The Truth About Employee Engagement

The Truth About Employee Engagement

by Patrick M. Lencioni
Released November 2015
Publisher(s): Jossey-Bass
ISBN: 9781119237983

Read it now on the O’Reilly learning platform with a 10-day free trial.

O’Reilly members get unlimited access to books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.

Start your free trial

Book description

The Truth About Employee Engagement was originally published as The Three Signs of a Miserable Job.

A bestselling author and business guru tells how to improve job satisfaction and performance.

In his sixth fable, bestselling author Patrick Lencioni takes on a topic that almost everyone can relate to: job misery. Millions of workers, even those who have carefully chosen careers based on true passions and interests, dread going to work, suffering each day as they trudge to jobs that make them cynical, weary, and frustrated. It is a simple fact of business life that any job, from investment banker to dishwasher, can become miserable. Through the story of a CEO turned pizzeria manager, Lencioni reveals the three elements that make work miserable -- irrelevance, immeasurability, and anonymity -- and gives managers and their employees the keys to make any job more engaging.

As with all of Lencioni’s books, this one is filled with actionable advice you can put into effect immediately. In addition to the fable, the book includes a detailed model examining the three root causes of job misery and how they can be remedied. It covers the benefits of managing for job engagement within organizations -- increased productivity, greater retention, and competitive advantage -- and offers examples of how managers can use the applications in the book to deal with specific jobs and situations.

Patrick Lencioni is President of The Table Group, a management consulting firm specializing in executive team development and organizational health. As a consultant and keynote speaker, he has worked with thousands of senior executives and executive teams in organizations ranging from Fortune 500 companies to high-tech startups to universities and nonprofits. His clients include. AT&T, Direct TV, JCPenney, Microsoft, Nestle, Northwestern Mutual, Southwest Airlines and St. Jude Chilren’s Research Hospital.  Lencioni is the author of ten bestselling books, including The Five Dysfunctions of a Team and The Advantage. He previously worked for Oracle, Sybase, and the management consulting firm Bain & Company.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Also by Patrick Lencioni
  3. Title Page
  4. Copyright
  5. Dedication
  6. Introduction
  7. The Fable
    1. Shock
    2. Part One: The Manager
      1. Brian
      2. The Break
      3. JMJ
      4. Tremors
      5. Consolidation
      6. Done
      7. Band-Aid Removal
    3. Part Two: Retirement
      1. Sabbatical
      2. Brainstorm
      3. Immersion
      4. Injured Reserve
      5. Cabin Fever
      6. Furlough
      7. Going In
      8. First Sip
      9. Off the Wagon
      10. It Pours
      11. Take In
      12. The Meeting
      13. Sanity Check
      14. Defense
    4. Part Three: The Experiment
      1. Cold Feet
      2. Past-Due Diligence
      3. Staff
      4. Opening Night
      5. Debrief
      6. Lip Biting
      7. Engagement
      8. Staff Meeting
      9. First Test
      10. The Rounds
      11. Cold Water
      12. Initial Results
      13. Blip
      14. Reality Check
      15. Round Two
      16. Glitch
      17. Confrontation
      18. Stand In
      19. Slap
      20. Consolation
      21. Friday Night Hoops
      22. Anniversary
      23. Immeasurement
      24. Irrelevance
      25. Anonymity
      26. Full Steam
      27. Results
      28. Money
      29. The Mat
      30. The Call
      31. The Bait
      32. Hook
      33. Patience
      34. Hand-Off
      35. Reorientation
    5. Part Four: Going Live
      1. Turnaround
      2. Recon
      3. Home Front
      4. Drive By
      5. The Report
      6. Teaching to Fish
      7. On Demand
      8. Trial
      9. One Fell Swoop
      10. Rollout
      11. Momentum
      12. Sucker Punch
      13. Déjà Vu
      14. Encore
  8. The Model
    1. The Miserable Job
    2. The Cost of Misery
    3. The Three Root Causes
      1. Anonymity
      2. Irrelevance
      3. Immeasurement
    4. The Benefits and Obstacles of Managing for Employee Engagement
      1. Benefits
      2. Obstacles
    5. Exploring and Addressing the Causes of Job Misery
      1. Anonymity
      2. Irrelevance
      3. Immeasurement
    6. Case Studies
      1. Example 1: The Vice President of Marketing
      2. Example 2: The Administrative Assistant
      3. Example 3: The Late-Night Room Service Attendant at a Hotel
      4. Example 4: The Box Boy at the Grocery Store
      5. Example 5: The Wide Receiver
      6. Example 6: The Construction Foreman
    7. Taking Action
    8. The Ministry of Management
  9. Acknowledgments
  10. About the Author
  11. End User License Agreement

Product information

  • Title: The Truth About Employee Engagement
  • Author(s): Patrick M. Lencioni
  • Release date: November 2015
  • Publisher(s): Jossey-Bass
  • ISBN: 9781119237983