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  • Posted by Michael Pinchera at
    12:00AM 04/15/2013 • 0 Comments

    Audio for Engagement

    Music can help breathe life into meetings and events and engender greater attendee engagement. And that’s what Australia-based Song Division is all about. Founder Andy Sharpe is leading a session at IMEX Frankfurt, May 21-23, with the aim of sharing practical ways to use music (in ways that don’t cost a cent) to enhance the success of meetings. One+recently chatted with Sharpe about his upcoming session and some current hits and misses in the aural realm.

    ONE+: What inspired you to begin discussing with meeting professionals the transformational power of music at events?

    ANDY SHARPE: There’s no training for meeting professionals on how to use music to deliver a great event. Playing the right music at the right time can help you create emotional connections between your attendees, the organization, your content and each other. But music is often an afterthought. Like the food and decor, it needs attention! The Song Division team and I have been designing music for meetings around the world for 10 years, so I’m looking forward to sharing some of that experience at IMEX in Frankfurt. 

    ONE+: What are some widespread mistakes meeting professionals make regarding music at events? How can they most easily overcome them?

    AS: A common mistake is leaving the music to someone who doesn’t know your audience. Asking the sound guy you met minutes before the event to play something off his iPhone mightn’t ruin the day, but it probably won’t help you achieve your event objectives. You know your audience and you can put them in the right emotional state—pumping them up for a sales kick-off, relaxing them before a potentially heated stake-holders meeting or getting the party started at a Gala Awards. Ask your music-savvy colleagues for help; just don’t leave it up to a complete stranger at the last minute.

    Another big mistake is not rehearsing. Whether it’s piped music or a live band, rehearse the music that will be playing when the ballroom doors open, the CEO takes the stage or during dinner. Sit in different spots around the room to make sure the volume is appropriate. If it’s background music, then make sure everyone can talk without straining. If it’s the big opening number, make sure it’s got impact without bursting eardrums in the front rows. 

    ONE+: What audio innovations are you watching most closely?

    AS: I think the most exciting audio innovations are the subscription-based music services such as Spotify and Rhapsody. Rather than buying CDs or paying for songs on iTunes, you pay Spotify a US$9.99 monthly subscription for unlimited access to more than 20 million songs. Someone raves about the new Mumford & Sons single, you type it into the app on your phone and it’s instantly in your collection. It’s a great tool for meeting professionals—you can put together your own playlists for upcoming events and share them with your colleagues online, who can add their suggestions.

    Unfortunately, playing songs directly from the Spotify app at the actual event is still a cloudy issue in terms of streaming copyright laws, so to err on the side of caution, you would still need to purchase the final songs you decide to use via iTunes or alike. I’ll be giving everyone an update on any copyright developments at the Campfire session in Frankfurt.

    ONE+: Be honest: How do you feel about auto-tuned vocals?

    AS: I…DON’T... KNOW...WHAT...YOU...MEAN...MICHAEL...(said in 1960s robot voice). Auto-tune can be used for good or evil, but I have to say it was a breath of fresh air hearing Adele, Shirley Bassey and Babs blast their naturally tuned pipes at the Academy Awards this year.

    ONE+: What is your favorite instrument or musical tool? Why?

    AS: The human voice. Whether it’s The Beatles, The Black Keys or a corporate group at a Song Division event, it’s the vocals that get me all emotional!

    Check out IMEX Frankfurt and contact Andy Sharpe with your event+audio questions and stories at andy@songdivision.com. And if you still doubt the power of music, check out the results of Song Division’s recent CSR program with the Cerebral Palsy Alliance and ING. 



  • Posted by Jason Hensel at
    12:00AM 01/18/2013 • 3 Comments

    Engaged Employees Have Healthier Lifestyles

    U.S. workers who are engaged in their work have healthier lifestyles compared to those who are not engaged or actively disengaged, according to a recent Gallup poll. 

    "Engaged employees are deeply involved in and enthusiastic about their work," said Daniela Yu and Jim Harter, who wrote the report. "Those who are not engaged may be satisfied, but are not emotionally connected to their workplaces and are less likely to put in discretionary effort. Employees who are actively disengaged are emotionally disconnected from their work and workplace and jeopardize their teams' performance."

    Past Gallup studies have show that how a leader manages workers can affect employee engagement, which affects the bottom line and employees' health. Furthermore, Gallup research shows that engaged employees are 21 percent more likely than disengaged workers to join company wellness programs.

    "Taken together, the data showcase the link between being engaged at work and leading a healthy lifestyle," Yu and Harter said. "It is not clear though which way the relationship between engagement in the workplace and healthy behaviors goes. It is possible that workers without healthy lifestyles are more prone to illness, which then reduces their chance for being engaged at work, or that those who are actively disengaged are less likely to take part in healthy behaviors, perhaps due to time or a depressed outlook on life.

    "Regardless, since engaged employees are more likely to lead a healthy lifestyle, workplaces that actively improve engagement may end up seeing an added benefit of better employee health—the potential benefits of which include reducing healthcare costs for a company in the long term and increasing energy and productivity in the near future."

    To learn how you can help create a more engaged workplace environment, please read "The Art of Real Recognition" from the October issue of One+. And please let us know in the comments how you either keep engaged in your job or how you help your employees stay engaged.



  • Posted by Jason Hensel at
    12:00AM 01/18/2013 • 0 Comments

    VEI Obtains engage365 Brand From Pathable

    The Virtual Edge Institute (VEI)—an organization dedicated to advancing engagement around events, meetings, learning and marketing programs through technology and best practices—recently announced that it's obtaining the engage365 brand, website, membership and community.

    VEI will be combining its content, membership and audience under the engage365 brand, allowing VEI to better serve the growing needs of meeting planners, event designers, learning architects and marketers as they turn their focus on customer and learner engagement around content and community.  

    “We think the future of events, membership, learning, marketing and collaboration is all about engagement and that’s why we’re making a big move in expanding our focus and the engage365 community could not be a better foundation to start building on,” said Michael Doyle, executive director of VEI. “Donna Sanford, a longtime member of the VEI team, had been put in charge as the community director of the engage365.org site and community.” 

    Over the last six years, VEI has helped build awareness and positioned digital tools as fiend not foe to the events and meetings industry. Now that adoption is soaring, it’s time to focus on the ultimate goal—engagement. 

    “With the technology available today around mobile, digital events, collaboration, communities and social media, the question is not if we can do it but how will we do it,” Sanford said. “Technology is going to take a back seat to innovation and creativity. We are mostly in uncharted waters here.” 

    “We’re very excited to have VEI pick up the engage365 community and will support their efforts as much as we possibly can,” said Jordan Schwartz, CEO of Pathable. “We think having an independent third party running the organization is the right thing for it to grow and take the leadership role in the growing and critical field of engagement. VEI is used to being on the edge, so to speak, when it comes to future trends, and we’re looking forward to seeing them take on this new initiative.” 

    Want to learn more about engagement? Check out the feature, "To Play is Human," from the November issue of One+. 

    (Story materials from the Virtual Edge Institute.)



  • Posted by Jason Hensel at
    12:00AM 12/17/2012 • 1 Comments

    3 Building Blocks for Employee Engagement

    The National Conference Center recently released news about the value of employee recognition, training and development and developing credible leadership.

    “For every employer, being ‘engaged’ could translate into any number of different things,” said National Conference Center General Manager Kurt Krause. “When we analyzed our top accounts at The National Conference Center, we saw a trend in training and development—78 percent of the programs from our top 30 accounts focus on training.”

    The organization offers three building blocks of an engaged workforce.

    Employee recognition—According to Fred Lang, a former chief learning officer for the U.S. Department of Commerce, “Valuing [an employee’s] skills and talents is one of the greatest retention tools.” Employees receive a confidence boost from in-person coaching that enables them to improve their skills and develop new ones. When managers recognize skills that employees aren’t utilizing, training can be offered to improve and develop those skills that boost employee engagement and, as a result, can increase company financial performance.

    Training and development—On-going training throughout an individual’s career provides them with the tools they need to succeed. Margie Kersten, a learning leader at Ernst & Young, says one long-term company benefit is that participants who receive training feel more connected to co-workers who are also in training. As a result, they are more engaged in their work, invested in the company and much more likely to stay. 

    Credible leadership—What makes a leader credible? Someone who is trained on business policies, ethics and has the skills to lead the organization to success. Every senior-level executive needs the skills and leadership abilities to be an effective manager, and in turn, ensure satisfied and engaged employees. While identifying future leaders within the organization is an important practice Lang believes in, he explains that you cannot identify people for high-level leadership positions and expect them to automatically possess the skills and leadership abilities required of them. Lang insists, “You have to start lower. Leaders are leaders, but some of the leadership skills can be learned from other organizations that do it well.”

    How are you creating an engaged workforce at your business? Please let us know in the comments.

    (Story materials from the National Conference Center.)



  • Posted by Jason Hensel at
    12:00AM 07/16/2012 • 1 Comments

    This Live Chat is Where the People Go

    Misha Glouberman is a facilitator and designer of highly participatory events, as well as co-author of The Chairs are Where the People Go: How to Live, Work, and Play in the City. He knows how to bring people together and get them to talk to one another. He's intelligent, thoughtful, and he's speaking at and participating in many sessions at this year's WEC in St. Louis, July 28-31.

    Before that, though, we have him for a live chat on Thursday, July 19, at noon (CST) to answer your questions about engagement. The chat is free for members and non-members alike. 

    Please join us for what is sure to be a highly participatory chat about one of event planning's most difficult aspects: how to keep attendees engaged before, during and after an event.  

    To register, click here. To read our profile of Misha Glouberman, click here. 



  • Posted by Jason Hensel at
    12:00AM 07/13/2012 • 2 Comments

    U.S. Workers Disengaged and Struggling to Cope

    A new Global Workforce Study by global professional services company Towers Watson reveals that almost two-thirds (63 percent) of U.S. workers are not fully engaged in their work and are struggling to cope with work situations that don’t provide sufficient support. This finding suggests employees are finding it difficult to sustain the kind of positive connection to their companies that yields consistent productivity — the result of almost a decade of pressure to do more with less and respond to the challenges of global competition, ever-evolving technology and the ongoing need for strict cost management.

    “When workers are not fully engaged, it leads to greater performance risk for employers. It makes companies more vulnerable to lower productivity, higher inefficiency, weaker customer service and greater rates of absenteeism and turnover,” said Julie Gebauer, managing director of talent and rewards for Towers Watson. “Without attention and interventions aimed at improving on-the-job support for employees and creating a sense of attachment to the organization, this trend could worsen—and directly affect business outcomes. Companies have known for years that employee engagement is important to business performance. We’re now seeing—in part because of the tough business climate—that engagement is quite fragile and will not be sustained over time without careful attention to very specific elements in the work environment.”

    The study breaks new ground in understanding and measuring what contributes to sustained employee engagement in the workplace today and demonstrates the strength of the relationship between “sustainable engagement” and specific financial outcomes for employers.

    “Sustainable engagement is an important evolution in the science of workforce behavior—and it’s an approach well suited to the unique aspects of the current work environment,” said Laura Sejen, global practice leader of rewards for Towers Watson. “It recognizes that employees need support from their employer to continue to give discretionary effort on the job, and right now, employees are telling us they’re not getting that support in the way and at a level they need.

    Sustainable engagement starts with basic engagement, defined as employees’ willingness to expend discretionary effort on their job. It also requires enablement—having the tools, resources and support to do their job effectively, as well as energy, through a work environment that actively supports employees’ well-being. 

    “Enablement and energy are critical factors in this equation,” Gebauer said. “In the last several years, when we’ve seen much more pressure in the system, their importance has risen to the fore. Engagement will only hold over time with these elements in place.”

    The Towers Watson study used a specific set of questions to measure and classify respondents as to their level of sustainable engagement. Overall, the study showed that only 37 percent of U.S. workers are highly engaged in a sustainable way, meaning they scored high on all three elements of sustainable engagement. Just over one-quarter (27 percent) are classified as unsupported, meaning they display traditional engagement, but lack the enablement and/or energy required for sustainable engagement. Thirteen percent are detached, meaning they feel enabled and/or energized but are not willing to go the extra mile. And almost one-quarter (23 percent) are completely disengaged, with less favorable scores for all three aspects of sustainable engagement.

    “There is a real imperative for change right now. The risks of continuing to manage with traditional practices are just too great from a performance perspective. And everyone in an organization has a role to play in helping close gaps in employees’ feelings of enablement and energy—from executives, to supervisors, to human resources, to employees themselves,” Gebauer said. “By taking actions to address identified gaps, organizations will be able to move some of the unsupported and detached to engaged—and likely experience a measurable and positive impact on financial performance.”



  • Posted by Michael Pinchera at
    12:00AM 10/06/2011 • 0 Comments

    Incentives Stay Strong

    Performance-based incentives remain a powerful tool for employers, according to a live poll taken at SXSW Eco—the inaugural sustainability-focused event currently residing at the Hilton Austin.

    During the session "Trends and Strategies: Employee Engagement and Sustainability," hundreds of attendees participated in a poll, devised by panelist Jim Walker, director of sustainability at the University of Texas at Austin, using polleverywhere.com, which sought to identify the top two trends that influence employee engagement. Attendees responded via smartphone or laptop with text messages and Twitter.

    The figures, fluctuating as votes were cast, stabilized to reveal a valuable conclusion. The following results showed the top trends influencing employee engagement.

    • 24 percent employee-driven initiatives
    • 21 percent performance-based incentives
    • 15 percent digital tools
    • 15 percent social recognition
    • 13 percent face-to-face interaction
    • 9 percent talent demands it
    • 3 percent other

    Earlier, another poll during the same session showed how employee engagement is driven at attendees' companies.

    • 40 percent top-down
    • 36 percent employee-driven
    • 9 percent digital
    • 8 percent face-to-face
    • 7 percent other

    This impressive session included a wealth of insightful panelists in addition to Walker: Andrew Bryson, vice president of Saatchi & Saatchi S; Lee Matecko, global vice president of store development for Whole Foods Market; Erin Meezan, vice president of sustainability for Interface Inc.; and Tim Mohin, director of corporate responsibility for AMD.



  • Posted by Jason Hensel at
    12:00AM 08/24/2011 • 0 Comments

    Cyberloafing Enhances Work Engagement

    A friend of mine told me the other day that her company blocked employee access to Facebook. I thought, "What kind of Dark Ages is that company living in?!" 

    It's true that excessive Internet browsing at work can cut into your productivity; however, moderate amounts of browsing can actually increase productivity. This is something that we reported on in 2009, and now a new study supports the findings.

    There's a twist, though, via personal emailing.

    "Personal emailing puts employees in a double bind," said the study's authors, Don J. Q. Chen and Vivien K. G. Lim of the National University of Singapore. "First, the compelling need to reply to a received email impedes employees' psychological engagement by affecting their ability to concentrate. Second, when employees reply to these emails, they experience resource depletion, negative affect and workflow disruption."

    Chen and Lim warn employers against excessive monitoring and surveillance of workers' Internet access.

    "Rather than reducing cyberloafing, excessive monitoring increases its frequency, as employees invariably view such policies as a form of mistrust that the company has in them," they said. "In view of this, managers must recognize that blanket policies that prohibit all forms of personal Web usage are ineffective, and excessive monitoring is likely to be counterproductive. Instead, limited amount of personal Web use should be allowed, since it has salubrious impact on employees' productivity."

    The conclusions of the new report emerge from two separate studies, one an experiment with undergraduate management students and the other a survey of working adults.

    In the student experiment, 96 participants were randomly assigned to one of three groups—a control group, a rest-break group and a browsing-the-Internet group. All subjects were first assigned to spend 20 minutes highlighting as many letter e's as they could find in a text of 3,500 words. At the conclusion of this exercise, subjects spent 10 minutes in one of three ways: the control group was assigned a filler task that involved bundling sticks into groups of fives; the rest-break group was free to do anything they wanted except to use the Internet (their activities included visiting the washroom, making phone calls and text-messaging friends); and the third group was allowed 10 minutes to browse pre-selected Web sites including those offering news, social networking, online gaming, entertainment and hobby-related activities.

    Finally, all participants were instructed to spend 10 minutes highlighting as many letter a's as they could find in 2,000 words of text, this final assignment serving as a proxy for productivity. And, before being dismissed, the subjects were asked to complete a post-experimental questionnaire that measured their levels of mental exhaustion, boredom and psychological engagement.

    Chen and Lim reported that participants in the Internet-browsing group were significantly more productive than those in the other two groups, highlighting a mean of 316 letter a's, compared to 272 for the rest-break group and 227 for the control group; in other words, the Internet browsers were 16 percent more productive than the rest-break group and 39 percent more productive than the control group. In addition, compared to both of the other groups, the browsers reported significantly lower levels of mental exhaustion and boredom and significantly higher levels psychological engagement.

    In the second study, randomly selected alumni of a business school were surveyed by mail about their activities at work—specifically the amount of Internet browsing and emailing they did, their psychological engagement with their work and their positive and negative affect, or mental state, immediately after cyberloafing. One hundred ninety-one alumni, about one third of those solicited, mailed in surveys, which revealed the following:

    • Amount of Internet browsing is significantly and positively related to such upbeat mental states as excited, interested, alert and active, and inversely related to such negative mental states as distressed, fearful, hostile and jittery.
    • Amount of emailing activity, in distinct contrast, is significantly related to negative mental states but not to upbeat ones.


    The authors conclude that Internet browsing enhances psychological engagement with work—and possibly job creativity as well—whereas emails "negatively affect employees' ability to concentrate on work."

    Chen and Lim urge companies to "strike a middle ground between work and cyberloafing...allow[ing] for personal Web usage as long as it is in line with business objectives. In light of this study, an acceptable Internet use policy would allow for periodic Web browsing while limiting the access to personal emails."

    As for most things in life, striking a good balance is the key to long-term success. 

    Do you "cyberloaf" at work? How depressed to you get when answering emails? 

    (Story materials provided by the Academy of Management.)



  • Posted by Jason Hensel at
    12:00AM 08/19/2011 • 1 Comments

    Enhance Workplace Engagement

    The performance management process should evaluate and focus on employee engagement in addition to job performance, according to a paper published from the University of Toronto and University of Guelph. Engagement involves high levels of identification with one’s work in terms of attention, absorption and feeling integrated in the performance of one’s tasks and roles.

    The paper’s authors—Professor Alan Saks from the University of Toronto and Professor Jamie Gruman of the University of Guelph—contend performance management should involve an evaluation of employee engagement and that for many companies enhancing employee performance can be best achieved by changing the focus of the performance management process to a focus on the management of employee engagement.

    “Many companies do not recognize the importance of employee engagement to organizational performance,” Saks said. “Current approaches to increasing engagement in organizations are limited because they are not directed at individual employees, and they are not part of the performance management system.”

    The researchers believe that incorporating engagement into performance management is important for improving engagement and performance management. 

    “Engagement helps predict job performance,” Gruman said. “Employees who feel engaged in their tasks do a better job, are less likely to make mistakes and bring more energy, dedication and vigor into their performance. There is also mounting evidence that higher levels of engagement correlate with lower turnover and less absenteeism. Thus, it makes sense to focus on employee engagement as part of the performance management process.”

    The paper, published by Human Resource Management Review, outlines three psychological conditions that support personal engagement:

    • Psychological meaningfulness—associated with perception that one’s role is worthwhile and valuable
    • Psychological safety—associated with one’s perception of how safe it is to bring oneself to a role without fear of damage to self-image, status or career
    • Psychological availability—associated with the physical, emotional and psychological resources that can be brought to a role

    Saks says there are concrete steps that organizations and managers can take during the performance management process to foster employee engagement. 

    “Managers should make the changes that each employee needs to experience meaningfulness, safety and feel available to become fully engaged in their work," Saks said. "Some employees might need more autonomy in their work, more challenge, more input or perhaps more support or training.

    “Making employee engagement part of the performance management process not only makes it an on-going and constant issue rather than a once-a-year survey, it also signals to employees that it is important and the organization is committed to improving the engagement of its employees.”

    What would help keep you engaged in your job?   

    (Story materials provided by the University of Toronto.)



  • Posted by Jason Hensel at
    12:00AM 07/28/2011 • 0 Comments

    Why Work Engagement Matters

    Engaged workers—those who approach their work with energy, dedication and focus—are more open to new information, more productive and more willing to go the extra mile. Moreover, engaged workers take the initiative to change their work environments in order to stay engaged.

    What do we know about the inner workings of work engagement, and how can employers enhance it to improve job performance? In a new article to be published in the August issue of Current Directions in Psychological Science, Arnold B. Bakker creates a model of work engagement based on the best current research.

    Work engagement depends on two kinds of resources, says Bakker, a psychologist at Erasmus University Rotterdam in the Netherlands. Job resources include social support, feedback and opportunities for autonomy, variety and growth. Such resources are good for the worker—they satisfy basic human needs—and good for the workplace, because when job resources are rich, work gets done more quickly and with better results. The process, moreover, is cyclical. Working better is more rewarding for the worker, which in turn increases her engagement and effectiveness.

    Interestingly, engagement—and high-quality performance—is greatest when the demands of the job are highest. This principle applies even to what we think of as low-level jobs, such as those at a fast-food restaurant.

    Employees’ own personal resources—such as self-esteem and optimism—also contribute to work engagement. Not only do workers with abundant personal resources approach their jobs with more enthusiasm and joy; they also tend to be in better health, allowing them to focus and work hard. They tend as well to create more of all these goodies for themselves through “job-crafting,” seeking ways to make their responsibilities “fit” their talents and interests and to increase challenge. Again, the process is an upward spiral. Job crafters gain admiration from other workers, thus transferring their attitudes to them. Those more productive attitudes increase the other workers’ engagement, and with it, their own productivity and personal reward.

    Of course, Bakker says, work engagement differs from person to person, which helps account for the fact that some are leaders and others are followers. For each person, engagement also ebbs and flows from day to day, even hour to hour.

    Indeed, no one should expect to feel, or be expected to exhibit, peak engagement every second of the workday. Sometimes work is tedious; employees need to be able to tolerate that. Nor should they be held to impossible standards. Down time,  Bakker says, is not only a mark of sympathetic management. It helps renew workers, keeping them happy, productive—and engaged.

    (Story materials provided by the Association for Psychological Science.)



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