Path to Enhance Employee Engagement in Talent Management (Article 06)

Employee engagement in talent management refers to the extent to which employees are emotionally invested, motivated, and committed to their work, personal growth, and the overall success of the organization. It encompasses the efforts made by an organization to create an environment where employees feel valued, empowered, and aligned with the company's goals and values.

In talent management, employee engagement goes beyond just performing tasks; it's about fostering a sense of purpose, connection, and enthusiasm among employees. It's closely tied to their willingness to invest discretionary effort in their work and their commitment to continuously develop their skills and contribute positively to the organization's growth.

Employment engagement emerged for the first time in management theory in 1990. Various scholars have given different definitions of EE since then; therefore it is sometimes difficult to comprehend the exact meaning of the term ‘engagement’. Engagement is often delineated in the management literature as a ‘positive, fulfilling, work-related state of mind, which is categorized by vigor, dedication and absorption’ (Schaufeli, Salanova, González-Romá, & Bakker, 2002).  

Enhancing employee engagement in talent management involves a strategic and systematic approach that aims to empower employees, align their aspirations with organizational goals, and foster a culture of continuous learning and growth.

Designing Personalized Learning Journeys

• Tailoring Development Plans to Individual Employee Needs

Tailoring development plans to individual employee needs is a fundamental aspect of talent management that involves designing personalized strategies to enhance each employee's skills, performance, and career growth. This approach recognizes that employees have unique strengths, weaknesses, goals, and learning styles. By customizing development plans, organizations can maximize employee engagement, productivity, and overall success.

The concern about employees who leave their jobs because they feel there is a mismatch between their needs and the culture of the organization. Thus, Hesketh and Myors (1997) noted that both the person and the organization are important influences on adjustment. This is reminiscent of arguments stressing individual differences in successful socialization (Jones, 1983), and of some admonitions emphasizing that greater attention should be given to employee needs (Scarpello, 1994) as well as to organizational cultures (Schein, 1996).

• Crafting Customized Learning Paths for Skill Enhancement

Crafting customized learning paths for skill enhancement involves designing tailored educational journeys that cater to individual employees' needs, preferences, and career goals. These paths are aimed at helping employees acquire new skills, improve existing ones, and achieve their professional development aspirations.

Basic modes of workplace learning include i) incidental and informal learning, which takes place as a side effect of the work, ii) intentional, but non-formal learning activities related to work activities, and iii) formal on-the-job and off-the-job training (Tynjala, 2008). Self-regulated learning (SRL) (Zimmerman, 1989) contains motivational elements to address the above-stated challenges. According to Knowles (1975), SRL refers to a process, “… in which individuals take the initiative, with or without the help of others, in diagnosing their learning needs, formulating learning goals, identifying human and material resources for learning, choosing and implementing appropriate learning strategies, and evaluating learning outcomes” [p18].

• Aligning Personal Goals with Organizational Objectives

Aligning personal goals with organizational objectives is a strategic approach that ensures employees' individual aspirations are integrated with the broader goals of the company. When employees see a clear connection between their personal growth and the success of the organization, they are more motivated, engaged, and likely to contribute meaningfully.

Self-determination theory (Deci and Ryan, 1985; Gagne and Deci, 2005) proposes that people put effort into their work for different reasons. They are intrinsically motivated when they do their work out of interest and enjoyment and they are extrinsically motivated when they do their work for more instrumental reasons. In the work domain, need satisfaction has been associated with numerous positive outcomes, including work performance, organizational commitment, employee retention, and thriving (Van, Ferris, Chang, and Rosen, 2016), in other words, all the individual outcomes deemed important in the proposed motivational model of organizational goal pursuit.

Empowering Managers as Development Coaches

• Equipping Managers to Guide Employee Growth and Engagement

Equipping managers to guide employee growth and engagement is a crucial aspect of effective leadership and talent management. When managers are well-prepared to support their team members' development, they can foster a culture of continuous learning, improve job satisfaction, and drive higher levels of engagement.

Managing people is inherently demanding and stressful. Managers must coordinate and oversee the work of others in the context of constrained resources, changing demands and expectations, and perhaps most significantly, challenging interpersonal exchanges. Recent studies have suggested that managers experience generally high levels of stress due to job demands (Cavanaugh, Boswell, Roehling & Boudreau, 2000), which can lead to emotional exhaustion and burnout. 

Google recently concluded that skills such as coaching others and communicating effectively were more important than science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) skills for so-called Googler’s performance (Glazer, 2018). 

• Building Managerial Skills for Effective Mentorship

Building managerial skills for effective mentorship is essential for creating a positive and nurturing workplace where employees can learn, grow, and succeed. Managers who excel in mentorship contribute to higher employee engagement, improved performance, and a stronger organizational culture.

Traditionally, the mentor-mentee relationship is a dyad: Two people meet and discuss topics often framed under themes of professional growth, interpersonal conflict, or work-life balance, for instance. Often, mentors have similar conversations separately with a few mentees, and the answers they give to one would be relevant to the others, too. With that in mind, instead of spending five hours meeting separately with five mentees, consider combining the five separate mentee meetings into a single hour. (It is reasonable to deduct that one hour from each mentee’s time budget.) This approach can save time, sure, but there are other advantages, too: In the group setting, mentees can share perspectives with each other and offer peer-to-peer mentorship. This establishes support and validation when mentees hear similar struggles and unmet aspirations. It also allows the mentees to build their trusted spaces and personal networks as a group by discussing what would otherwise be private matters in a 1:1 meeting. By grouping mentees, you impact more mentees and overwhelm your calendar less.

• Fostering Manager-Employee Relationships that Promote Learning

Fostering manager-employee relationships that promote learning is a cornerstone of creating a positive and growth-oriented work environment. When managers actively support and engage with their team members' learning journeys, employees are more likely to be motivated, engaged, and invested in their personal and professional development.

Fairness - Maak and Pless (2006) stress that it is a moral obligation that responsible leaders ensure that employees regardless of background (e.g., gender and age) need to be provided fair and equal employment opportunities.

Empowerment - The role of organizational opportunities such as the behavior of the manager for allowing participation in the workplace is important for people’s empowerment. By exercising responsible leadership managers shape the organizational environment, for example, in terms of role modeling (Brown & Treviño, 2006; Brown et al., 2005) that supports employee empowerment and directs ethical behavior in organizations in general (Voegtlin et al., 2012).

Openness - Openness could simply mean communication between the parties, for example, when managers made sure that everyone has up-to-date information about matters affecting the workplace. Interaction is the daily practice of leaders to be involved in communicative engagement with their subordinates (Voegtlin et al., 2012).

Trust - This finding is in line with Maak (2007) who argues that neither position nor status but the ability to build trust is a crucial facilitator of social relationships. Voegtlin et al. (2012) claim that because leadership has an important effect on the quality of relationships in organizational life, building and maintaining trustful relationships is a key aspect of responsible leadership.

Caring - In the field of ethical leadership theories, the servant leadership model puts serving others and caring behavior as the priority in leadership (Greenleaf, 2002). Maak (2007) and Maak and Pless (2009) argue that inherent in responsible leadership ethos is a sense of care for the needs of others. Maak and Pless (2009) say that showing care toward those in need is based on mutually shared feelings of human flourishing and vulnerability.

1. Leveraging Technology for Engagement Excellence

• Integrating Learning Management Systems for Development Tracking

Integrating Learning Management Systems (LMS) for development tracking is a strategic approach that allows organizations to efficiently manage, monitor, and optimize employee learning and development initiatives. An LMS provides a centralized platform to deliver, track, and assess training and learning activities.

An LMS is the infrastructure that delivers and manages instructional content, identifies and assesses individual and organizational learning or training goals, tracks the progress toward meeting those goals, and collects and presents data for supervising the learning process of the organization as a whole (Szabo& Flesher, 2002).

• Utilizing Data Analytics to Optimize Engagement Strategies

Utilizing data analytics to optimize engagement strategies is a powerful approach to improving interactions and relationships with your target audience, whether they are customers, users, or any other stakeholder group. By collecting, analyzing, and interpreting relevant data, you can gain valuable insights into user behavior, preferences, and patterns. These insights can then be used to tailor your engagement strategies for maximum effectiveness.

Organizations world over spend hundreds of millions, annually, conducting surveys, feedback sessions, behavioral assessments, and collecting vast data to study emerging themes that measure people's engagement values. Interestingly, only 8% (Bersin by Deloitte 2016) of organizations the world over are able to fully use the data to make advanced people decisions.

• Virtual Training Platforms for On-Demand Skill Enhancement

Virtual training platforms for on-demand skill enhancement have become increasingly popular in recent years due to their flexibility, accessibility, and effectiveness. These platforms leverage technology to provide users with the ability to acquire new skills or enhance existing ones at their own pace, often through online courses, interactive modules, simulations, and other digital learning tools. 

Online training or electronic training (ET) is training that is carried out online, defined as "any training delivered to the trainees through e-learning systems such as LANs, flash drives, DVDs, intranets, and the Internet, as well as other electronic devices such as iPods and cell phones" (Blanchard & Thacker, 2013, p. 290).

Many more benefits are gained from online training. These include Just-In-Time (JIT) learning, enhanced personalized contribution, feedback, coaching, diverse audience reachability, better interactivity and networking between dispersed learners, increased diversity and inclusion, enabled work-life balance, improved accessibility for learners with diverse disabilities, and empowering practitioners with more creative learning and development (L&D) (Sangtani, 2020).

Inclusion and Diversity in Talent Development

• Developing Inclusive Programs for Diverse Workforces

Developing inclusive programs for diverse workforces is crucial for creating a supportive and productive work environment where all employees feel valued, respected, and able to contribute their best. An inclusive workplace not only fosters employee well-being but also drives innovation and overall business success. 

One of the major ethical challenges in today’s increasingly diverse work environment is the search for sound principles to frame business activities and guide actors, corporations, and individuals. Indeed, in management literature, it is argued that the challenges within competitive, dynamic, and increasingly global markets (demanding innovation, creativity as well as flexibility) are best met by a broadened pool of experience and knowledge found in an effectively managed diverse workforce (see Cox and Blake, 1991; Milliken and Martins, 1996; Nemeth, 1985; Nemeth and Wachtler, 1983; Shaw and Barrett-Power, 1998; Wright et al., 1995). 

Obviously, the innovative and creative potential inherent to a diverse workforce (in terms of ethnic origin, nationality, cultural background, religion, gender, age, education, lifestyle, working style, way of thinking, etc.) can be used to bridge cultural boundaries and search for original problem solutions, innovative product ideas, and targeted marketing initiatives. This diversity can become a competitive advantage.

• Addressing Unique Learning Styles and Backgrounds

Addressing unique learning styles and backgrounds is a crucial aspect of effective teaching and communication. People come from diverse backgrounds, possess different learning preferences, and have varying levels of prior knowledge.

A clearly defined vision is an important starting point in forming a culture of inclusion. It clarifies the general direction for change, provides a common mental frame, draws a picture of the future, and makes clear where the company wants to be (Gouillart and Kelly, 1995; Kotter, 1996). Having a vision becomes particularly important in a situation of change where values, assumptions, belief systems, and mental maps that used to be seen as effective and functional are no longer desirable and must be changed. To create a multicultural and inclusive organizational culture the vision needs to address and incorporate the following aspects: • Creating a work environment that is free from any kind of harassment and is based upon respect for all individuals (inside and outside the corporation) regardless of sex, gender, race, class, social or cultural origin, religion, disability, lifestyle, organizational level, circumstances, etc. (a basic requirement of mutual recognition); • Building and nourishing a culture of communication where inclusion and trust are the norms – by integrating different perspectives into decision-making and problem-solving processes, by listening to and trying to understand different opinions, by valuing contrary opinions and arguing positions fairly, and by looking for the better argument among the validation claims; • Providing equal rights and opportunity for each employee as a citizen of the organization to achieve her fullest potential and to speak up and open (and thus, legal and political recognition); • Appreciating the contributions each employee can make by bringing their own perspectives, viewpoints, and ideas, and demonstrating solidarity; and Principles, Processes, and Practice 137 • Showing sensitivity to workloads and fostering (and recognizing the need for) an appropriate balance between work and personal life.

Feedback, Recognition, and Continuous Improvement

• Establishing a Feedback-Rich Culture to Enhance Engagement

Establishing a feedback-rich culture is a powerful way to enhance employee engagement and overall organizational effectiveness. When employees receive regular and constructive feedback, they feel valued, motivated, and connected to the organization's goals.

Feedback is a tool managers and organizational leaders can use to motivate, direct, and instruct the performance of employees (Ashford, 1986). For example, research on goal setting has not measured perceptions of goal attributes nor similar moderators such as feedback and supervisory support (Lee et al., 1991). The employees will not know if they are working hard enough or if their task strategies are appropriate without feedback (Becker, 1978; Erez, 1977).

• Linking Development Progress to Performance Assessments

Linking development progress to performance assessments is an essential aspect of effectively managing and evaluating employee growth within an organization. This process helps align individual development goals with overall business objectives, fostering continuous improvement and engagement.

Performance management can be viewed as the business foundation for long-term success. Increasingly, organizations view performance management as the primary structure that can promote business success (Haines et al., 2004). For instance, Brudan (2010) identified three traditional performance management levels in an organizational context strategic, operational, and individual performance. On the other hand, Lutwama et al. (2013) claimed the three main functions of performance management are strategic, administrative, and developmental.

• Incorporating Recognition as a Driver of Motivation

Incorporating recognition as a driver of motivation can be a powerful strategy to enhance employee engagement and performance. When employees feel valued and appreciated for their contributions, they are more likely to be motivated, committed, and productive. 

• Evidence shows that employee recognition is the most important driver of great work and the strongest driver of employee engagement. However, recognition or appreciation should be given in a timely manner for it to be meaningful to the person.

1. Measuring Engagement for Strategic Impact

• Defining Key Metrics to Assess Employee Engagement

Assessing employee engagement is crucial for understanding the overall health and productivity of your workforce. Defining key metrics to measure employee engagement allows you to track progress, identify areas for improvement, and make informed decisions to enhance workplace satisfaction.

Employee engagement is the extent to which employees feel a passionate connection to the organization, are committed to their work, and put in the extra effort. Employee engagement metrics, thus, indirectly or directly measure how engaged your employees are.

Based on your measurements, you’re able to understand the state of employee engagement at your organization, take action where necessary, and design interventions to improve employee engagement across your company.

• Implementing Surveys and Feedback Loops for Insight

Implementing surveys and feedback loops can provide valuable insights for improving products, services, processes, and user experiences.

Feedback loops are structures and approach to the way that parties engaged in a relationship share information and learn from one another. Feedback loops are related to commonly understood systems of feedback but contain distinctive features that set them apart. During the course of this work, Digital Promise came to define feedback loops as An interaction between two or more parties that is purposeful, bidirectional, and iterative and transforms the knowledge, actions, or goals of the engaged parties.

Broadly speaking, participants are the entities that interact in feedback loops through the generation and passing of knowledge. These participants can be individuals or groups of individuals that represent specific perspectives or expertise and whose skills and knowledge contribute to the goals of the feedback loop.

• Using Data-Driven Insights to Refine Engagement Strategies

Utilizing data-driven insights to refine engagement strategies is a crucial approach for businesses and organizations to optimize their interactions with customers, clients, employees, or any target audience. By leveraging data, organizations can make informed decisions that lead to more personalized and effective engagement strategies.

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