Over the next few weeks I am going to write about things that I am thankful for.  This week I am thankful for the power we all have to make each other whole.  We talk a lot about engagement.  Do we ever think about what we are trying to do when we engage people?  I feel that we often think about engaging people as a bonus, as something that is going above and beyond.  Instead, I think engaging people is essential, because it is not about going above and beyond as much as it is about filling a gap to help make people whole again.

Let’s say you wake up and everything in the world is perfect.  This is you at 100%.  You come into a stress free workplace at 100%, give it your all, everything goes swimmingly, and you stay at 100%.  Now when is the last time that happened?  Never.  Now let’s think about a real situation.  Start with you at 100%.  Start subtracting the stress you have.  You didn’t sleep.  You have kids.  You don’t have kids and people can’t respect that decision.  You’re married.  You’re single and people won’t let you enjoy being single.  You’re sick.  Life is just sucking.  Subtract all of this from the 100%.  Before you know it you are at 70-80% before you even come into work (on a good day).  Then you get into work and you have stressful projects.  You have people who are jerks and some who are doing dumb stuff.  You have people who keep changing their mind about what they want.  Subtract all of this.  Before you know it you are operating at 30-70% of what you could be.  Is that good?

It doesn’t have to be that way.  Any of us can change this.  There are people who use their power to make people whole.  They are the ones who put in a little extra something to turn that ordinary second into a moment that is meaningful.   These are the people who give you compliments, their time, hugs, or high fives.  They are the ones who send emails out of the blue or leave that unexpected treat on your desk because they were thinking about you.  Add all of these interventions together and maybe, just maybe it can help us be whole while we are here.  I’m thankful for the power we all have to help make each other whole.  How are you using your power?

Bonus thought: When we make each other whole we call it employee engagement and when we do this for our customers we call it creating experiences.  The tactics might be different, but the mindset is the same.

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry