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EATURE Eng��rri��t BY CASEY CASELLA AND LAURA KUSHNER mployee engagement is a term that is used to describe whether an organization's employees are involved in, enthusiastic about, and committed to their work. It's import ant -because research shows employee engagement is linked to all kinds of good things: productivity, retention, cre- ativity, and customer communication, to mention just a few. As a concept, its both easier and harder than it sounds. It's easy because it really boils down to this: Are your employees coming to -rk every day ready and eager to do their best work for your city, ounds simple, right? But it can't be if most organizations are getting it wrong—and they are. Gallup, the national research and performance -management consulting company, has docu- mented that only about 32 percent of employees in the U.S. are engaged. So, chances are good this is an issue your city should be thinking abouts 'rime for a culture change In a 2016 online article, Gallup states that employee engagement numbers really haven't changed much in years and measuring it isn t enough to change it. The article describes several strategies to improve employee engagement, and most of them center around organizational culture change. For example, a city that wants engaged employees will have an organizational culture that gives employ- ees the tools they need to do their jobs, promotes positive co-worker relationships, and allows each employee to do what they do best. Unfortunately, most cities have limited budgets and limited staff, which means limited flexibility in the approach to staffing, equipment, and employee social time. So, where can your city have an impact on employee engagement even if you don't have the resources of a Fortune 500 company? How can you ke employee engagement part of your workplace .acre without adding a lot of cost and effort? Let's look at a continuum of no- and low-cost to moderate -cost options for your city to consider. On the no- and low-cost front, consider what two Minnesota cities that are members of the Alliance for Innovation have accomplished. The Alliance for Innovation is an association that partners with ICMA and Arizona State University to encourage innovation and change the way local government performs. The Alliance has inspired both cities to examine how they conduct business and develop ways to improve employee engagement Mankato initiatives The City of Mankato formed a group called "Pulse." The pulse group mission is to enhance the relationship between the organiza- tion and its employees the employee engagement and building cross -departmental teams to address organizational problems. To date the Pulse group has been responsible for coordi- nating quarterly employee events, including a rotating sum- mer recognition event hosted by a different department each year. Last year's event included a mini -golf theme, where each department was challenged with creating its own hole, and employees were asked to volunteer and state why they loved working for the City of Mankato. City leaders were pleased to see that it wasn't hard to get volunteers—many employees were happy to do itl The Pulse also recently formed a cross -functional team to improve the application process for organizers that want to host activities, such as a 5K run/walk, in the city. Future teams will develop a volunteer recognition event and evaluate how to improve customer service requests. The Mankato approach has the dual advantage of not only providing engagement ideas and events, but using the employee group itself to design those events, which increases awareness, buy -in, and attendance. In addition to Pulse, Mankato also has a program called "Infuse" for new city employees. The program provides detailed training about the entire organization, so new 7J POSITIVE INTERACTION employees understand the role of each city depart- ment and how staff work together to provide excel- lent customer service. For example, the Infuse employees recently went to the Mankato Regional Airport for a learning session. As part of their visit, they toured the airport and learned about the partnership with Minnesota State University Mankato's flight training program. Richfield programs Another great example comes from the City of Rich- field. The city has adopted a program called "Hub and Spokes; which is the descriptor for their innovation Mard ato's Infuse partldpants—a group of new I 10 1 MAY/JUN 2017 ( MINNESOTACME5 Regional AlWo &vatourand leamfigsession. 47 15