Engagement

Epilogue the Sure Route to Success: Engagement

That is what learning is. You suddenly understand something you've understood all your life, but in a new way.

—Doris Lessing

AS THE CURTAIN FALLS ON OUR WORKPLACE SAGA, Vicky is moving up, and Michael is stuck in the same job, wondering, Why her and not me? Part of the answer is Vicky's skill and savvy in orchestrating a turnaround where others had failed. She brought openness, determination, and good diagnostic skills to the deep engagement of the difficult and underperforming people she inherited. A turnaround takes teamwork, even for the most skilled and experienced of leaders.

Vicky began by clarifying if she had the right people for her team, affirming their commitment—or arranging their exit—and creating the right conditions for each to bring their best to the work. What looked like a transformational miracle of a motley crew was at its core deep engagement and skilled application of proven principles for workplace success: separating people from the problem, identifying individual capabilities and needs, testing assumptions, clarifying roles and expectations, providing support and coaching, fostering new understandings of oneself and others, treating people with respect and professionalism (and asking for the same in return), setting clear goals and holding people accountable for them, addressing problems in a timely manner, moving toward difficult people—not away, and modeling healthy ways to self-manage and unhook in the ...