A short overview, drawing on the latest thinking, on how to increase self awareness, build communication capability and enhance personal effectiveness

1. ENGAGING LEADERSHIP
Engage the Brain (and the business)

2. • Weighing in at 1.3kg
• Comprising 80% water
• Using 25% of our bodily resources
• Incorporating an estimated 86 billion
neurons and 100 trillion connections
OUR BRAINS ARE
AMAZING

3. • Continuously changing, growing, learning
• Emotionally rather than rationally led
• Sensitive and responsive to external environments
WE KNOW
MORE ABOUT THEM
THAN EVER BEFORE

4. RESEARCH SUGGESTS
OUR BRAINS HAVE
4 BASIC NEEDS
1. Attachment. The need to bond which develops from birth and is stimulated by trust
2. Orientation & Control. The need to design and control our own environment
3. Self-esteem. The need to increase and protect our self worth
4. Pleasure Maximisation. The need to increase pleasure and avoid pain
(Grave, 2006)

5. By facilitating:
• a deeper understanding of human behaviour
• practical insights into the development of self and teams
• greater awareness of how to increase individual and
team engagement across business
WHICH SHAPE
UNDERSTANDING AND
IMPACT OUTCOMES

6. PARTICULARLY IN THE
SPACE OF EMPLOYEE
ENGAGEMENT
• increasing profitability by 12%
• increasing productivity by 18%
• growing customer advocacy by 12%
Which we already know can deliver
solid business improvement
(Gallup, 2006)

7. WHICH IS A
KEY DRIVER
OF OVERALL BUSINESS
PERFORMANCE
• innovation
• Wellbeing
Making a positive business-wide
impact in areas such as:
• sickness & absence
• employee turnover

8. YET STILL STRUGGLING TO
SHOW GREAT SIGNS OF
PROGRESS
• Relatively static engagement levels
• Only 35% of employees considered to be
actively engaged – reducing to 27% in the UK
• UK ranged 9th for engagement levels among
world’s top 12 largest economies
Evidenced by:
(Kenexa, 2009/Towers
Watson 2012)

9. DESPITE THE
TIME, EFFORT AND
MONEY SPENT ON IT
• Still no hard evidence that employee
engagement levels are increasing
• Despite the many millions being spent
($720million per year in the USA alone)
(Gallup, 2011-12)

10. WE KNOW MANY THINGS IMPACT
EMPLOYEE
ENGAGEMENT
• Culture
• Development opportunities
• Fair pay
• Work/life balance
• Tools & technology

11. HOWEVER, 4 THINGS
ARE SHOWN TO MAKE
A BIG DIFFERENCE
• Narrative
• Engaging Managers
• Employee Voice
• Authentic Values
(MacLeod Review, 2009)

12. • Narrative fosters self esteem, creating stronger attachment
• Supportive managers contribute to pleasure, facilitating
orientation and control
• Employees who are listened to experience trust, stimulating
attachment and self esteem
• Authentic behaviours increase pleasure, build trust and reduce fear
AND WHEN IN PLACE
SATISFY THE BRAIN’S
BASIC NEEDS

13. • Solid HR practice
• Progressive Learning and Development support
• Fair and equitable pay and benefits
SUPPORTIVE
BUSINESS PROCESSES
ARE FUNDAMENTAL

14. BUT ON THEIR OWN THEY ARE
NOT ENOUGH

15. THE MISSING LINK IS
LEADERSHIP
• 70% of business leaders believe
engagement to be critical for their
business
• 80% of the variation in engagement
levels is down to the line manager
(CLC, 2011/MacLeod Review, 2009)

16. A LEARNED
CAPABILITY, OVER TIME
• As we focus on, practice and develop
our core leadership skills
(CLC, 2011)

17. MAKING A DIFFERENCE
TO OUR BUSINESSES, TEAMS AND SELVES
Improving our sense of well-being, energy,
performance and impact

18. AS WE DELIVER
BEST RESULTS
“Small opportunities are
often the beginning of
great enterprises”
Demosthenes

19. Deborah Hulme
Minerva Engagement
+44 (0)20 3285 7943
www.minervaengagement.com
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT
ENGAGING LEADERSHIP

20. • CLC (2011), Essay: Building
Capital Engagement
• Gallup Organisation (2011 –
2012), State of the Global
Workforce Survey
• Gallup Organisation (2006),
‘Engagement Predicts Earnings
per Share’
• Grave cited in ‘A journey through
the brain for business leaders’,
Eds A.Ghadiri, A. Habermacher,
T. Peters, (2013)
• Kenexa (2009), comparing UK
engagement levels
• MacLeod & Clarke (2006),
Engage for Success
• Towers Watson (2012) Global
Workforce Survey
REFERENCES