There was an interesting section in one of the IET (Institute of Engineering and Technology) magazines the other week – talking about improving employee engagement. This is one of the most discussed topics I come across when working with companies who need to get their teams onboard to make a change happen. They listed four points. Employees are engaged by: 1 – Leaders who inspire confidence in the future. 2 – Managers who respect and appreciate their employees. 3 – Exciting work that employees know how to do. 4 – Employers who display a genuine responsibility to employees and communities. An interesting check list I think you’ll agree. Smartspeed Consulting Limited 'For When Results Matter' www.smartspeed.co.uk

In any organisation we are faced with the ongoing need to deliver change. Improving the way we operate and deliver our services is expected from all concerned – our superiors, our customers and our owners. Many times the change doesn't work as planned. Things go wrong, we get delayed and people don't do what we expect. Smart companies understand this and use a form of constant correction and reinforcement to manage their changes. The tool that is most common is the PDCA approach (Plan, Do, Check, Act). This makes us ask the questions – 'have I gotten the result?' and 'how close was I?' The difficulty with this simple approach is that most people don't do it on a consistent basis. There are several ways to bring this kind of management into the work we do. The most straightforward would be to build the review steps into your project plans, use scheduling software to remind you to ask the questions, or to use the opportunity of 'failure' to be a

From time to time – if we look back at what we are doing – we may see that disciplines have slipped. From the team meeting to the sales order process the need for discipline is necessary, but how do we regain it in a simple way? Talking with our teams to ‘redesign’ the activity is probably one of the easiest ways to bring discipline back into the fold. The pure awareness of what the purpose is can get the discipline back in place. Speaking with influential individuals about the activity and asking what they can do to help is another simple way to get things back on track. This method is more discreet and possibly could take less time to organise. There are many ways to regain discipline, but few reasons to be disciplined.  Smartspeed Consulting Limited 'For When Results Matter' www.smartspeed.co.uk