The big statistic:

Over the last ten years, the Gallup organization's surveys have consistently shown that less than 30% of the workforce is engaged-and this statistic holds true in western and eastern countries alike.

This means that more than 70% of the workforce is not engaged: actually, 50% is not engaged and another 20y% is actively disengaged. The former are "seat warmers" (they show up to work, do the minimum and collect a paycheck) and the latter are "seat burners" (they show up, collect a paycheck and destroy the work of other employees). How will your organization make it in today's business economy if your workforce mirrors these statistics?

As Dan Pink so beautifully explains in A Whole New Mind, our world is shifting from a very focused information/knowledge economy toward one that also includes concept and design: an economy in which consumers buy not solely for logical reasons but often because of ideas,  beauty,  from abundance, or a creative approach ..stemming from the conceptual nature of the right brain.

Note well: if you haven't done something to actively and intentionally engage and connect your workers so they recognize their  work as both satisfying and productive, then your work force may very well reflect the disengaged! Some may work to undo the accomplishments of your engaged workers and to contaminate new hires, leading to turnover and the need to lower recruiting and hiring criteria,  just to have enough workers to stay in business!

Your challenge, then, is tapping into both your employees' left- and right-brain thinking--engaging the best of their intellect but also their emotions --so your organization mirrors your changing customers and markets. Only by working collaboratively with your employees, treating them as valuable resources--like partners, not robots--engaging them with plenty of information, support, challenge and development will you be able to tap into their full potential.

Janine Moon, as a coach and strategist, helps leaders engage their workers so that  responsibility for results increases dramatically, employees partner to move the business forward and take on new opportunities, and "seat warmers" and "seat burners" alike select "out."

Janine works with organizations facing these challenges:

• Retaining existing talent and capturing their knowledge
• Growing and mentoring new talent
• Developing career pathing options to create talent pools
• Growing a coaching and mentoring culture--one that works two ways
• Developing  respect for difering generational  values
• Effectively resolving communication gaps and office politics
• Developing and increasing worker resilience
  

Each of these challenges, once met, fosters a workforce engaged in its work and focused on meeting and exceeding business goals.