Users. Customers. Clients. Employees. Staff. Volunteers. Members. Students. Followers. Congregants. Audience members. Participants. Listeners. Viewers. Subscribers.
What engages them?
CONSIDER THIS: The word “engage” comes from the French engagier, which means, “to make a pledge.”
Maybe that’s the real question:
Why do people pledge themselves?
To the leader. To the team. To the organization. To the mission.
Why do people engage?
Here’s my theory:
People engage when they feel essential. Are you treating them like vestigial parts, helpful additions or vital components?
People engage when they feel unrestricted. Who are you asking to edit themselves?
People engage when they feel seen and heard. How does your organization stay sensitive to the needs of the human spirit?
People engage when they see themselves reflected. How are you giving them a front row seat to their own brilliance?
People engage when their lives are participated in. Are you fitting them into your nice little plan or celebrating how you fit into their lives?
People engage when they believe they can add value. How are you inspiring others with a vision of what they can contribute?
People engage when they have something to believe in. Are you giving them a compelling reason to follow you into the sunset?
People engage when they develop a deeper sense of why. How do you challenge them to calculate their personal currency?
People engage when they feel part of something that matters. Do yours see their work as a grind or gateway to something bigger?
People engage when they know their role has a direct impact. How are you helping them calculate the value of their contribution?
People engage when the work they do gets under their fingernails. How much of their labor has become part of their very being?
People engage when they’re allowed to publicly display their successes. Are you trying to be the life of the party or trying to bring people to life at the party?
People engage when they do work that unites with their sense of life. How does your organization serve as a mirror of your people’s core?
People engage when the fruits of their engagement become transportable assets. Can your people recoup their discretionary effort when they leave, or does all of their emotional energy become property of the organization?
People engage when they’re consistently given the opportunity to do what they do best. How are you embedding their passion into the pavement that leads the way to success?
People engage when they’re treated like human beings – not integers on the annual report. Are you approaching them as unique individuals, or as a means to your organizational ends?
People engage when they’re applauded for their strengths and not berated for their weaknesses. Are you trying to make them fall in love with you, or helping them fall in love with themselves?
People engage when the purpose of their engagement is to help them become better in all areas of their life. Are you building people, or building your dream and exploiting people to do it?
People engage when their work becomes a vehicle through which they are able to live what is important to them. Are you contracting them to erect a building, or commissioning them architect a vital index of their values?
People engage when their work isn’t a set of tasks, but an opportunity to build a platform that pushes them to something bigger. Have you confronted the fact that people are loaning their talents to you until something bet?
What about you?
LET ME ASK YA THIS…
Why do you think people engage?
LET ME SUGGEST THIS…
For the list called, “46 Types of Marketing,” send an email to me, and I’ll send you the list for free!
* * * *
Scott Ginsberg
That Guy with the Nametag
Author, Speaker, Entrepreneur, Mentor
[email protected]
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