So if you’re struggling to define yours, don’t panic. There’s a guidepost that’ll help you in more ways than one.  If your organization has clear business goals you can bet on a smoother path to success if you do one thing: make sure that your culture is in harmony with those goals. Once you do that, you’ll not only set yourself apart from the competition, you’ll have a winning combination that makes things happen. 

Why is this duo so important?

When you think about it, it just makes sense that business goals and culture are on the same wavelength. Imagine you’re in the ice cream business and you’ve set a goal to produce the most original ice cream flavours in the world right now. But your work culture doesn’t encourage staff to share new ideas. In fact, your workplace is built on a culture of silence where everyone works in their own cubicles and they barely say “hello” let alone, “I have an ice cream flavour idea.” It’s quite easy to figure out that it’ll be almost impossible for an organization to achieve their goals like this. 

So, where do you start?

Develop business goals. Think about why your business was created and then, as Peter Vanden Bos says in an Inc.com article called, “How to Set Business Goals,” create business goals that fall into four categories that include service, social, profit and growth. In the same article, Maria Marshall, an associate professor from Purdue University who has made it her job to study large and small businesses, says if you want to make sure that your goals translate into action, it’s a good idea to use the SMART formula:

• Specific. Define specific goals and make them as detailed as possible. 
• Measurable. Add a dollar amount or percentage to the goal. 
• Action-oriented. Explain what actions have to happen, who will do them, and when.
• Realistic. Make sure that you have the resources to make your goal a reality. 
• Time specific. Set a deadline to keep things on track.

Now, for the special sauce:

Once you have established your business goals, think about the kind of culture that’ll take your goals to the next level. Which values, attitudes and beliefs are going to compliment your business goals? What is your organization’s personality? What kind of employee traits matter most to you? How will your organization set itself apart from the competition? What will make it special? To help you decide, take a look at our past blog called, What Type of Culture Should You Create, that narrows it down to eight different categories. Once you define your culture, compare those traits with your current business goals. See where they overlap and what areas might need some work. And remember, as your business goals change, your culture will need to be updated too.  

In a Businessnewsdaily.com article called, 3 Things Most Successful Businesses Do Right, Chad Brooks writes that after researching 56 successful companies that included FedEx, Coca-Cola, Target and American Express, 76 executives at 27 companies reported that along with other actions, their success happened because of the following: 

• They worked to attract and retain talent through a strong brand reputation; 
• They aligned their organizational structure to support their business strategy; and
• They worked hard to create and maintain a culture.

In other words, this is a winning combination of ingredients that’s been proven time and again.

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How many kinds of culture are there?

Depending on the framework you use, there are many different kinds of cultures. No one size fits all and organizations are free to make up their own. To help you to decide on your workplace culture before your business starts or to help you to get a better understanding of what your culture is now and what it could be in the future, we’ve listed a few kinds. 

Examples of workplace culture:

There are many cultures in the business world but here are few notable examples to keep in mind:

Mike Budden, Managing Partner of Chapman and Co Leadership Institute shares a video on his cultural framework that slices an organization’s culture into five possibilities: 

• Unsafe/Toxic
• Cautious/Rigid
• Optimistic/Good
• Integrated/Great
• Inspired/Endearing

A Harvard Business Review video describes eight kinds of culture and states that they all have pros and cons and none are better than others. But they’re all part of two observations in the workplace: 

• How people respond to change (either focusing on keeping stability or being flexible)
• How people interact (independently or interdependently)

The eight kinds of workplace culture are as follows:

• Purpose (tolerant, compassionate with a uniting focus on altruism and contributing to the greater good)
• Caring (warm, collaborative and welcoming)
• Order (structured and methodical work, people play by the rules and want to fit in)
• Safety (predictable, realistic and risk conscious defined by planning and caution)
• Learning (exploration and creativity with inventive and open-minded work environments)
• Enjoyment (light-hearted, playful work environments, high morale, engagement and creativity)
• Results (goals, achievement and winning)
• Authority (decisive, bold and competitive with strong, confident leaders)

Why it’s important to know your culture:

As René Carayol, visiting professor of the Cass Business School explains in this powerful video where he describes an unforgettable culture in action, “culture is more powerful than strategy.” 

Smart organizations pay a lot of attention to their cultural identity. If it needs refreshing, they do what it takes. They know that without a clear understanding of what they value the most, who they are and how they want to be seen by employees, clients and the community, the result is chaos for every person in contact with the organization.  It’s the equivalent of running an organization blindfolded. To hit the ball out of the park, you’ve got to see where it’s going. 

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 So what does a culture look like and why does it matter?

Imagine moving into a shared house with a group of strangers and this is what you get:

• the rules are easy to live with and they make sense to you
• the other roommates value a lot of the same things you do
• the environment matches perfectly with the way you like to live; and
• it attracts the kind of people you like to be with.

Would you stick around?  Yup, most people would.  That’s culture and that’s why smart business leaders are paying a lot of attention to it.  It matters.  It matters so much that it can be a great way to predict who will stay and who will leave your organization.

According to the Harvard Business Review web site called, The Culture Factor, “People are drawn to organizations with characteristics similar to their own; organizations are more likely to select individuals who seem to “fit in”; and over time those who don’t fit in tend to leave.”

Finding the right roommates/employees is fantastic. Replacing roommates/employees over and over again is exhausting for everyone.  Plus it costs time and money. So it pays for businesses to know their culture so they can find employees that fit and really belong there.

So, what is your current culture?

If you can figure out what your business values and how it works now, you’ll get a better idea of your current culture and how you might want to change it. In this great Harvard Business Review video called, “The 8 Types of Company Culture” they explain that researchers have found that company culture can be defined under two main headings:

• How people interact with each other: Independently or interdependently.
• How they respond to change: Organizations can be stable or flexible to change.

And here are the eight characteristics of culture: Whatever a company focuses on the most, will define their culture.

1. Learning
2. Enjoyment
3. Results
4. Authority
5. Purpose
6. Caring
7. Order
8. Safety

Employee surveys can measure what your company focuses on the most.  If you want to change your culture and what it considers a top priority here are some examples of famous company cultures.

Learning: Tesla

“I’m interested in things that change the world or that affect the future and wondrous new technology where you see it and you’re like ‘Wow, how did that even happen?’”
—Elon Musk, cofounder and CEO

Purpose: Whole Foods

“Most of the greatest companies in the world also have great purposes….Having a deeper, more transcendent purpose is highly energizing for all of the various interdependent stakeholders.”
—John Mackey, founder and CEO

Caring: Disney

“It is incredibly important to be open and accessible and treat people fairly and look them in the eye and tell them what is on your mind.”
—Bob Iger, CEO

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How is workplace culture defined?

Workplace culture can determine whether an employee wants to stay or leave an organization. When you walk into an office, can you feel a vibe or is the atmosphere deflated?  When Google hires people, often the answer to why a candidate wants to work for them is “for the culture.” 

What leaders should consider the following to define a culture that is right for you:

A Mission and a Purpose. Your best culture is contagious. It is not only authentic and unique, but also one that consistently keeps and creates customers.

Transparency. To scale a culture effectively, deliver on the promises it makes to candidates, employees and customers.

Uniqueness. Culture is as unique as every individual is unique in your organization. Is the product unique? How can you make it unique? Do your employees believe in the brand? Why does the organization exist? 

Good Workplace Culture  

Some common positive attributes are:

• This is a fun or enjoyable place to work
• There is purpose and is results-oriented
• There is a sense of teamwork
• There is fairness, transparency and respect
• It is a great place to learn and grow
• Employees feel valued and empowered
• Employees can speak up without fear of retribution
• Employees who move projects forward with innovative ideas

A Company’s Voice is Their Culture

A good leader needs to know what motivates his staff. There needs to be collaboration and understanding between the working force of Baby Boomers, Millennials and those of the Generation X. Such an influx of different attitudes is channeling businesses to think differently. It is still about profit, but there is more emphasis on goodwill, such as how an organization’s efforts changed a customer’s life. A good workplace culture spills over and is embraced locally, nationally and internationally. This is how an organization thrives.

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Branson has always expressed a different approach to business than his contemporaries. In Forbes magazine, he explains what he looks for in an employee. Let’s look at personality before the resumé. “A person who has multiple degrees in your field isn’t always better than someone with broad experience and a wonderful personality,” says Branson. He continues to underline that he’s willing to take chances on people and to promote from within: “It sends a great message to everyone in the company.”  By taking care of your employees, they will take care of your business. Loyalty in employees prevail.

Business consultant and author of the hot title from Good to Great, Jim Collins agrees. “In determining the right people, the good-to-great companies placed greater weight on character attributes than on specific educational background, practical skills, specialized knowledge, or work experience.”

Building Happiness. What a Concept !

An environment that defines the personality of your organization is a combination of leadership, values, beliefs and interactions. This is Workplace Culture. Behaviors, engagement and attitudes are areas that need to be harnessed.

It is one thing to lay out the groundwork and values on paper, and it is another to inspire through authenticity, and not lip service. Workplace culture can be achieved by giving employees a chance to thrive and create a culture they want to be a part of. And they will. They will find a purpose and they will strive to improve. A trusted staff becomes an engaged staff. This will be to the benefit of any business. In 2017, the Virgin Group was voted the seventh best company to work for in LinkedIn’s Top Companies List.

Putting It Into Practice

Knowledge and understanding always come from listening. To encourage positive change, build unity, and grow stronger practice open dialogue. A Business doesn’t succeed without an engaged culture, so make your culture as significant and innovative as your business strategy.

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Recognition has an impact on everything from employee retention and churn to customer satisfaction, increased productivity, cost savings and even improved safety. Yet it’s still common for employees to feel their best efforts are consistently ignored.

A well-executed employee recognition program is one piece of the foundation that creates long-lasting, sustainable employee engagement within organizations. TalentMap research, however, consistently finds that in the highest engaged (and performing) organizations, performance is taken for granted. If someone does a really good job on a continuous basis, it becomes part of the norm. Employee recognition takes a back seat. Similarly, in organizations with the lowest engagement, people don’t feel appreciated or valued. It’s one of the most important reasons why they leave.

It all boils down to generational culture. Think about a parent-child relationship. We tend to treat our children the way we were treated as children ourselves. The same is true in the workplace. Managers treat employees the way they’re treated as employees.

Most managers in the workplace today are of the “traditionalist” Boomer and X generations. The old guard bosses who oversaw their careers expected effort. They valued long hours from employees. They understood recognition as nomination-based, incentivized rewards. Consequently, Boomers and Gen Xers didn’t expect acknowledgement for anything short of extraordinary.

With Millennials and soon to follow Gen Z, there’s a divergence. Think back to the baseball diamonds and soccer fields in the 1990s and early 2000s. Every child got a medal just for being on the team. These generations expect reward for showing up, for participation; that’s how they were raised.

How Do You Blend Old and New Schools of Thought?

Globally there’s a cultural shift going on. We’re moving from an environment that was all about top-down command and control where the boss would tell you what to do, to managing outcomes with everybody working toward one common goal as a collective group. From basement to boardroom, boardroom to basement it’s a free flow of information and ideas. It’s about interacting with one another versus managing.

Watch the full webinar on employee recognition:

A lot of people, however, confuse employee recognition with rewards. When it was top-down and reward or incentive-based only a few would get recognized. It was obscure, unfair. Usually, the sales teams were the ones getting all the accolades and perks alongside senior leadership. The rank and file and the people on the front lines making a difference every day were left out of that loop.

A Thank You is Boundless and Endless

Interestingly, when today’s employees are asked what they value the most, ongoing recognition far outpaces extrinsic motivators like incentives and bonuses and reward programs. What they’re really craving is acknowledgement and feedback and recognition.

• 20% most value a 5% bonus
• 32% value above & beyond recognition
• 49% say ongoing recognition is valued most

How do you create a recognition-rich culture? It all starts with leadership buy-in that “culture eats strategy for lunch.” Tom Short, President and Co-Founder of Kudos offers this summary of the types of employee recognition initiatives and tools that leading businesses are using to feed into and boost engagement.

Nine Great Ways to Appreciate and Celebrate Your People

1. Recognition is a renewable resource. Use it to acknowledge behaviors that drive success not just results.
2. Be timely with your recognition, focus on the individual, be specific with your praise, associate how the behavior will lead to desired results or goals, and if possible align it to your core values.
3. Amplify a culture of recognition by bringing in a peer-to-peer system where everybody can recognize anyone. Peer-to-peer recognition allows everyone to become keepers of your culture and provides insights you might not be getting through surveys – insights not possible when only a few are allowed to recognize the many.
4. More recognition is better than less. A simple thank you for being a good friend, for helping in small ways that lead to cultural improvements, for major accomplishments, should be free-flowing, authentic and meaningful. Kudo’s data indicates three to five acknowledgements per person per month is the hallmark of a healthy program, but even one sincere accolade every month carries a lot of weight.
5. Give recognition everywhere: in person, one-to-one, at events and online.
6. When you give accolades in a one-on-one, at a meeting or event, follow it up with something online so it’s recorded for posterity and reaches everybody in the organization. That’s where a systemized approach comes into play.
7. Make recognition an intrinsic part of your culture. Add it to the things your organization does on a daily basis, build it into your processes and systems.
8. Elevate employee recognition to a business metric you track at the executive or board level.
9. Change and uplift your culture one thank-you at a time.

The post Promote, Praise, and Influence Engagement in the Workplace appeared first on TalentMap.

Physical workspace design can influence employee engagement and benefit the overall employee experience — when done right.

Environmental design psychologists and neuroscientific studies espouse all sorts of different approaches to enhance moods and lift productivity. One thing they all seem to support is the notion that the natural inclinations of our archaic human ancestors shape many of our preferences today.

In an excerpt from his book, The Best Place to Work: The Art and Science of Creating an Extraordinary Workplace, Ron Friedman writes how “we’re drawn to environments that promoted our survival and feel uneasy in situations that would have put our forefathers at risk.”  So what are these largely unconscious preferences?

SAFE, PROTECTED SPACES

We’re instinctively most comfortable in protected spaces with a view. It gives a sense of security, akin to what a bird might feel in its nest.  Imagine sitting in a Greek island cave overlooking the teal waters of the Mediterranean, or a beautifully appointed room sixty-stories above a buzzing metropolis. Could that be why the bulk of C-suites are on the highest floors of our organizations?

PROTECTING OUR BACKS

The desire for safe locations also explains why sitting with our back to others is uncomfortable at best. Being snuck up on is a potential threat. As environmental psychologist Sally Augustin points out, this is one reason that restaurant booths fill up more quickly than free-standing tables. Maybe it’s time to reassess all those cubicle farms where employees face in to their walls.

SUNLIGHT

Employees who sit near a window are better at staying on task, show greater interest in their work, and report more loyalty to their company. A 2003 study found that when call center employees—who often rotate seats—are placed near a window, they generate an additional $3,000 of productivity per year. And a 2013 study found that employees who have workspaces with windows sleep an average of 46 minutes more per night than those laboring in windowless rooms. Sunlight’s regulation of our circadian rhythms and its role balancing serotonin and melatonin levels helps give a good night’s rest and a proper recharge for the following day’s activities—just as it did for Neanderthals 400,000 years ago.

ATTRACTION TO CURVES

Seemingly sitting in a circle encourages a collective mindset, whereas sitting in a straight line triggers feelings of individuality says psychologist turned writer, Dr. Christian Jarrett.  He suggests “choosing a layout and furniture that is curved and rounded rather than sharp and straight-edged. Creating this environment has been linked with positive emotions, which are known to be beneficial for creativity and productivity.” Does this harken back eons to sitting around a warm fire under the blanket of night?

COLOR

We’ve all heard how different colors influence our moods. Exposure to blue and green has been shown, says Dr. Jarrett, “to enhance performance on tasks that require generating new ideas. However, the color red has been linked with superior performance on tasks involving attention to detail.” Use the power of color wisely to power up employees.

LIGHTING

The ambience created by lighting is another key consideration for physical workplace design. Dr. Jarrett suggests brighter lights “are more conducive to analytical and evaluative thinking, while a dimmer environment stimulates creativity and ideas, probably because it encourages a feeling of freedom.” Lighting that can be adjusted makes good sense. So does the okay for employees to bring their own light fixtures to their workspaces to create a preferred ambience with a personal touch.

NATURE & GREENERY

Have you noticed the popularity of fish aquariums at dental offices? Or flipped past the fireplace channel on TV? Nature has a calming effect on our species. A 2011 study found that randomly assigning participants to rooms with indoor plants led to significantly better performance on tasks requiring sustained attention and concentration. So bring the outdoors inside with live plants and fresh-cut flowers. Or build that new facility in a treed, green setting.

CLUTTER COMFORT

Clutter doesn’t necessarily reflect a chaotic state of mind. Kathleen Vohs and her colleagues at the University of Minnesota found that participants seated at a paper-laden desk in a messy room came up with more imaginative uses for a ping pong ball than participants tested in a tidy space. Some will say that an uncluttered desk is a sign of organization. Whatever works best for the employee is best for the organization. Set judgmental thinking aside.

PERSONAL TOUCH

A UK workplace consultancy conducted a small 47-person sample size survey in 2010 to find out what personal control over workspace means to employees. Those workers given the opportunity to arrange a small office with as many or few plants and pictures as they wanted were up to 32 percent more productive than others not given this control. They also identified as being more engaged with their employer. Empower employees and give them the freedom to personalize the space where so much of their life is spent.

Conspicuous by its Absence

One physical workspace design element missing from the mix is the trending notion of open concepts—alongside unassigned workspaces and the collaboration effect. In fact to quote an excerpt from an article in Harvard Business Review written by Sally Augustin, a practicing design/environmental psychologist: “Most workers need to be able to concentrate on the tasks at hand, and that’s difficult in a field of cubicles or in a sea of faces when the cubicles are removed and all employees are asked to sit at long tables. And those open spaces aren’t spurring useful communication. Research consistently shows that constructive, work related collaboration doesn’t increase when work environments are made more open.”

While that open concept, no designated desk or seating scenario might appear great in principle, the productivity of, say, developers in high tech environments for instance—who need and prefer their own workplaces to store prototypes, test devices, and concentrate in quiet peace—would suffer. Big time. Indeed, that’s exactly what happened to a tech start-up keen on keeping ahead of the employee engagement curve, but not wise enough to slow down and consult its workforce first. Suffice it to say the initiative backfired.

An employee survey could have circumvented this situation and others like it. If you really want to know what physical workspace design elements your employees respond to best, get an outside employee survey specialist like TalentMap to ask.

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Accelerating at breakneck speeds these days, change is a constant that’s demanding faster and more frequent tactical shifts.  Like the Pied Piper of Hamelin who lured children to follow the spellbinding notes of his magical flute, HR professionals lead the charges. They make transformative magic happen by facilitating the human side of organizational change.

Fear and resistance are an instinctual human response to the unknown. Change, by its very nature, is threatening. In the workplace new technologies; internal system upgrades; mergers, acquisitions and integration; process adjustments; and restructuring can discombobulate employees and productivity.

Wisdom and experience teach that employee engagement helps ease the transition. “When employees are fully engaged and ‘aware’ of what part they play in the overall strategy,’ says business psychologist, April Scott Read, “rolling out a change initiative tends to be smoother because they understand how this change and their role tie into the bigger picture.”

Change management agents facilitate acceptance of and commitment to organizational improvements by:

• Crafting and communicating messages about what’s taking place, why change is happening and what it will look like for employees and the organization
• Making sure the CEO and senior leadership team are fully invested champions of change
• Working to cascade details so employees understand their role and are fully on board
• Creating accountability by monitoring results
  • Conducting change management action planning workshops for leaders and employees across all parts of the organization to provide input
  • Dispelling any illusions about the impact and success of change using pulse surveys
  • Reporting findings to convey the valued importance of employee feedback

As Charles Darwin the modern day pied piper of evolutionary studies once observed, “It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.”

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Understanding the association between individual personality traits and employee engagement is the premise of an academic paper authored by Ilke Inceoglu and Peter Warr.

Of course descriptions of workplace personalities come in all kinds of different packaging (red or blue? owl or eagle? amiable or assertive?). When you tear away the wrapping what’s left is a core of basic traits. Sixteen personality traits make up the Myers-Briggs test. Initially conceived during WWII to help women who were newcomers to the workforce, and had no idea what kind of job might suit, Myers-Briggs became a popular model for businesses.

But with changing times come changing approaches. Every couple of years, new iterations of personality tests surface. Organizations buy into the latest psychometric, behavioral, and neuroscience trends. Employees fill out forms, attend learning sessions, find out where they fit and how to deal with other workplace personalities. Return to their jobs. And a few days or weeks later it’s all forgotten. For their study, Inceoglu and Warr used the “Big Five” personality traits, a peer-reviewed and approved resource that’s widely supported in scientific and academic circles.

Here’s a brief synopsis of the Big Five, their sub-factors and the occasional tip about how and where these characteristics best fit in the workplace. Keep in mind personality traits are correlated, they’re not independent of each other.

Agreeableness: concerned with cooperation and social harmony, getting along with others; high scorers are considerate, friendly, generous, helpful, and willing to compromise however, agreeableness is not useful in situations that need tough or objective decisions. Disagreeable individuals place self-interest above getting along with others; can make excellent scientists, critics or soldiers. Sub-factors include:

• Trust – Assumes that most people are fair, honest, and have good intentions.
• Morality – Low scorers believe a certain amount of deception in social relationships is necessary, are guarded, less willing to openly reveal the whole truth. People find it easier to relate to straightforward high scorers who are candid, frank and sincere.
• Altruism – Doing things for others is a form of self-fulfillment rather than self-sacrifice.
• Cooperation – Dislike confrontations, willing to compromise. Low scorers are more likely to intimidate others to get their way.
• Modesty – Don’t like to claim they’re better than others which may come from low self-confidence or self-esteem. Those willing to describe themselves as superior tend to be seen as disagreeably arrogant.
• Sympathy – Tenderhearted and compassionate. Alternatively, low scorers pride themselves on making objective judgments, are concerned with truth and impartial justice.

Conscientiousness:  the way we control impulses. High scorers avoid trouble and achieve high levels of success through purposeful planning and persistence can be compulsive perfectionists and workaholics, often viewed as stuffy or boring. Conversely, impulsive individuals can be colorful and fun. Occasionally time constraints need snap decisions – acting on the first impulse can be effective – however, impulsive employees ignore options, may socialize excessively and are easily distracted; accomplishments are scattered and inconsistent. Sub-factors include:

• Self-Efficacy – High scorers believe they have the intelligence (common sense), drive, and self-control necessary for achieving success. Low scorers do not feel effective.
• Orderliness – Organized, like routines and schedules, keep lists and make plans. Low scorers tend to be disorganized and scattered.
• Dutifulness – Strong sense of moral obligation. Low scorers find contracts, rules, and regulations confining and are often seen as unreliable.
• Achievement-Striving – Driven to be successful, strong sense of direction (may be single-minded and obsessed with work). Low scorers are content to get by with a minimal amount of work, seen as lazy.
• Self-Discipline – Persist with difficult or unpleasant tasks until completed. Those with low self-discipline procrastinate and show poor follow-through.
• Cautiousness – Think things through, take time when making decisions. Low scorers often say or do the first thing that comes to mind without deliberating alternatives.

Extraversion: enjoy being with people, full of energy, often experience positive emotions. Conversely introverts tend to be quiet, low-key, deliberate, and disengaged; independence and reserve is sometimes mistaken as unfriendliness or arrogance. Sub-factors include:

• Friendliness – Genuinely like other people, make friends quickly and form close, intimate relationships easily. Low scorers don’t reach out to others and are perceived as distant and reserved.
• Gregariousness – Find the company of others pleasantly stimulating and rewarding, enjoy the excitement of crowds. Need for privacy and alone time is much greater for low scorers.
• Assertiveness – Like to speak out, take charge, and direct the activities of others, tend to be leaders. Low scorers are quiet and let others control group activities.
• Activity Level – Lead fast-paced, busy lives; move about quickly, energetically, and vigorously. People who score low on this scale follow a slower, more leisurely, relaxed pace.
• Excitement Seeking – Easily bored, love hustle and bustle, likely to take risks and seek thrills. Noise and commotion overwhelm low scorers.
• Cheerfulness – Typically experience a range of positive feelings, including happiness, enthusiasm, optimism, and joy. Low scorers are not as prone to high energetic spirits.

Neuroticism: Emotionally reactive, anxious, unable to cope with stress, often in bad moods, diminished decision-making skills. Conversely low scorers tend to be calm, emotionally stable, more composed and less reactive. Sub-factors include:

• Anxiety –  Often feel tense, jittery, and nervous. Employees low in anxiety are generally calm.
• Anger – Sensitive about being treated fairly. This scale measures the tendency to feel angry; whether the employee expresses annoyance and hostility depends on the individual’s level on Agreeableness.
• Depression – High scorers lack energy, feel sad, dejected, discouraged, have difficult initiating activities.
• Self-Consciousness – Easily embarrassed, fear others will criticize or make fun of them; their awkwardness may make these fears a self-fulfilling prophecy. Low scorers, in contrast, do not feel nervous in social situations.
• Immoderation – Difficulty resisting strong cravings and urges, oriented toward short-term pleasures rather than long- term consequences.
• Vulnerability – Experience panic, confusion, and helplessness when under pressure. Low scorers feel more poised, confident, and clear-thinking when stressed.

Open to Experience: enjoy variety and change; are curious, imaginative and creative, intellectually curious, appreciative of art, sensitive to beauty, individualistic and nonconforming. A facility for thinking in symbols and abstractions may take the form of mathematical, logical, or geometric thinking, artistic and metaphorical use of language, music composition or performance, or one of the many visual or performing arts. Low scorers prefer the plain, straightforward, and obvious over the complex, ambiguous, and subtle; are conservative and resistant to change. Research has shown that closed thinking is related to superior job performance in police work, sales, and many service occupations. Sub-factors include:

• Imagination – Low scorers are more oriented to facts than fantasy.
• Artistic Interests – Low scorers lack aesthetic sensitivity or interest in the arts.
• Emotionality – Awareness of feelings. Low scorers are less aware of feelings and tend not to express emotions openly.
• Adventurousness – Eager to try new activities, travel to foreign lands, and experience different things; find familiarity and routine boring. Low scorers are uncomfortable with change.
• Intellect – Open-minded to new and unusual ideas, like to debate intellectual issues, enjoy problem solving. Low scorers prefer dealing with people or things rather than ideas.
• Liberalism – A readiness to challenge authority, convention, and traditional values. Conservatives prefer the security and stability brought by conformity to tradition.

Understanding workplace personalities – what motivates people, what makes them successful, what kind of work feeds into their personality strengths – helps managers make tremendous employee engagement inroads.

If you’re wondering what Inceoglu and Warr’s research found: Highly engaged employees tended to be emotionally stable, socially proactive, and achievement oriented. Emotional Stability and Conscientiousness independently accounted for most of the variance in job engagement.

“In addition to possible enhancement of engagement from improved job design,” the scholars write, “typical engagement levels can be increased through personnel selection procedures that focus on the identification of emotional stability and activated forms of extraversion and conscientiousness. In addition, information about those traits can be valuable in the development of job engagement through person-focused task assignments and the setting of targets that build on specific individuals’ own strengths and energies.”

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