Engagement, from the employee perspective, means feeling valued and respected. Engaged employees know that management wants their input and values their role in the organization.

• Higher profitability
• Less absenteeism
• Less waste
• Less turnover
• Less susceptibility to unionization
• Greater efficiency
• Higher morale

IRI helps organizations maximize their performance by incorporating Employee Engagement into their overall business strategy. We enable businesses to integrate engagement across the entire organization, not just in problem areas. Even organizations using such efficiency systems as Six Sigma and LEAN have found that improving Employee Engagement strongly impacts business results.

Our first step is a thorough assessment of the client’s current engagement practices. We consider:

• In which parts of the organization are employees engaged?
• Where are they disconnected?
• What are the issues that are interfering with engagement?
• What are areas that have engaged employees doing that disconnected areas are not?
• Has disengagement become stronger recently or has it always been prevalent?

With answers to these and many other questions, IRI teams with clients to develop an enterprise-wide engagement strategy that meshes with operational, financial, customer relations and marketing initiatives. Although we offer an assortment of tools to firmly embed engagement in an organization’s culture, we have found three to be of particular value to many clients:

1. Employee Advisory Groups
2. Shared Governance
3. Fastrack Teams^sm

Employee Advisory Groups

One of the most effective tools to promote engagement and manage critical issues, Employee Advisory Groups (EAGs) provide managers with focused, nonbinding employee input on workplace issues. EAGs serve many roles, including as safety valves that highlight areas of conflict and dissatisfaction to help management identify and address problems in the workplace. Additionally, EAGs:

• Improve two-way communication about issues that may affect staff, operations and productivity
• Allow managers to recognize and resolve employee concerns
• Increase employee involvement and commitment to organizational goals
• Provide employee input into customer service, operations and human resource policies
• Boost overall employee satisfaction and organization performance

IRI has worked with hundreds of clients to establish effective, high-functioning EAGs. This process, designed to ensure compliance with legal and regulatory guidelines, begins by establishing the EAG’s mission, purpose and scope of responsibility and, importantly, those issues “off limits” – particularly issues involving wages and benefits.

IRI then collaborates with the client to design and conduct EAG training – or train client trainers – to develop membership criteria and outline the process by which organizations select and recruit EAG members.

One goal is to establish a sustainable EAG program by helping to design the meeting structure, facilitator responsibilities, communications guidelines and tools to monitor the group’s progress and measure its success.

Finally, we assist the organization in designing and implementing the internal communications that will help build support for the EAG, engage employees, and demonstrate the organization’s commitment to increasing employees voices in the workplace.

Shared Governance

Shared Governance is a highly effective tool used in the healthcare industry to promote quality patient care, increase nurse satisfaction and improve retention by providing a forum for improved decision making at the point of service.

IRI has extensive experience helping clients develop Shared Governance programs that promote collaboration among doctors, nurses and the entire patient care team. This teamwork not only encourages professional growth and leadership qualities in nursing, it also taps their collective insight and experience to improve patient care and outcomes.

Hospitals with effective Shared Governance programs experience measurable gains, including:

• Improved patient outcomes
• Reduced nurse turnover rates
• Open communication and collaboration within the patient care team

IRI helps clients establish the guidelines and procedures critical to an effective Shared Governance program, develop goals and benchmarks, select participants and train team members. In addition, we provide coaching and mentoring for managers, supervisors and directors to help ensure the success of the new shared governance practices.

Fastrack Teams^sm

In most organizations, change comes only with difficulty. Most intervention programs and organizational development tools take time to implement. Yet most critical performance issues or operational changes require immediate attention.

IRI’s Fastrack Teams^sm offer a rapid resolution process that provides measurement-driven results in a compressed time frame and within a clearly delineated budget. Fastrack Teams^sm provide a powerful change process that works by assessing a specific, urgent issue and implementing timely corrective action.

Through Fastrack Teams^sm clients can:

• Identify a problem, its parameters and expectations for change
• Identify key resources
• Develop an action plan and communication process

Fastrack Teams^sm provide clients with rapid results (often in less than a week) that allow leaders to involve and engage employees in priority initiatives, helping to ensure their success through employee buy-in and support.

For more information about Employee Engagement, contact IRI Consultants at info@iriconsultants.com or by calling (313) 965-0350.

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