The "How To" Behind Employee Engagement: Why HR Is The Hidden Heartbeat Of Business
HR. It’s a rather divisive job title – one that is often overlooked and misrepresented. In fact, in this survey by Human Relations platform Cezanne HR, it was reported that “Almost half (47 per cent) of employees don’t trust HR to help with conflict resolution.”
Luckily, Wendi Cochrane is here to introduce a compelling vision of HR not just as a department, but as the heartbeat of an organisation.
Wendi is senior HR leader with over 30 years of C-suite experience helping businesses to create “people strategies” for growth and acceleration, and is on a mission to put the ‘human’ back into ‘human resources’.
Wendi: “extra-Ordinary leadership for me means… creating an environment built on trust and respect – respect of individual differences… For me one of the biggest aspects of great leadership is really getting to know your people.”
Now more than ever, the health of an HR department can have a huge impact on the growth and employee engagement of an organisation. As leaders, understanding and prioritising this can profoundly transform management, employee retention, business culture and the bottom line.
The business case for HR transformation
Wendi invites leaders to view HR as central to strategic-decision making, underscoring the department’s integral role in nurturing a healthy workplace. Well aware of the scepticism that arises from a disconnect between HR activities and perceived business outcomes, Wendi points out that an engaged and happy workforce pays itself back ten times over.
In fact, according to a meta-analysis by Gallup, “Organisations with high levels of employee engagement are 21 per cent more profitable than organisations with low levels of engagement.” There is a direct link between employee satisfaction and profitability, underscoring the practical value of investing in people-centric strategies.
It’s not an overnight approach (much to the disappointment of many quick-action, red zone leaders). HR initiatives require a long-term commitment – employee engagement isn’t a one-off project but rather a continuous effort that requires regular evaluation and adaptation to ensure alignment with both employee needs and organisational goals.
Leaders should be aware of the broader implications of HR in shaping business strategies, and view HR competencies not as check boxes but as essential components in their business acumen.
Is policy a backup for poor engagement?
One of the most poignant insights that Wendi shared during our conversation was that there is no magic money-making bullet. The most powerful thing a business can do, then, is to create a happy workforce – people who are intrinsically motivated to do their best for the business.
How?
Wendi: “If we can create an environment where people feel safe, they feel trusted, and they thrive, they come to work because they want to come to work. You're creating a relationship, not just working with somebody. It pays itself back.”
This viewpoint seems to sit at the opposite end of the spectrum to the policy and employment-law driven HR that so many of us know (and fear). What is the missing piece that joins these two paradigms together?
The secret, Wendy posits, comes back to that word: engagement.
Wendi: “You need your employment relations and your policies as protection, and it's right that they're there. My outlook on being a leader in HR is if we invest more time in the engagement side, we don't need to rely on the policy side.”
Of course, employment law – and the policies that go with it – changes all the time, and Wendi acknowledges the importance of keeping up to date. Her success formula, though, has us focusing on the other end of the spectrum.
Investing in engagement isn't about adding a quick team-building activity to the end of the meeting. Wendi emphasises the point of really investing in the people that make up a team – for example by:
Hiring an engagement officer
Understanding what motivates each individual team member
Practising active listening with your employees
Following through on your word
Conducting anonymous feedback surveys
Many "how to" guides for building strong teams and getting to know employees are full of lovely phrases and vague ideas, but rarely give actionable, direct resources on how to do this.
Wendi, however, points straight away to psychometric profiling.
How to actually benefit from psychometric profiling
Wendi: “Psychometric profiling... not only helps the leader understand their team, it also helps the team understand their leader. It's a solid foundation for building a high-performing team.”
I'm sure many leaders are familiar with psychometric profiling, and have perhaps even encouraged their team to generate their own profiles. But what has been done with that information?
Are you actively altering the way you communicate based on the person you're talking to?
Are you offering further development opportunities to the people that will most benefit from them, and not just as a blanket offering to everyone?
Are you taking time to identify people's pain points and developing plans to solve them?
Wendi: “There's a saying that you should treat everybody as you would like to be treated. But I totally disagree with that. I believe that people need to be treated how they wish to be treated.”
The heartbeat of the business
Wendi’s insights during this podcast episode provide a robust framework for leaders looking to enhance their HR strategies. By prioritising a culture of respect and trust, addressing the cynicism that exists around HR, tailoring leadership approaches and committing to long-term engagement, leaders can significantly improve employee engagement. The long-term knock-on effect of this should not be underestimated.
To hear more, the full podcast episode is available here.
