Pain and tears

I want to tell you a tale of pain and tears. Last weekend I walked 100km in a little over 24 hours. That’s 62.137 miles, or over 2 marathons. The distance from London to Brighton. Or the distance to the edge of space. And there was about 2,500 metres of ascent too. That’s a Ben Nevis plus a Scafell Pike plus a bit more. 

I took part in Oxfam’s Trailwalker across the South Downs. They always use this event to support their efforts in Nepal, and as such it is always supported by the Gurkhas. This year had a special relevance - supporting the continuing efforts to help those in Nepal still struggling to recover from the earthquake.

I took it all a bit lightly to start with. It’s just walking, right? Sure, I had one bad training walk, but that just made me up my game, and make sure I was more limber and fuelled (and took a lot of painkillers with me). Training also left me with a niggly ankle which refused to get better ahead of the event. But hey, it’s still just walking, right?

We walked as a four man team - Sam & Dave & Sam & Dave – and I think it’s this element that’s most important. It’s not just the camaraderie, badinage and the extended opportunity for running gags. At one stage or another each of us had dark moments. Brought on by blisters, stomach cramps, knee-knack or just exhaustion and sleep deprivation. 2,500m ascent is one thing. It’s the 2,500m of descent that gets you. And there’s a long time to think about your niggly ankle.

Then it falls to the team to lift the mood, put things in perspective or just distract to get you through. Afterwards we all admitted that at 2am - when we left our support crew for the last time, and headed out for the single longest stage - we all thought “we’ve still got a quarter of this to do…”. Outwardly, we never let the doubts show.

It’s this element of a team working together in a common cause that is really inspiring. It’s physically the toughest thing I’ve done, and I’m proud of all our efforts.

Monteath Consulting has been a generous sponsor of money and time. If you’re able to support our efforts, the sponsorship page is still open. Any amount would be appreciated: https://www.justgiving.com/samsanddaves/

Oh, and the tears? At the end lots of people congratulated and thanked us, and every time they did I burst into tears. I wasn’t embarrassed; I’d earned it.

Your Own Definition of Engagement

You know how it is. You’re trying to emphasise your point; you’re trying to add a bit more oomph than the section justifies. Maybe you’re trying to gloss over a little gap in your understanding. So out comes a throwaway phrase. It sounds good, you sound dead clever, but what does it really mean? I’m sure a lot of people reading this will have tossed out a phrase, seen it seized upon by an inquisitive client … and wish they’d never set fingers to keyboard.

Happily, no-one picked me up on a throwaway comment in a recent blog: “…I believe you can build a really good picture of engagement in your company. You can create your own definition …” If you’d asked me at the time, I don’t think I’d’ve known what I meant. But I intrigued myself and kept thinking about it.

Let’s start with an axiom. That real employee engagement kicks in when your personal Satisfaction overlaps with the Contribution your employer wants you to make. 

So, every different kind of organisation will expect a different kind of contribution from its people. How that is expressed will depend on the culture. And I’ve successfully argued before (the rule of blogs dictates if that no-one comments you have won the argument) that there’s a huge variety of corporate cultures. On top of that, how well leaders define that contribution, and how well it cascades down to day-to-day action will be different in each organisation too.

So, isn’t it natural that each company should build their own definition of engagement? One that’s based on all the individual aspects that will help define it?

It’s certainly a challenge I’d relish getting involved in: getting under the skin of what are that organisation’s unique identifiers that show when people are taking the greatest satisfaction from making the greatest contribution. Perhaps that’s where engagement, culture, employer brand all overlap. Which is sort of the point of this blog. And me.

I know what you’re thinking, though. Surely then we need to go down to the individual level? Only each person knows what satisfies them. So isn’t it different for everyone? Maybe, and maybe that’s possible too. I think that’s what I’m going to ponder next…