Engagement and your own personal Superhero
Hi All,
This week's post is a somewhat lighthearted look at a vast and much sought after attribute – team engagement. A good deal of my graduate study was spent in an effort to try to understand how teams work internally and how organizations work together externally. This post includes some of the insights I developed. As usual please feel free to leave a comment or a simple thumbs up or reach out by phone or email. Enjoy.
The question to be answered is - how do we encourage team engagement? This is a difficult thing to do at the best of times. There are many perspectives on how to tackle this task successfully. The level of difficulty sometimes appears to require the qualities of a Superhero. In this case I suggest that you consider the process of interaction as a type of Superhero at your personal disposal. While not the only means to achieve engagement the research in this area supports the use of interaction or what is termed “meaningful dialogue” as critical to engagement. There is excellent research that separates interaction into three main categories: Transactional, Transitional and Transformational. While it may seem obvious that these categories are progressively better, respectively, in terms of successful engagement, it is likely pertinent to reiterate for those who are familiar and to explain briefly for those who are not, the implications of each type toward successful engagement.
Transactional interaction takes place in a one-way communicative manner. This is typified generally as a “decide, announce and defend” communication strategy and is used extensively in business and society in general. This interaction is generally one-sided and is “controlled” by the party delivering the message. While this is an effective way of disseminating information it is not a particularly effective manner in which to engender empowerment. Message sending of this type dependent on the frequency and the context in which the messages are delivered can lead to resistance and disengagement.
Transitional interaction goes beyond one-way message sending and strives to include and empower those intended to receive the message. However, the simple act of inclusion of the intended receivers of the message, does not ensure that enough information will be exchanged. The receivers need to be assured that their voice has been heard or that the message sender has enough information to make changes in their strategy. Control of the process during transitional communication is generally held by the deliverer of the message initially. This leaves the selection of the intended receivers at the disposal of the message sender and may undermine the interaction from the beginning.
Finally, transformational communication is that which is typified by true, meaningful two-way interaction - dialogue. The control over the process is shared between message sender and receiver and these roles are exchanged throughout the process. This exchange of roles aids in the production of trust and the increased depth of personal relationships. When team members are allowed and encouraged to interact in this manner, it creates the best catalyst for engagement. Team members can witness that their opinions and perspectives can affect the overall strategy or method of task accomplishment.
Teams that create environments where perspectives and points of view can be exchanged and evolve toward mutual understanding and agreement? Those teams can summon Superhero powers - whether that environment is created at the local bowling alley over pizza and beer (when we are once again allowed to) or in the boardroom over coffee and croissant. The key to engagement from this perspective is to allow empowerment of the members of the team. How? By creating a nonthreatening, understanding and respectful exchange of ideas and perspectives between team members and to expect the process to be flexible enough to take the strategy wherever the team takes it.
Thoughts?