About Me:
Hi, I’m Dean Horsman and thanks for passing by my blog, which may prompt you to join in with my musings about the things that engage us emotionally, cognitively and socially.
I’m a learner and a teacher; I have worked in schools and now I want to be scholarly; I was and still am a HR Professional and a HRD/OD Practitioner; I’m now an academic who facilitates learning, and coaches to help others realise their fullest potential.
I’m currently studying for a Doctorate in Business Administration at Leeds Beckett University (formerly Leeds Metropolitan), and hope you don’t mind if I consider and muse over any contributions you make through this blog as dialogue that might enrich my research into employee perspectives on engaging leaders, learning and organizational performance.
Purpose of the blog:
“A soliloquy (from Latin solo “to oneself” + loquor “I talk”) is a device often used in drama or literature when a character (i.e. Me) speaks to himself, relating thoughts and feelings, thereby also sharing them with an audience, giving off the illusion of being a series of unspoken reflections.”
So, to oneself I talk but what shall I talk about? The State of the Nation? The Elections 2015? #CIPD? #HR? #engagement perhaps?
In this, my first ever blog, I muse briefly on the famous Shakespearan soliloquy, “To blog or not to blog… That is the question.” Finally, after 12-months (yes you read that right – 12 months of procrastination!) I’m now writing my first ever blog, which I’ve published for you all to see; as I await nervously any response…
What is Employee Engagement and are you Emotionally Engaged?
The real purpose and question to you and I then is this… What are the things that engage us emotionally, cognitively and socially?
My interest is mainly at work but also at home; with family and friends, pursuing the arts, books, film, hobbies, music, pastimes, sport, theatre, walks. How many of us leave the ‘real’ me at home when we go to work and wonder why we may feel stressed, under pressure, unhappy in the drudgery of our ‘things to do’ list and the boss who doesn’t seem to care?
Tom Peters in his book “The Pursuit of WOW” (1994) recognised that there was a huge potential reserve of energy and commitment in organisations which could be released by making ‘meaning for people’ and highlighted the fact that people desperately need meaning in their lives and will sacrifice a great deal to institutions that will provide this meaning for them.
According to Cartwright and Holmes (2006, p.206) “As individuals become increasingly disenchanted and disillusioned with work and fatigued by the constant demand to change and to be flexible in response to organisational needs, employers now need to actively restore the balance, recognise the meaning and emotional aspects of work and move towards creating a more energized, fulfilled and engaged workforce.”
As part of my Doctoral studies, I am interested in the distinction between the emotional, cognitive and social paths along which people personally engage and disengage at work.
For me, “Employee Engagement is an employee’s positive emotional attachment to their job and/or colleagues and/or organization which profoundly influences their willingness to learn and perform at work.”© Dean Horsman (2012).
Kahn (1990, p.694) defined ‘personal engagement’ as “the harnessing of organization members’ selves to their work roles; in engagement, people employ and express themselves physically, cognitively, and emotionally during role performances.” Emotions are, therefore, a central element of the notion of self and are strongly linked to motivation, behaviour, happiness and psychological good health.
Recent interest in the role of emotions and ‘affect’ at work has highlighted that how people feel about themselves, about their work, and others around them may also be important to their work performance (Cartwright and Holmes, 2006). Furthermore, there is a social dimension to work, where people who are seeking meaning in life also want meaning at work – people want to be happy, feel passionate and energised at work.
For Maslach and Leiter (2005), energy is the outcome of positive employee engagement. Truss et al. (2012) and the CIPD (2013) defined employee engagement “as being positively present during the performance of work willingly contributing intellectual effort, experiencing positive emotions and meaningful connections to others.”
According to Cross et al. (2003) organisations benefit from positive dynamics and an energised workforce because employees work well together, relationships are supportive, inspiring and information is freely shared. Herriot (2001) suggests that emotions are an extremely important element in the formation and expression of self. As emotions are dependent and activated by social relationships, it is my view (and I’m not alone in this) that the social dimension of work should be given greater acknowledgement (it’s not rocket science!); as should our managers and leaders.
If you don’t believe me, check out “The power of social leadership” by Gemma Reucroft.
Along with Gemma and other notable speakers, I’ll be running a workshop entitled ‘Leader Emotional Engagement, Intelligence and Development (LEEID)’ at this years CIPD Northern Area Conference @CIPD_NAP at York Racecourse on the 19th & 20th June 2015 #cipdnap15
If you’d like to get more involved in my research, please do get in touch via dphorsman@googlemail.com
You can also follow me on Twitter @dphorsman and via LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/deanhorsman
hrsoliloquy 
Great blog, Dean; you needn’t have been worried about how it will be received! I’ll be seeing you and Gemma at NAP too, we’re all looking forward to it here at TMSDI.
Here are some thoughts I had whilst reading your blog:
I agree that the social aspect of employee engagement is often overlooked. I would also posit that the social engagement aspect is intrinsically linked to shared values, and therefore also business/ organisational culture. By that I mean, if we share the same values as our colleagues, (collaboration, equality, or perhaps, status and hierarchy), the way that we approach the world of work will create synergism, collaboration and harmony (all the good stuff!). For me, our values, and our company values dictate our working culture. Bakker & Leiter (2010) perhaps say it better: “Work engagement thrives in settings that demonstrate strong connections between corporate and individual values.”.
Recognising the need for “positive emotional attachment” is important for any leader. If you subscribe to Goleman’s theories, he calls this the affiliative leader (which I’m sure you already know, Dean!): “One of the very positive leadership styles is called the affiliative leader. This type of leader knows that having a good time together is not a wasted effort. They recognize that it builds positive energy and social and emotional capital.” (Goleman 2014).
Anyway, I just wanted to say I really enjoyed your blog, and it certainly gave me food for thought!
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