Teach Middle East Magazine Apr - Jun 2020 Issue 3 Volume 7 | Page 17

Sharing Good Practice
The Striver
This employee is low-maintenance
and easily malleable by nature. He/she
can be motivated by merely removing
minor irritants in the workplace and is
eager to excel beyond the ‘call of duty’
once the ‘engagement hindrance’
has been removed. There are no
unreasonable
needs/expectations
from his/her side with respect to the
workplace environment. He/she is the
‘good soldier’ who can be relied upon
to perform assigned tasks without
hesitation once trust and confidence
in his/her abilities are demonstrated
and communicated. He/she can also
become a wonderful ambassador
for the organisational brand and an
effective asset in recruitment drives.
Such employees should be generously
facilitated in terms of enabling them to
perform their roles in a hassle-free and
comfortable work environment with
no/minimal hand-holding. Emphasis
should rather be more on fair and
visible recognition on the desired
achievement of goals/objectives.
The Driver
This employee is high-maintenance
and demanding by nature, with the
strictest psychological contract. He/
she responds favourably to only
significant positive changes in the
workplace to trigger motivation for
‘engagement’ and, generally, is not
willing to compromise on a principled
approach to work. These can include:
5 5 Observing honest leadership with
luminous foresight and astute
decisiveness in safeguarding the
interests of the organisation with
integrity in a timely manner
5 5 Assimilation within a welcoming
and coalescing culture imbued with
an invigorating work environment
5 5 Provided
unambiguous
empowerment to excel in his/her
assigned role
5 5 Having a credible and meaningful
‘voice’ in the improvement initiatives
undertaken by the organisation, e.g.,
refinement of functional processes,
increased transparency and fairness
in accountability and recognition
5 5 Systematic
and
seamless
organisational compliance with
applicable mandates, statutes, laws
and regulations
Every possible effort should be made
to accommodate such employees
since they are generally sincere in
the desire to see ‘true’ value in their
employers before embarking upon
the ‘engagement’ journey.
The Transformer
This employee is like a Chameleon
and highly adaptive in nature. He/she
gives the appearance of an ‘engaged’
employee without being a ‘true’
convert as a calculated move to be
a ‘management pleaser’ for as long
as it is in ‘fashion’. Such employees
are always looking for ways to
increase their career ‘shelf-lives’ and
intently watch for signs of leadership
preferences to take appropriate
measures in order to project a positive
image of themselves as a ‘true’
believer and an ardent follower. They
like to establish strong professional
networks within the organisation and
have a ‘close ear’ to the corporate
grapevine.
They simulate loyalty
to the current leadership; however,
conveniently switch sides if another
faction gains more traction in terms
of holding the future reins of the
organisation. Prudent leaders should
be wary of their ‘hidden’ intentions
and marginalise them upon detection
from
the
‘genuinely’
engaged
employees since the penchant to
negatively influence their peers can
significantly dilute relevant talent
management initiatives.
The Player
This employee is an agitator and
Machiavellian in nature. He/she tries
to wilfully sabotage any positive
workplace engagement initiatives
through passive resistance, although,
feigning
‘engagement’
on
the
outside.
Such employees have a
dim view of corporate leadership
and normally carry personal grudges
due to a perception of having been
‘wronged’ by them in the past. A
trigger in the respective context
could be observing the spectacle
of ‘restrained success’ and ‘rampant
failure’ of prior initiatives spearheaded
by earlier/current leaders. They are
unwilling to entertain the thought
that leaders are capable of learning
from past mistakes. Consequently,
they often justify their nefarious
designs in the context of ‘saving the
organisation’ from another fancy
leadership experiment. These voices
of discontent and mischief muddy
the organisational landscape with
malicious intrigue and sow the
seeds of incredulity that quashes the
best of intentions on the part of the
top management to foster robust
engagement among their workforce.
Such team members should be
neutralised upon detection with
appropriate disciplinary actions that
reflect the serious implications of
their actions.
Employee engagement is not a
‘responsibility’; it is a ‘calling.
It
should not be turned into a job
specification. Let it evolve, grow and
prosper through appropriate triggers,
e.g., shared values, accommodative
workplaces,
empowerment
initiatives, cohesive bonds between
supervisors and team members, the
culture of learning through mistakes,
timely and visible recognition of those
intrinsically-motivated
‘frequently-
invisible’, ‘passionately diligent’, and
‘magnanimously selfless’ heroes/
heroines,
invigorating
employee
experience as an integral part of
‘total rewards’ package, etc. There is
no greater debt on an organisation’s
conscience than underutilised talent
and any lapse in fully benefiting from
sustainable employee engagement
could mean the difference between
staying relevant and competitive in
the Digital Age or being banished to
the corporate wilderness to wither
away unceremoniously. The choice
is yours.
Murad Salman Mirza is an innovative thinker and an astute practitioner in areas
within and associated with the fields of Organizational Development, Talent
Management and Business Transformation. His LinkedIn profile can be viewed
at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/muradsalmanmirza/
Class Time
Term 3 Apr - Jun 2020
17