At The Ken Blanchard Companies Government Roundtable in Washington DC, attendees were asked to participate in a table discussion on an issue of importance. Below is the fourth and final set of consolidated notes from each table discussion.

Issue 4—Employee Engagement

What are the top 3 to 5 ways that your table team identified how Employee Engagement impacts productivity and/or morale?
• Negative morale—Impacts productivity
• Not fully engaged—Not using all your resources
• Communication—Suggestions
• Misconceptions—Goals and outcomes
• Lack of engagement—Leads to fear
• Employee engagement increases ownership
• Engagement increases morale & productivity
• Transparency
• Engaged employees leads to trust and mutual respect
• Engaged employees understand the bigger picture/bigger vision

What are the top 3 strategies and/or activities your table team identified that can be employed to enhance Employee Engagement? What are the top 3 activities that should be avoided to prevent a decrease in Employee Engagement?

Enhance:
• Communication
–As open as you can be
–Be open to other ideas
• Work with change agents
• Building Trust
• Engage yourself
• Keep your commitments
• Engagement–motivates everyone
• Seek employee input
• Provide interaction opportunities
• Transparency/open door policy
• Climate surveys – are they using them
• Group challenges for improvement
• Involve the people who prepare sound changes
• Builds awareness
• Dedicated weekly time/Open agenda

Avoid:
• Get people to get out of their comfort zones
• Decrease miscommunication
• Creating silos
• Restrictive chain-of-command
• Lack of communication