Racing Day 2 of Louis Vuitton America's Cup World Series Bermuda

Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series – Oracle Team USA

The Winds of Change are blowing.

  • According to Deloitte, “87 percent of organizations cite culture and engagement as one of their top challenges, and 50 percent call the problem “very important.”1 “Only 7 percent rate themselves excellent at measuring, driving, and improving engagement and retention.”2
  • The Pew Research Center announced that based on the most recent population estimates by the U.S. Census Bureau, Millennials have overtaken Baby Boomers as the largest living generation.3 “Millennials tend to be uncomfortable with rigid corporate structures and turned off by information silos. They expect rapid progression, a varied and interesting career and constant feedback.”4 “They may also represent one of the biggest challenges that many organisations will face.”5

 

 

Are you on the boat or are you a spectator watching from the shore?

Americas Cup presented by Louis Vuitton

This weekend, Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series Racing brings “high-tech yacht racing back to the historic home of the America’s Cup, New York City, May 7-8. The same harbor that saw the creation of the low black schooner America, built to go over to England and beat the best of British yachting, will now host teams from France, Sweden, Japan, New Zealand, and England, racing against the US defender in preparation for the 2017 America’s Cup match.”6

Oracle Team USA, the Defender, will face its Challengers in a series of short 20-minute races held on the Hudson River.7 The Louis Vuitton Cup is “awarded to the winner of the America’s Cup challenger series, which determines Oracle’s opponent for the 34th America’s Cup.”8

While there is no Employee Engagement Cup World Series, companies should be racing to implement and improve their employee engagement efforts. Unfortunately, too many are watching from the shore.

 

Forward or Aft?

For those of you in the boat, is your company “forward” or “aft” when it comes to employee engagement? Perhaps this short video (4:11) with a boat metaphor from Bob Kelleher will provide some perspective on its importance: Employee Engagement – Who’s Sinking Your Boat?9

 

 

 

Here are a few employee engagement lessons we can learn from the Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series Racing teams.

  1. “My job as a tactician is primarily to help position my boat to win around the racecourse. In addition, on testing days, I collect the goals of our sailing team, our coaching staff, our design team and our shore crew from the morning briefings. We come up with a plan for the day’s effort to create drills and scenarios to reduce variables and produce the highest quality testing results that can then be analyzed for strategy, design, and construction decisions.”10 (employee-manager relationship)
  2. “When the Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series events come up, it’s a hard pill to swallow that only five of our team can go racing because there are 14 of us who are ready to step into any role. We’re chomping at the bit.”11 (recognition and rewards)
  3. “We all have multiple jobs so we can order and reorder the teams to get the most out of any given day of testing. Most of us can do multiple jobs on the boat. Most of us are also a backup for another counterpart on our team.”12 (growth and development)

 

The Winds of Change are blowing. Make sure your boat has the right leadership, recognition, and development opportunities so that it is positioned to go from challenger to defender.

 

What are your thoughts on the race for employee engagement? How are the winds of change affecting your company in terms of employee engagement?

 

 

1 Brown, David, Sonny Chheng, Veronica Melian, Kathy Parker, and Marc Solow. “Culture and Engagement: The Naked Organization.” Deloitte University Press. Deloitte Development LLC, 27 Feb. 2015. Web. 13 Apr. 2016. P. 35. <http://dupress.com/articles/employee-engagement-culture-human-capital-trends-2015/>.
2 Ibid., P. 36.
3 Fry, Richard. “Millennials Overtake Baby Boomers as America’s Largest Generation.” Pew Research Center. Pew Research Center, 25 Apr. 2016. Web. 26 Apr. 2016. <http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/04/25/millennials-overtake-baby-boomers/>.
4 “Millennials at Work: Reshaping the Workplace.” PwC. PwC, 2011. Web. 27 Apr. 2016. <https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/managing-tomorrows-people/future-of-work/assets/reshaping-the-workplace.pdf>.
5 Ibid.
6 “Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series Racing in New York This Weekend.” CupInfo. CupInfo. Web. 5 May 2016. <http://www.cupinfo.com/>.
7 Fierman, William. “These High-tech Boats Can Go Faster than the Wind – and They’re Coming to New York.” Business Insider. Business Insider, Inc, 04 May 2016. Web. 05 May 2016. <http://www.businessinsider.com/americas-cup-why-you-should-watch-2016-4>.
8 “Glossary of Sailing Terms.” SF Gate. Hearst Communications, Inc, 05 July 2013. Web. 05 May 2016. <http://blog.sfgate.com/americascup/2013/07/05/glossary-of-sailing-terms/>.
9 Kelleher, Bob. “Employee Engagement – Who’s Sinking Your Boat?” YouTube. The Employee Engagement Group, 20 Aug. 2013. Web. 05 May 2016. <https://youtu.be/y4nwoZ02AJM>.
10 “America’s Cup: Sailing Team Is a Multitasking Effort Scuttlebutt Sailing News.” Scuttlebutt Sailing News. Inbox Communications, Inc., 03 May 2016. Web. 05 May 2016. <http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/2016/05/03/53028/>.
11 Ibid.
12 Ibid.

Photo credits: America’s Cup Event Authority LLC

 

Let’s Engage!

I’m Agent in Engagement Simpson…Gregory F Simpson.

Employee engagement is a critical mission. I hope I can count on your help! Subscribe to the RSS Feed to receive the latest intelligence/insights and/or register to make entries in the comments log.

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P.S.  First contact? Welcome to the Agent In Engagement community. Explore and join fellow employee engagement operatives in targeting a known thief – alias: Disengagement. Together we can bring this thief to justice and make the world a better place for all companies and their employees.

Other recent Agent in Engagement data/reports by Agent Gregory F Simpson: