Show #123: Employee Engagement for the Individual and Team - Which Comes First?

Special Guest: Jamie Lawrence, Editor, HRZone.com

Effective engagement requires both an individual and collective focus but it seems that many companies focus on engaging the individual rather than thinking about the collective units – teams. The basic unit at work is the team, with a line manager at the helm, and there’s an argument that human beings as social creatures require high levels of engagement with their social working environment as a pre-requisite to individual engagement. Is it a chicken or egg scenario? Should companies be focusing on both from different, or similar, angles? Either way, as more research looks at group effectiveness and inclusiveness at work, there’s doubt we need to focus more on engaging the collective as well as the individual.

Jamie Lawrence is editor of global online HR publication and community HRZone.com He regularly speaks to audiences of 250+ and has interviewed key HR industry names, including Daniel H. Pink. Jamie has worked previously as a small business journalist and a copywriter and has published non-fiction that reached #2 in the NYT Children’s Bestseller List. Jamie is committed to driving forward the HR agenda through HRZone.com and making sure that HR Directors have the knowledge and insight necessary to ensure HR has influence across the whole organisation.

Host: Jo Moffatt