ARE YOU GETTING ENGAGED THIS YEAR?

A hot topic at the moment is ‘employee engagement’.  What is it and how important is it?

When two people become engaged it means they are making a commitment to each other. It means that they intend to be loyal and loving into the future. It means that they care, deeply, about each other.

How I explain employee engagement is whether your people care about the organisation they work for or not. What is their ‘Care Factor’?  This could range from ‘Care Factor Zero’, where, as a someone recently told me “They couldn’t give a sh#t”, to ‘Care Factor 100’ (the name of my next book), where 100% of your people are 100% engaged.

There is strong worldwide evidence (Gallup Consulting) that high levels of engagement correlate with positive organisational performance. Organisations where the ‘Care Factor’ is high experience better profitability, productivity, growth, safety and quality.

Think about this question. What is the ‘Care Factor’ of employees at your organisation? How much do they care about your organisation? Where, on the scale between ‘Care Factor Zero’ and ‘Care Factor 100’, would you employees be?

It’s our goal in 2017 to help as many people get engaged as possible! We want both employees and organisations to care more about each other, so there is loyalty, happiness and greater organisation outcomes.

Can we help you to achieve ‘Care Factor 100’?

WHAT ARE YOU GRATEFUL FOR? NOW IS A GREAT TIME FOR THIS SIMPLE EXERCISE.

I strongly believe that our lives are better when we are more aware of those things in our life that we should be grateful for. In a busy, sometimes stressful world, a great way to do this is simple exercise where we list the positives in our lives followed by a short 'why'.

There are no hard and fast rules, but here is a format that works for me and the people I work with. Take a clean sheet of paper (or screen), write in the middle in a circle 'What I am grateful for'. Simple fill the page in other circles with the things that you appreciate in your life. For example ...

'What I am grateful for'

• My family. Why? They love me and I love them.
• My partner / wife / husband. Why? If we are lucky, they are our best friend and someone to share our life with.
• My health. Why? Without it I can't be there for my family and live a full life.
• My work. Why? It allows me to fulfill my life's purpose.
• My friends. Why? They add value to my life and I add value to theirs.
• Where I live. Why? It allows me to live the life I want to live.
• The ability to make decisions about what kind of a life I have.

By the way, the exercise isn't over until you have done two more things.

• Expressed thanks for each of the things that you are grateful for. Eg, tell you family you love them.
• Identified what you need to change to have a better situation in some areas of your life.

This time of the year is a great time to reflect and take an hour to complete the exercise.

FOUR THINGS TO DO MORE OF IN 2017 (& SOME COOL LINKS)

Read / Listen - Audio book sales are growing at 40% per year. They are a great way to learn and grow productively. Get a free 30 day trial of Audible here. It's an app that you listen to audio books on.

BONUS TIP: Essentialism by Greg McKeown is the best book I've listened to in the last five years.

Sleep - there is strong evidence that we perform better when we are well rested. If you want to be at your best you must get enough sleep. Here is a great TED talk by Russell Foster on the importance of sleep.

Laugh - 'living lightly,' as Marty Wilson puts it, helps us build resilience and boost our mental health, Marty is a friend of mine, professional speaker and ex Australian Comic of the Year. In this TEDX talk he shares the wisdom he has gained from interviewing over 1,00 high achievers.

Meditate - I am amazed at the difference meditating for just 10 minutes each day makes to how productive I am. Calming the 'monkey mind' makes everything better. Calm is a great free app that guides your meditation practice. Check it out.

What good habits are you going to make in 2017?

HERE'S HOW MUCH TIME I SPEND PLANNING

Many don't believe me when I tell them that we should spend 20% of our time planning. "Sounds ridiculously high", is what they tell me.

Well, just think of how productive 48 minutes in an hour would be if you spent the first 12 minutes doing nothing but planning?

If you were working on a three month project (which was actually 60 working days), imagine how awesome it would be could if you spent the equivalent of 12 days mapping it out, reviewing progress, and improving!

One departure from this theory is that you don't have to spend 20% of your year. In fact, I reckon if you spent a day this side or the silly season (or early in the new year) getting your big picture right, you would be setting yourself up for an outstanding 2017.

BUT YOU MUST DOWNLOAD THIS FREE PDF EBOOK TO HELP YOU!

It has the planning secrets of some on the world’s most prominent thought leaders and entrepreneurs. People like Tony Robins, John Maxwell and many more. I have been using the methodology developed by leadership expert, Michael Hyatt for many years with great success. He has gathered the thoughts of some of the world’s best. Why not learn from the gurus? 

It really is an incredibly valuable resource, and it's free!

WHY DONALD TRUMP HAS DONE MY HEAD IN

"So, Greg - Mr Leadership Guy, what can we all learn from the next LEADER of the free world?"

I have been dreading writing this blog. I almost wimped out. I am sweating and uncomfortable as I sit writing it. I don't have any clear thoughts or lessons or objectives for this blog. I am confused, unsure, nervous. But how could I not try to make sense of something this monumental?

Leaders are supposed to tell the truth, but ...?

Leaders are supposed to lift others up, but ...?

Leaders are supposed to give us hope, but ...?

Leaders are supposed to build confidence, but ...?

Leaders are supposed to be accountable, but ...?

Leaders don't just do whatever it takes to win, but ...?

I am clueless to explain what happened, why it happened or what will happen next.

What I do know for sure is that there is a greater need than ever before for us to strive to do the right thing, and the honest thing. To care for our people. To lift them up. To bring people together.

While the US Presidential election was all about the numbers, I am reminded of this quote by Mother Teresa.

"Never worry about the numbers. Help one person at a time and always start with the person nearest you."

Don't worry about the free world. Worry about what you can do for those just outside your door.