Employee Engagement Starts at the Top

The session on engaging employees (appropriately titled: “A Shot of Vitamin E–Engagement) will be conducted by Deborah R. Phillips, Ph.D., CPM, and she knows whereof she speaks. Phillips, a long-time IREM instructor and president of The Quadrillion, an international consulting firm, completed her Ph.D. at Georgia Tech with a focus on this very subject, and has since taught more than 10,000 students in her courses at the University of Georgia, Georgia Tech, and other institutions. So, yes, there is a method to employee engagement, she says, but “It’s not rocket science. You know when an employee is engaged, putting forth extra, discretionary effort, with loyalty and a long-term commitment to the organization.” This as opposed to someone who’s just phoning it in, or simply “enrolled,” as she describes it.