The Special Interest Groups, or SIGs, have been set up by the Engage for Success Guru Group to further debate and form conclusions on specific aspects of employee engagement. Anyone is welcome to join these groups and we are seeking a wide participation from all the supporters of Engage for Success.
You can read about the various SIGs and how you can join them here.
Today we will feature the Engaged Thinking SIG, which has recently been set up by Doug Crawford. Doug says :
I would like to invite interested parties to take part in the Engaged Thinking SIG. The focus of the work will be to identify the flawed assumptions, thinking and paradigms that are endemic in organizational life and which frequently lead to bad decisions about the way we manage people but which have become accepted as ‘truths’ and as such are seldom questioned. To borrow a phrase from Dan Pink, its about identifying the discrepancies between ‘what science knows and what business does’. To this end I believe we should seek input from as wide a range of disciplines as possible, including the fields of neuroscience, economics and the physical science as well as psychology, sociology, HR, leadership and OD. The intention is to schedule a first meeting of those that are interested in this topic in January but in advance it would be helpful to gauge the level of interest and to ask for some initial input around the following questions which I will collate and share at the first meeting:
1. What are the most fundamental examples of ‘flawed thinking’ that currently exist and what are the resulting consequences for engagement and individual and organizational performance?
2. What research evidence exists to show that they are predicated on false premises?
3. Why have they become so entrenched and what will it take to change people’s perspective?
4. What tools and approaches could we usefully recommend to change mindsets and encourage better quality thinking about how we manage people and organizations in order to lead to improved outcomes?
If you want to know more about the SIG then please contact me, Doug Crawford, at doug@cerusconsulting.co.uk
