Our next Guest Blogger is Jane Mayhew, Operational Performance Manager in the Client Services Department at Zurich International Life.

Jane wrote this in response to the recent blog entry written by Andy Baker – ‘What’s measured gets better!’

Recently I was asked about “engagement” – What does it mean?  What value does it add?  How should it be done? And why is it important?

Having discussed it with several colleagues I have come to the conclusion that engagement is important in helping our colleagues feel that they are contributing to the business success either as part of a team or as an individual.  

Management should have a good knowledge of their business and subject, they should be able to roll up their sleeves and help when needed and, most importantly, they should be able to talk in a candid manner with everyone, regardless of status.  Our Head of Customer Experience manages to share his vision with everyone within the team in a way that they understand and feel that they can challenge, even during staff briefings.  His warmth “engages” people and they want to be a part of the team’s success.  Some may say he has the Customer Experience factor.

Another manager said “say hello in the morning and goodbye in the evening, no matter what your own day has been like”.  Being professional in attitude and human in approach appears to be the key to success.

eg work manager® provides us with many of our Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that permit us to measure our successes.  It isn’t the only tool we use but it does allow us to measure and target team managers and team members and direct them in achieving our business goals.  Team members can see how well they are performing and if they need help, can request it from their colleagues with a clear idea about what the priorities in the team are.

Daily Capacity Planning meetings (DCPs) and bi-weekly performance reviews create opportunities to work as a team of teams and the sharing of resources across global functional units rather than at a local level have helped our ability to improve service to our customers.  With recognition and reward mechanisms in place, team members can feel that their managers talk to them honestly about what the metrics tell them and drive a cycle of continuous improvement at both a personal and process level because they have the MI to evidence this.

Please note: this blog post reflects a personal opinion and is not representative of the formal views of Zurich International Life.