1. Leadership Cohort A Personalized Transformation Lesson 4
Employee Engagement (“Drive & Upside of Irrationality”)
Ideas for preparation
Note for the instructor Cohort Leaders:
The slide deck has been prepared for a 2 hour session
This deck is for you to use as a guide – personalize it – make it yours
Review the content and add/edit/change the instructor notes to reflect your insights and your most powerful examples/ memories/ stories…
Prepare introductory remarks to your cohort group
Positioning:
Employee Engagement is about motivation, commitment and loyalty which will lead to productivity and retention – seen in the bottom line. All Leaders across IT (both individual contributor and manager) can relate to this important topic of being fully engaged and to the benefits for ones self, team and organization.
Take time to watch this 3 minute VOD by D. Pink and think about sending out to the team beforehand:
Throughout the lesson, make connections back to the IT Services Transformation...why is it critical to have engaged employees through this change process?
Practical Preparation:
Tip and suggestions if you are facilitating in a room face to face
Print copies (black and white) of slides 10 or 11 and 13 for all cohort members in preparation for the engagement activities OR ensure you have a projector to project your screen.
Choose either slide 10 or 11 for depending on your role (IC or Manager).
Tip and suggestions if you are facilitating the session via Lync:
Virtual instructors using Lync– there are two suggestion points to set up break out sessions. Please see instructions on how to do this on the ITLC IWE community...title of document is IT Virtual instructor Guide.
TIP: Ensure you enable everyone's permissions so they can fill it in when the time comes.

2. Homework Review High Impact Plan
Your Assignment: Write a “High Impact Plan” for yourself. Share it with your team and ask them to hold you accountable. Encourage them to do the same. RECOVERY Time is Key!
In your next team meeting share the following 6 min VoD with your team. It will not only assist in educating them but it will reinforce the message that you support their life balance.
High Impact Plan
What are you going to DO differently?
Do this every day so your ritual turns to habit.
Spiritual Capacity = Alignment
Provides powerful source of motivation through a sense of higher purpose
Mental Capacity = Focused
Focuses physical and emotional energy on the task at hand
Emotional Capacity = Connected
Creates the internal climate to be open
Physical Capacity = Energized
Builds endurance and resilience.. Create energy reserves
12 min – Homework
2 min – Attendance
1 min – Agenda
What to do:
Review last session’s homework assignment as a team. Select a few group members to share one of the categories– spiritual, mental, emotional or physical capacity plan
Ensure you stop after 7 min so you stay on time.
Discuss what was learned and what they were able to teach their teams as a result.
While they are discussing, finish taking attendance for this session. (You may want to ask a participant to take attendance as you facilitate the discussion.)
What to Say:
Lets start today by sharing what we learned from our last session.
As we go around the room (or virtual room) can I ask a few of you to share practical examples of what you are trying to do to enhance your work Life Balance? Share examples from your spiritual, mental, emotional or physical capacity plan.
Segue:
Let’s now dive deeper into today’s lesson around Employee Engagement.
As leaders we need to know what drives us to be motivated and stay engaged and thus how to ensure our employees feel motivated, valued and engaged. This will not only be reflected in the quality and standards of their work – seen in performance, but also in terms of their loyalty to our company seen in retention.

3. Lesson Plan Attendance Roll Call, Homework Review & Agenda 15 Minutes
Reflection Activity
10 Minutes
IT Pulse Survey and Engagement Facts
What Motivates us to be Engaged?
20 Minutes
Autonomy, Mastery, Purpose Activity
Key Drivers for Employee Engagement
Engagement Activity
30 Minutes
Learning Roadmap / Resources
5 Minutes
Key Messages, Wrap Up & Homework Assignment
What to do:
Highlight Agenda – focus on timing.
What to say:
Here is how we’ll spend the next two hours.
As you can see by the agenda and timing – much of the discussion will happen in our team activities so I appreciate everyone being open to share ideas and experiences.
Segue:
Let’s now dive deeper into today’s lesson and think about our own engagement.

4. Reflection: What do we value most?
“Building engagement is a process that never ends. And it rests on the foundation of a meaningful and emotionally enriching work experience. It is not about making people happy, or even paying them more money.”
Working Today: Understanding What Drives Employee Engagement, Towers Perrin 2003 Report
When was the last time you had a meaningful and enriching experience at work? Reflect on where you were as far as...
As Leaders, we are tasked to “motivate” others and to make them feel valued and engaged.
How are you dong this now?
Is it working? Are employees engaged?
How could you be doing this better or differently?
Do you know what employees value most?
Engagement
Motivation
Commitment
Loyalty
10 min
What to do:
Read the quote to the group. These are rhetorical questions. This is not a group discussion, but rather a reflection to pause a moment and consider their own team dynamics.
Let the group read and think through these questions in silence.
For the reflection, think about a time when you were fully engaged and think about where you were as far as how engaged, how motivated, how committed and how loyal you were during that time.
What to Say:
After reading the quote, take 5 minutes of silence to consider the rhetorical questions.
Firstly consider how motivated and engaged you are, then think about the teams that you work with their level of engagement and motivation. If you are not a people manager you are still a team member and should consider this for your team.
When reflecting on this, it’s important to not get overly focused on whether you directly lead a team. As you get more senior in grade you become a leader....a manager of people and the work, whether you are a Director in large organization or a senior PM, leaders have an impact on how employees are being engaged in the workplace.
Segue:
Employee Engagement is about motivation, commitment and locality which will lead to productivity and retention – seen in the bottom line.
Driving employee engagement is critical to our success as a company.

5. Employee Engagement Facts
Engaged Employees work 57% harder 
Engaged Employees are 87% less likely to leave 
Over a 3 year period revenue that has engaged employees will double of industry standard. 
5 min
What to do:
Source: The stats come from the Towers Perrin Talent Report study 2003 – “ Understanding what drives Employee Engagement”
Read through slide with the group.
What to Say:
The first point is all about productivity/output: engaged employees work harder.
The second point is about retention which if not managed can be costly.
The third point is about how engagement impacts bottom line. Research has shown that over a 3 year period the revenue for an org that has engaged employees will be double of industry standard.
So based on this, why do we think engaged employees are so critical the company today?
What to Do: spend a few minutes talking about this – capture live or on Skype via whiteboard)
Lets recap on why this is important – Engagement comes through loyalty, commitment and motivation. If Employees feel engaged then they are more likely to excel in their contribution/ task – seen through performance and productivity. They are also more likely to stay with the company seen as retention. Both productivity and retention impact our bottom line. The more engaged our employees are the stronger we are as an organization.
As you can see from this slide, engaged employees care more, perform better and stay longer, making a contribution to bottom line.
Segue:
Lets now consider strategies to increase our levels of employee motivation and engagement.
Page 5

6. What Motivates Us to be Engaged?
We need to upgrade our “recognition” strategies based on a new meaning of what it is to be motivated and truly engaged in your job, team and organization.
As an example let’s take a look at Netflix: salaried employees can take PTO at any time and as often as they like.
They also don’t need any expenses approved until they go beyond a certain $ amount.
Employees say that this autonomy and freedom leads to them being extremely respectful and responsible.
5 Min
What to do:
Read through slide and example and highlight two points below.
What to Say:
When we think of ourselves at our best – we were not passive and compliant – we were active and engaged! The richest experiences are seen when we are doing something that matters, doing it well and doing it for a cause larger than ourselves/ our teams.
When it comes to motivation there is a gap between what science knows and what business does. Our current business operating models and recognition strategies are built around the external factors like the carrot and stick motivators . The latest research shows we need to move motivation to be more internal. It is a stronger and more long term platform to work from.
Segue:
For professional success and personal fulfilment we need to move ourselves to this new model. Daniel Pink and Dan Ariely both subscribe to ways in which we can fuel engagement...Let’s take a look. 6

7. Book Summary of The Upside of Irrationality by Dan Ariely
Dan Ariely’s work covers concepts around compensation, motivation, stress and performance. He plays on these two key concepts:
Desires to Succeed vs. Ability to Succeed
There are two types of work – operational work and creative/ strategic work where motivating and compensation play out differently.
People can push themselves and churn more operational task for greater reward. But people can not carry out creative / strategic work faster or at a sustained quality even if there is the incentive of great compensation bonus.
Meaning of Work
If we not seen any “purpose” or “meaning” to our work then the quality and our productivity will drop over time.
Motivation will be the first attribute to drop.
5 min
What to do:
Review slide but most importantly explain each concept by referring to the example below.
What to Say:
Ariely’s work covers concepts around compensation, motivation, stress and performance. He plays on two key concepts:
There are two types of work – operational work and creative/ strategic work where motivating and compensation play out differently. People can push themselves and churn more operational task for greater reward. But people can not carry out creative/ strategic work faster or at a sustained quality even if there is the incentive of great compensation bonus.
An example:
Operational Work: if we told someone to “jump”, and we pay them for every jump – then they will jump longer and faster than they would have to earn more money. So in operational tasks compensation bonuses work.
Creative/ strategic work: If you are told to be “funny” for the next 10,20,30 minutes and you will be paid a bonus for every 10 min increment then the desire to earn more is there but the ability drops as pressure and stress affects our ability to consistent out perform. After 20 min of being funny the higher compensation makes no difference – it’s too difficult.
2. Ariley highlights that if we don’t see any “purpose” or meaning to our work then the quality and our productivity will drop over time. Motivation will be the first attribute to drop.
Ariley conducted an experiment where he gave two groups Lego robots to build.
Group one: he said I will pay you as you build the robot – for every milestone you archive you will be rewarded. The groups worked hard and well together to build the robot and were rewarded along the way.
Group two. He waited until the group had finished building a robot then he told them he would pay them a large bonus if they build it again... But he dismantled it in-front of them. This was so de-motivating that there were few groups to complete the task despite the fact there was monetary reward and they knew they had the ability.
The experiment shows that the need for there to be a “purpose in work” for it to feel like an accomplishment and an achievement.
Traditional models say that motivation comes from monetary reward or carrot and stick models...But is this still true give our current business models of today ?
Have you ever worked really hard to meet a deadline ...then the person you sent your work to does not look at it for a week or two...How did you feel?
Have you put your heart and soul into completing some work for a project that is then cancelled or withdrawn and no one is interested in your completed master piece that took you weeks?
Segue:
Now let’s look further at what Daniel Pink is saying about motivation and engagement.

8. Three Contributing Factors to Motivation:
Book Summary of Drive by Daniel Pink
Three Contributing Factors to Motivation:
Autonomy
The desire to direct and drive our own lives. Encouraging autonomy does not mean discouraging accountability.
Autonomy is the opposite of control – control leads to compliance where as autonomy leads to engagement.
Mastery
The urge to get better and better at something that matters. Learning to do new things. Ask yourself, was I better today than yesterday? This is how we improve.
We all have a strong sense of ownership and a pride of creation. We become attached to things we invest effort in creating and may even over value them.
Purpose
The yearning to do what we do in the service of something larger than ourselves. Be the best we can be.
An extremely motivating factor is one we all need and drive to which is a sense of completion.
10 min
What to do:
Talk through three engagement elements.
Source: “Drive” by Daniel Pink and The Upside of irrationality by Dan Ariely
What to Say:
Lets look at the three engagement “elements” Pink subscribes to:
Autonomy: Our default setting is to be autonomous and self directed. Unfortunately due to circumstances including a poor notion of old fashioned management we can not work to our default and we conform to the “methods of motivation set by the organization”. To be true to our instinctive behaviour and have high performance it enables we must have autonomy.
People need autonomy over a few things....their tasks (what they do) their time (when they do it) their team (who they do it with) and technique (how they do it). Studies show that companies that offer autonomy are outperforming their competitors.
As Daniel Pink says in his book Drive “ This era does not call for better management it calls for a renaissance of self direction”
Read quote: “ The ultimate freedom for creative groups is to experiment with new ideas. Some sceptics insist that innovation is expensive. In the long run, innovation is cheap. Mediocrity is expensive and autonomy can be the antidote”. - Tom Kelly GM IDEO
Mastery: Only engagement can produce mastery – becoming better at something that matters. Mastery begins with “flow” – the optimal experience when the challenges we face are matched to our abilities.
Mastery is a mindset – it requires you to see your ability as “always improvable”.
Mastery is a pain – it demands effort, determination and patience.
Mastery is asymptote – its impossible to fully realise – at the same time it is frustration and alluring.
Read Quote: “Throughout my Athletics career, the overall goal was always to be a better athlete than I was at that moment – weather next week, next month or next year. Improvement was my goal. The medal was simply the reward for achieving that goal. - ” Sebastian Coe Two time Olympic Gold Medal Winner
Purpose: Humans by nature seek purpose – a cause greater and more enduring than ourselves. Business has always considered purpose a “nice to have accessory” however this is now changing.
Purpose is taking its place along side profit margins as an aspiration and with guiding principles. This can be seen in corporate organizations in 3 ways:
The goal of using profit to reach purpose (philanthropic work).
In organisations that are looking outwards to community for recognition.
In policies that allow people to pursue their own purpose on their own terms (onramp/ off ramp/ flexible work, etc).
Read quote: “One can not lead a life that is truly excellent without feeling that one belongs to something greater and more permanent than oneself” . - Mihaly Csikzentmihalyi
Segue:
Lets now think about how this applies to us in our daily routines.
Select slide 10 for Program Manager and 11 if your audience is People Manager.

9. Activity – For Program Managers
In pairs or as a small group discuss how you rate yourself against these three motivational factors?
Autonomy
Mastery
Purpose
How much autonomy do you have at work over:
Your Tasks?
Your Time?
Your teams time and priorities? (Team)
Your Technique?
Can you clearly articulate what you want to be a master of/ at?
Do you set standards and measure and monitor them?
What reward and or recognition do you want to have for completion and exceptional effort?
If you had to sum up your contribution to the world in one sentence, what would it be? What is your purpose?
Does your work contribute to achieving your purpose?
Does your manager know what your “sentences” is?
10 Min
What to do:
Ask face to face groups to find a partner and work in pairs to consider the following three sets of questions.
For virtual groups set up 3 or 4 break out session depending on how many people you have.
What to Say:
In a pair or in a small group discuss how you would answer these three sets of questions around your level of autonomy, mastery and purpose.
There will be no debrief for this activity – its for small group discussion only.

10. Activity – For People Managers
In pairs or as a small group discuss as a Manager how would you rate yourself against these three motivational factors?
Autonomy
Mastery
Purpose
How much autonomy do you provide your team over:
Their Tasks?
Their Time?
Each others time and priorities? (Team)
Their Technique?
Do you know what it is that each of your team members wants to be a master of/ at?
Do you set standards and measure and monitor them?
Do you reward and recognize for completion and exceptional effort?
If you had to sum up your contribution to the world in one sentence, what would it be? What is your purpose?
Does your work contribute to achieving your purpose?
Do you know what your team members “sentences” would be?
10 Min
What to do:
Ask face to face groups to find a partner and work in pairs to consider the following three sets of questions.
For virtual groups set up 3 or 4 break out session depending on how many people you have.
What to Say:
In a pair or in a small group discuss how you would answer these three sets of questions as a manager around your management level of autonomy, mastery and purpose.
There will be no debrief for this activity – its for small group discussion only.

11. "Key Drivers" of Employee Engagement
The People Leadership, Management & Team
Trusted and transparent relationships with managers and leaders
Managers who value performance and development equally
The opportunity to work with best-in-class talent
The Environment
Employee Workplace & Services
Flexibility to manage the virtual nature of our work
Technology-enabled, collaborative work environment
A culture of health and wellness
The Culture
Values & Work Experience
An explicit and differentiated value proposition
The opportunity to contribute unique skills and perspectives
Differentiated rewards based on performance and contributions
The Opportunity
Career Opportunity & Development
Opportunities for challenging and long-term careers
Visibility to internal job opportunities
Frequent and meaningful feedback to grow and develop
The Rewards
Compensation & Recognition
Transparent, predictable market competitive opportunities
Long-term wealth accumulation opportunities
A culture that cognizes recognizes and celebrates success
10 min
What to do:
Give the group a few minutes to read through this slide.
What to Say:
The Employee Experience: Comprised of a set of statements using employee words, the Employee Experience represents industry leader’s aspirations for the employee experience in a dynamic networked organization.
Employees want a work environment that will:
Accelerate My Growth Connect My World Inspire My Dreams Enable My Best Reward My Results Me
This is what employees want in order to feel engaged!
The Employee Experience survey also provides a way for leaders to connect their people-related programs to an enterprise-wide best-in-class experience to ensure that it remains compelling, relevant, and unique. Companies seek to deliver on this experience over time, via enterprise-wide and function-based employee programs and initiatives.
Research from The Human Capital Institute found the following to be critical factors for employee engagement:
Leaders who inspire confidence in the future
Managers who recognize employees and emphasis quality and improvement as top priorities
Exciting work and the opportunity to go and develop
Organizations that demonstrate genuine responsibility to their employees and communities.
A common Inclusion and Diversity priority around Employee Engagement is to “Deploy targeted development and progression programs to improve engagement, increase retention, and advance diverse communities”.  It focuses on the following types of programs to make sure we have an Inclusive environment that encourages all employees to remain engaged:
Integrating I&D into new and existing development programs
Targeted development programs for diverse populations
Bottom line, this is about having enough diverse levers to pull in the workforce for everyone. We must remember that employee engagement looks different for everyone.
Segue: How does this relate to you and your team?

12. Engagement Activity
Based on your learning’s from today, how you could you approach motivation/ engagement differently?
For yourself?
For your team?
TIPS:
-Focus on what you can control
-Think outside the box
-The output should be something tangible they can use/do/see
20 min activity
10 min de brief
What to do:
The team should break out into smaller groups. If you are delivering virtually set up break out sessions. Instructions can be found on programs social media portal.
Give the team a full 20 min to work together.
Then take the final 10 minutes to debrief. Ask each group to share their key findings.
What to Say:
Motivation and commitment foster an engaging, respectful, and inspiring culture that values employees.
If our company is to get to be a $80 Billion company we need to change some of our thinking around engagement and motivation. We must encourage our employees to feel part of the bigger picture and link into their intrinsic drivers.
How could you approach motivation/ engagement differently?
List practical ways to increase your own level of motivation and engagement and how to increase motivation and engagement for yourself for overall IT. Remember…
Focus on what you can control
Think outside the box
Focus on quality not quantity
The output should be something tangible they can use/ do/ see
Debrief:
Can each group please share your key findings. Let’s compile them. Who wants to act as scribe?
Example: Ideas only – your teams may come up with others.
20% of time on another task, with another team (shadowing), in training or “innovating” – then feedback to the team
Set up a peer feedback and reward system
Feedback and formal recognition plan
Share of best practice – ex: brown bag lunch with another team or function to share best practise
Global Innovation Program
Gen X and Gen Y “Reverse Mentoring”. A formal mentoring program where Gen Y mentor Gen X on how to work with new technologies eg: Twitter, blog etc
Spend time getting to know employees better – what are their hobbies, interests, etc
Segue:
These are excellent ideas and resources we can all use. Let’s look at some other helpful resources you can take away from this lesson.
Approach differently for yourself? 1. 2. 3.
Approach differently for your team? 1. 2. 3.

13. Employee Engagement Resources
Use the Leadership Cohort Online Learning Roadmap to locate your video and reading resources, plus cohort documents, and activities.
5 min
What to do:
Remind the students to use the Leadership Cohort Online Learning Roadmap to locate your video and reading resources, plus cohort documents, and activities.
Ask the group if they have any resources to add.
What to say:
You will find many great resources to help you and your teams. As a team can you think of any others we could add?
If you are interested in learning more about Daniel Pink’s book “Drive” or Dan Ariely’s book “Upside of Irrationality, feel free to purchase a copy for you and your team.
Segue:
Let’s briefly review your homework assignment.

14. Think outside the box with your team!
Wrap Up and Homework Assignment
Homework:
During one of your next team meetings, ask a co-worker or direct report what motivates them.
Raise these questions:
Think outside the box with your team!
What motivates you at work?
What would you like to see more of to be more engaged?
What are you doing differently to stay engaged?
5 min
What to do:
Assign homework to be completed in advance of lesson 6.
What to say:
Take some time between now and our next session to find out from someone else (either peer, co-worker or direct report) what it takes to keep them engaged and motivated. Encourage them to think outside the box.
We’ll share a readout and capture at the beginning of next session.
Segue:
As we wrap up this lesson we can see some clear linkages between the last three lessons: Strategic Alignment, Life Balance and Employee Engagement. Lets review our key takeaways.
Be prepared to share what you learned at the next class.

15. Capture Key Messages To Takeaway
What key messages will you take away from today?
How does this topic of Employee Engagement link with our previous lessons on Strategic Alignment, Scaling as a Leader and Life Balance?
5 min
What to do:
As you close your session, capture your key learning's the team feels they got out of the session. Capture and send out in a follow up communication after the session.
What to say:
One of the key changes we made to this year to cohorts is to provide more frequent updates and cascade learning’s to individual contributors.
Let’s summarize our key takeaways from today’s lesson, as an action we will then translate and share with our teams. This is required for all people managers and above.
How does this lesson align to the other three lessons we’ve talked about already?
Strategic Alignment
Scaling as a Leader
Life Balance
We’ll capture these key takeaways and I’ll send them out after the session.
Thank you for your time and open engagement today.
End the session. Tell everyone to keep in touch through the 6 weeks. Let them know you will be looking for their activity on the forum.