How two leading people brands are joining forces to highlight the importance of people in our businesses now more than ever. EngageNE and People Power come together to bring the spotlight on to employee engagement in our region.
EngageNE – the network run by EMN member 3P and north east arm of national movement Engage for Success – have announced a collaboration with People Power 2020, the leading people-based event in the north east business calendar, by sponsoring the event and securing Engage for Success co-founders Nita Clarke and David MacLeod as keynote speakers for the two events – a free webcast event in June and the conference planned for September.
Engage for Success is the government-backed movement committed to the idea that there is a better way to work, a better way to enable personal growth, organisational growth and ultimately growth for Britain by releasing more of the capability and potential of people at work.
Co-founders David Macleod and Nita Clarke were commissioned by BIS (Business, Innovation and Skills) in 2008 to write a report about employee engagement which found four common elements present in organisations that were successfully engaging their people. The four elements, which are now commonly known as the four enablers of engagement – Strategic Narrative, Engaging Managers, Employee Voice and Organisational Integrity – have become the tenets of the movement and have proved to be useful lenses which can help organisations assess the effectiveness of their approaches. The Engaging for Success/ Macleod report formed the basis of the task force backed by David Cameron, then Prime Minister, to begin a national conversation about employee engagement right across the private, public and third sectors, with a view to improving the UK economy.
3P as Regional Ambassadors
10 years on and the work of the national taskforce is now supported across the UK by Regional Ambassadors, harnessing collective effort, energy and regional ownership to drive the movement forward. In 2014 Peak Performance Partnership (3P), a talent management consultancy focusing on growing people, growing talent and growing business, became the Regional Ambassadors for the North East.
3P took their passion for the north east and employee engagement, with an appreciation of its positive impact on performance and productivity to set up the EngageNE network in 2016 to bring the Engage for Success movement to the region. The network, run by 3P co-founder Trevor Norman and Client Engagement Manager Michelle Manning, is also supported by north east businesswoman Maggie Pavlou from People Gauge.
The EngageNE network
The networks vision of Communicating to Engage encompasses the core values of Leadership, Collaboration and Making a Difference through sharing best practice, knowledge, skills and experience to help each other to build engaged, productive and aligned workforces and foster cross-sector collaboration across North East England.
Since its inception the network has grown to count over 250 members from across the region, encompassing large organisations, SME’s, independent consultants, and members from other key north east bodies and networks such as the Engineering Manufacturing Network, NEAA, the LEP, NEECC, Scaleup NorthEast and NEPIC.
As Regional Ambassadors for Engage for Success, Trevor and Michelle are committed to raising the profile of employee engagement and its impact on productivity and increasing awareness of the Engage for Success movement in the North East through the network.
People Powered Business
Trevor says “We see the collaboration between EngageNE and People Power – the north-east’s leading event for business leaders – as an ideal opportunity to promote the Engage for Success message to more employers in our region. We are very looking forward to welcoming Nita and David to speak on behalf of EngageNE and Engage for Success about why engagement is so important, particularly in the current climate. The People Power mission of boosting productivity, improving skills and developing a thriving, engaged workforce mirrors that of EngageNE so it is an ideal partnership.”
Now in its third year, the People Power event welcomes over 300 senior business leaders and HR professionals from across the north east. Due to the pandemic the 2020 format has been altered to incorporate a new, free webcast event in June which offers free advice and ideas from expert speakers, including Nita Clarke of Engage for Success, to help workforces and businesses survive and thrive. Nita’s session, entitled ‘Lessons from the pandemic – it’s the people stupid’ will look at how the four enablers are more than ever critical to organisational success.
The Conference and Exhibition event, with David MacLeod as keynote speaker, is planned to take place in September, depending on official guidance and regulations at the time.
Strong leadership is critical during times of challenge.
It is well recognised that only a third of the UK workforce is actively engaged. Recent Gallup research reflecting current responses to the pandemic has shown that trust in leadership has fallen significantly during this time.
Speaking about the impact of Covid 19 on business, Chair of Engage for Success and Chief Exec of CIPD Peter Cheese says: “Most organisations are seeing that wellbeing is pretty much top of their list as they think about their workforce going forwards. But at the very heart of whatever we do must be the human connection in terms of the way we communicate, the way we collaborate, the way we engage and the way we support each other. The companies that will survive and thrive through this crisis will be the ones who managed their workforce in the right ways and in the best ways. Some of the fundamental things that we’ve talked about in the Engage for Success movement over the last 10 years are going to more relevant than ever. Find out more about EngageNE please email trevor@3p.co.uk or michelle@3p.co.uk . More information about Engage for Success visit www.engageforsuccess.org. To find out more about the People Power event and to book your place on the free webcast visit www.peoplepowerevents.co.uk