leadership & engagement - aon hewitt
TRANSCRIPT
Leadership and EngagementThe Impact of Leadership on Employee Motivation
Engaged leaders engage others
Aon Hewitt analysis of companies with strong financial results shows that one distinguishing feature is the quality of their senior management. In particular we see that senior management’s own levels of engagement are high and their ability to engage others in the organisation is strong.
The chart below (Figure 1) shows that 95% of senior leaders in high performing organisations are engaged. This compares with 70% of senior leaders in other organisations.
This chart also shows that the gap between high-performing organisations and others widens at lower organisation levels demonstrating that senior leaders in high-performing organisations do a better job of engaging others, particularly middle management levels.
How do they achieve this?
Senior leaders in high-performing organisations are perceived as more effective by middle managers and employees and it’s not because they are less demanding. They set clearer and more aggressive goals, address issues of underperformance and work at ensuring that everyone understands organisational strategy and goals.
Additionally, senior leaders in these high-performing organisations are seen to be open, honest and trustworthy and able to create excitement for the future.
Our research also reveals that senior leaders in high-performing organisations are known for the time they spend nurturing and developing future talent.
Figure 1: Engagement by Level In Organisation
0%
20%
10%
40%
30%
60%
50%
80%
70%
100%
90%
Team MemberProfessionalTeam LeaderMiddle Management
Report to Senior Management
Senior management
Eng
agem
ent Best Companies
Other Companies
Source: Aon Hewitt Global Best Employer Research
Case Study A
Aon Hewitt compared leaders’ 360 degree feedback scores with engagement study data to understand the specific behaviours leaders were demonstrating in highly engaged business units.
We discovered that leaders who took the following actions had the highest engagement in their businesses, 14 % points higher than other areas:
▪ Living and encouraging the company’s values—role modeling what the company believes is important in how people work together
▪ Focusing on strategy and implementation—showing that they know how to run the business
▪ Investing in people to build their skills
▪ Overcoming and removing barriers that prevent change from happening
Case Study B
We compared individual survey items of high engagement business areas with low engagement areas and identified that the biggest differences were in the following leadership areas:
▪ Inspiration
▪ Motivation
▪ Acting ethically, honestly
▪ Providing development
We helped the organisation to focus on four specific areas:
▪ More open, transparent and candid communication
▪ Creating better messaging between Senior Leadership and employees
▪ Improving clear and granular feedback regarding performance, pay and promotions
▪ Better education of employees about opportunities within the organisation
The impact on business results
The knock-on impact on business results is also compelling.
When satisfaction with senior leadership
changes from 32% to 76%
Engagement scores also change
from 47% to 72%
Total Shareholder Return (TSR) increases
from 1% to 19%
© 2011 Aon Hewittwww.aonhewitt.com
Contacts
If you would like more information, please contact either of the following consultants:
Jenny Merry +44 (0) 1727 888395 [email protected] Rita Veres +36 1 801 8011 [email protected] Didier Burgaud +33 1 55 63 23 70 [email protected] Broad +31 634 000 622 [email protected]