, to be recognised for the things they do and value.

Recognise and reward these good behaviours in the vast expanse of stuff and BAU and you will be surprised how simple things can unlock otherwise closed doors to discretionary effort.

Lots going on at Mission this week, multiple proposals written and plans for our marketing for 2010. Chris and I will be attending the People Development Summit in Barcelona this March and we will be hosting a number of open days later in the year.

No surprises in the latest CIPD report now available at : www.cipd.co.uk/shapingthefuture

Quote:
“We’re finding that emerging concepts fall mainly into three key areas and we have refined the focus of our research to reflect these:

Employee engagement

Engaged individuals will work more effectively, connect better with customers and go the extra mile which will translate into organisational performance. Past CIPD work has found that to be engaged, employees need to have the right environment, an HR model which aligns individual discretionary effort with the organisation’s strategic goals and effective managers.

Leadership

There are a set of behaviours exhibited by effective leaders which will motivate and engage employees. These behaviours also support the translation of employees’ discretionary effort into business performance.

Organisational Development

Organisations need to have a planned and systematic approach to enabling sustained organisation performance through the involvement of its people. Organisations should engage in continuous reviews of their internal context and external pressures. Those that do are more likely to develop the flexibility and responsiveness to adapt to fast changing market pressures. The process will be enhanced by effective HR which constantly seeks to enhance the people resource of organisations.
Although these three themes appear to be the main drivers of sustainable organisation performance, we expect other insights to emerge as the work progresses. So there will also be a fourth area of ‘emergent insights’”

Another busy week - off to see a large bank about a new programme tomorrow, an existing programme with another bank and a meeting to discuss Mission and its CSR programmes for this year. Thereafter in the Welsh office writing new material for our existing programmes, sorting out our marketing events for the spring and organising future meetings. Follow us on Twitter too Mission Team -