The Employee Engagement Mindset: The Six Drivers for Tapping into the Hidden Potential of Everyone in Your Company

Book excerpt: When it comes to employee engagement, Timothy R. Clark goes where no one has gone before. One of today’s leading experts on the subject, Clark reveals that the business world has been focusing on only half the question—namely, the organization’s role in driving employee engagement. Clark points to the other interested party—the employee. Through extensive research, the author has discovered that approximately 75 percent of employees are not fully engaged with their work—a frighteningly high number with frighteningly dire consequences for both companies and individual employees. The Employee Engagement Mindset is a step-by-step guide to reversing this pattern, one employee at a time. Clark breaks it all down into six key behaviors: Connecting: Form solid relationships with coworkers and align your behavior to the organization’s culture and goals Shaping: Seize opportunities for tailoring experiences based on your personal preferences Learning: Take proactive measures to learn at or above the speed of change Stretching: Move out of your comfort zone and take calculated risks Achieving: Accomplish your goals Contributing: Make personal contributions that drive lasting positive change to others and to the company The Employee Engagement Mindset provides practical advice on how any employee can put him or herself on the fast track to true engagement using this six-part model. Simply put, every engaged employee is worth his or her weight in gold. Whether you’re in charge of driving employee engagement or feel the need to take personal responsibility for excelling at work, The Employee Engagement Mindset tells you everything you need to know. "Clark and his team discovered some surprising truths about highly engaged people that cross cultural, demographic, and industry lines. The Employee Engagement Mindset unlocks the door to our own personal and professional connectedness."—Marshall Goldsmith, author of the New York Times bestsellers MOJO and What Got You Here Won’t Get You There "[The Employee Engagement Mindset ] lays out in clear, practical terms how highly engaged people think and what they do. I highly recommend it."—Vai Sikahema, NBC Philadelphia sports anchor and former NFL All-Pro, Philadelphia Eagles "[The Employee Engagement Mindset] captures the emerging search for meaning and purpose in organizations and offers fantastic concepts, tools, and examples of how to go beyond rhetoric to action and resolve."—Dave Ulrich, professor, Ross School of Business, University of Michigan and partner, The RBL Group "There has been a lot written about employee engagement from the leader’s perspective. What excites me about The Employee Engagement Mindset is that it is written for employees. It offers a blueprint for high engagement that really works."—Patricia Longshore, vice president, Duke Corporate Education "The six drivers introduced in this book have the powerful capacity to enrich your life, no matter where you are on the engagement spectrum. Read this book—for both inspiration and practical strategies to supercharge your organization!"—Elliott Masie, chair, The Learning CONSORTIUM "Clark advances a well-considered approach to creating a culture of superior employee engagement. This is a worthy read for every aspiring leader."—Douglas R. Conant, former president and CEO, Campbell Soup Company and New York Times bestselling author of TouchPoints