David MacLeod, the co-author of the Government-sponsored report that put employee engagement at the forefront of the business agenda, will be providing his insights at IoIC’s conference on 13th May.
The 2009 report, Engaging for Success, was the culmination of a review conducted by David and his vice-chair Nita Clarke, which involved talking to many organisations up and down the country to see if engagement could help the country come through its economic difficulties and meet the challenges ahead.
Its recommendations included raising awareness through a national campaign, aligning resources to ensure organisations have the support they need to develop engagement, and increasing the support available through training, sharing best practice and other initiatives.
Speaking of progress to date, David comments: ‘’We have made a good start on the first phase, which is raising awareness among business and economic leaders of the impact of effective employee engagement on performance. I have stood on hundreds of podiums and attended hundreds of events around the country and there is a general acceptance that engagement produces results.
Wide Spectrum
“Organisations are taking it on board but there is a still a wide spectrum in how they are doing it. Some are fairly neutral, some pay lip service and some really embrace it and are powering down the road. The challenge is to get more to power down the road.”
To this end, David is aiming to create a second phase of the review. “I am hopeful of getting support for a second report that will follow up on the work already done. The initial report explained what engagement is, asked does it matter and what enabled it? We gathered evidence and produced case studies that created a compelling proven correlation between engagement and results and performance and came up with a series of recommendations to help organisations.
I want the next phase to have a more practical application, to provide examples of good employee engagement and show organisations how they can achieve it, offering tangible help, support, guidance and resources. This is an area where organisations like IoIC, with its expertise, can play a key role.”
David MacLeod has spent most of his career leading private sector organisations through major programmes of change. In 2001 he took up a post in the Cabinet Office as senior advisor on change and performance. In 2003 he joined the consultancy Towers Perrin as a full-time advisor supporting chief executives in both the public and private sector in implementing change to enhance performance.
Extra Mile
He has co-authored a book called The Extra Mile on how to engage your people to win.
His portfolio of responsibilities includes non-executive director of the Department for International Development, non-executive director of the Ministry of Justice, fellow of the Sunningdale Institute, senior associate of Towers Perrin, visiting professor of the Cass Business School and a fellow of the RSA, Institute of Marketing and Ashridge Business School.
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