http://www.landesassociates.com/get...oyee-engagement-business-fable-by-les-landes/
So what changed in Con-Way over the years? How have we morphed into a Theory X culture? Training Within Industry, the roots of Lean directly aligns the supervisors with the work force, reinforcing the concept of a participative culture. Les Landes writes this "business fable" identifying exactly what is being discussed on this site. I'm not a book of the month kinda guy... heck in school I would read the first and last ten pages of the required reading and then submit my book report. Worked out to a passing grade for me. Anyway, this book is not written as a text book and is available as an e-book. It held my interest through most chapters as I found many connections to our company's culture and lack of employee engagement.
The Lean Department has had "required reading" for managers and Lean members during our Lean Journey. Why do we not require these teams and the VVT department to research employee engagement in the way they have furthered their knowledge of the Lean Principles? The homepage on the portal for VVT talks to discretionary effort of the employee that supports the company. But over the past year the goals of engagement for service centers has become completing two or three community service events. Nothing against community service but these events should be spontaneous on the part of the employees not a requirement of the scorecard.
The authors McGregor and Landes present facts backing your opinions for discussions with management regarding where we should chart the destination of every ship in our fleet.
One year from now we all know things will change regarding the structure of our pay and benefits as we further align with XPO. If we spend the next twelve months with a "business as usual" approach to employee relations, change will be met with huge challenges (similar to Laredo and Los Angeles). As I stated when I started this soapbox series... I want to work for a great company ONCE AGAIN.