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I remember in my twenties complaining to my mother about how stressed I was.  She looked at me as if I had landed from Mars.  She asked skeptically: “What exactly do you have to be stressed about?”  I don’t remember what I answered but she told me that, not once living through the London Blitz of WWII did any one stop to complain about stress.  The whole concept was completely foreign to her.

I mean really . . . what is all the whining about?  I am sure if we were living from hand to foot we wouldn’t be complaining about engagement, recognition, sense of accomplishment or self actualization. Let’s face it we are very fortunate to be able to discuss these issues at all.  This employee engagement stuff . . . maybe it is just a bunch of self centered boomers complaining?

What I have written has a ring of truth about it and I am sure some would like to believe that “engagement” has no real place in the work environment.  I was thinking as I was getting my passport picture taken, (see short video below) just how removed the individual is in this whole process.  You just sit there and you know it is going to be a terrible shot and there is nothing you can do to change it.  Reminds me Frederick W. Taylor, the “father” of  Scientific Management.  Or even better, Charlie Chaplin in his classic “Modern Times”.  Humans are just a cog in the wheel of machinery and efficiency. How “real” the output is irrelevant.

As I have started collecting data on how we define success, it is clear that we want so much more than material things and success is not simply about achieving results.  Here are a few reasons why employee engagement is in fact essential:

• The only difference ultimately between one endeavor or another is the quality of the people involved.
• Human beings are the last untapped natural resource.
• Since we are all in this together, we had better start working together in alignment.
• Two heads are actually better than one – unless they are sitting on the the same shoulders.
• Most individuals do want to be a part of something bigger and make a meaningful contribution
• We had better figure this one out if we want to create a sustainable world.
• There aren’t many chances left to get it right so we had better start working together.

Then the results will take care of themselves and the final picture will look pretty good – I bet.

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