Ten Cs of employee engagement and corporate counsel correlates

Edward Russell-Walling, 50 Management ideas you really need to know (Quercus 2007) at 73, pushes alliteration a long way as he cites research that suggests 10 ways to help employees feel more engaged.

1. Connect – “leaders must actively show that they value employees” (See my posts of Jan. 30, 2008: CEO praise of Textron’s legal department; May 3, 2008: GC has monthly breakfasts with department members; and Feb. 16, 2007: Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.).

2. Career – “leaders should provide challenging and meaningful work with opportunities for career advancement” (See my posts of Dec. 28, 2006: few promotions but some other choices; June 24, 2007: intractable management problem of career paths; and Jan. 8, 2008: how to minimize angst.).

3. Clarity – “leaders must communicate a clear vision,” which could be done by mission statements (See my post of Dec. 7, 2005: mission statements and 7 references cited).

4. Convey — “leaders must clarify their expectations about employees and provide feedback on their functioning.” (See my posts of April 8, 2005 and Feb. 23, 2006: SMART goals; Nov. 6, 2006: criticisms of evaluations.).

5. Congratulate – “exceptional leaders give recognition, and they do so often” (See my post of Nov. 8, 2007: spot rewards given at Hartford Life.).

6. Contribute – “people want to know that their input matters and that they are contributing to the organization’s success in a meaningful way”.

7. Control – “employees value having control over the flow and the pace of their jobs” (See my post of Nov. 27, 2005: Caliper scores of lawyers on autonomy.).

8. Collaborate – “when employees work in teams and have the trust and cooperation of their members, they outperform individuals and teams that lack good relationships” (See my post of June 6, 2008: competition and worse forms of it.).

9. Credibility – “leaders should strive to maintain a company’s reputation and to demonstrate high ethical standards” (See my post of May 3, 2006: the law department as an “ethical beacon.”).

10. Confidence – “leaders helped create confidence in the company by being exemplars of high ethical and performance standards” (See my post of Oct. 30, 2006: a GC is on stage all the time.).