Rats!

The Chinese New Year celebrates the beginning of the Year of the Rat today.

I know little about the Chinese zodiac (other than I was born in the *Year of the Ox). A bit of research gave me these characteristics of those born in Rat Years (1936, 1948, 1960, 1972, 1984, 1996):

1. Logical realists
2. Shrewd
3. Ambitious
4. Inventive
5. Likely to be perfectionists
6. Thrifty with money
7. Clever
8. Hard working
9. Quick
10. Sociable

Some notable "Rats" include William Shakespeare, Winston Churchill, John Kennedy.

But what does this have to do with employee engagement?

The Year of the Rat is believed to be a good time to start something new: new product, new process, new strategy, new emphasis. You probably already know where I'm going: new culture, as in Employee Engagement Culture.

Remember, I work from the belief-point that people have the inherent desire to be engaged, to improve their performance. The manager's job is to provide the CORE factors that allow employees to follow that desire. Opportunity is one of the CORE components.

Why not involve your organization's Rats -- and everyone else -- in Opportunity Forums? (Forum: A public meeting or presentation involving a discussion usually among experts and often including audience participation.)

An Opportunity Forum works with one of the four CORE factors to provide employees chances, inspiration, and reason to increase their engagement. The continuing presence of Opportunity (and the other CORE factors) generates culture.

Here are some possibilities:

• Offer a monthly or quarterly Career Forum. Bring in career coaches, counselors, specialists. After the guest's brief(!) presentation, facilitate discussion that interweaves attendees' career directions and ambitions, current position and its contribution to career, possible development actions.
• Include a Community Forum as a frequent item on staff meeting agendas or as a lunch-and-talk topic. This may or may not involve an outside speaker. Again, direct some parts of the discussion to integrate attention to job function and value, company direction and purpose, and community.
• In a less topic-directed vein, host a Network Forum in which your employees (and possibly people from other companies, other industries) have an opportunity to meet and greet one another. You may wish to include a guest presenter (where  you want the engagement focus to be determines topic). You may consider more subtle suggestions such as posters, table-topic handouts, a Power Point presentation that loops in the background.

You can assume every one of your people, no matter what year born, has what it takes to take on an Employee Engagement Culture. Maybe not the "10 Ways to Be a Rat" listed above, but characteristics that allow them to recognize, implement, appreciate, assume, and use engagement opportunity.

The Year of the Rat offers great time and atmosphere to trap the opportunities. (Sorry. I couldn't resist.)

[* According to Chinese legend, the Jade Emperor invited the 12 animals to his palace. Towards the end of the journey, the animals had to cross a celestial river, and the Rat asked the Ox to ferry him across. When they arrived on the other side, the Rat jumped down off the Ox's head and that's how Rat gained first spot in the order of the Chinese zodiac. Perhaps the Ox was the first to say, "Rats!" in less than friendly terms!]

Comments

[David Zinger]

I saw the title RATS on the employee engagement network and said what is that all about? I love you connection that this is a good time to start something new and I have started a lot of new things, is your turn rats around you have STAR...you just need the T and you have the START. All the best as you get more people started on employee engagement with the CORE.