What It Means When We Say “Emergineering”

Emergineering is perhaps a term that you are not yet familiar with. It is a word we coined in 2009 to describe the process of taking goals – such as building trust, preparing for the future, spurring innovation and energizing workplace culture – and making sure every aspect of each goal reflects Emergenetics concepts.

When it is fully embraced, Emergineering can lead to a corporate culture that values and supports the most important asset of any organization: its people.

In my new book, Work That Works: Emergineering a Positive Organizational Culture, I was asked to describe how leaders can become “Emergineers” and transform not only their organizations but also themselves.

I will address the how in a minute. First, I want to share the why.

As I wrote in the book, the statistics around employee engagement are concerning. According to a study done by Gallup, less than a third of American workers are actively engaged in their jobs and approximately 50 percent only tolerate their jobs. A study by Edelman even found that 82 percent of workers do not trust their boss to tell the truth.

Study after study shows us the danger and cost of unhappy employees as well as the benefits of engaged organizations, so it is critical to get your people motivated. Otherwise, your company may not be able to attract and retain the employees who will help you succeed in the future.

Using the Emergenetics lens and applying it to all aspects of the company, Emergineering helps organizations build the positive, engaging work environments where employees feel valued, respected and cared for. These happy employees in turn drive greater productivity and profits. There was a recent report that companies that “increase their number of talented managers and double their rate of engaged employees achieve on average 147 percent higher earnings per share” than competitors.

We can certainly understand why we want engaged employees and positive workplace cultures, and now we can focus our attention on how to manifest these results. This is where Emergenetics makes such a difference.

With the Emergenetics Profile and Meeting of the Minds, Emergenetics uncovers the brilliance of each of your employees and helps them embrace and leverage each other’s cognitive diversity. Feeling valued and celebrated, employees are more engaged within the workplace and better equipped to work together to drive results. This is an excellent first step to building a strong workplace culture.

To Emergineer, we go a step further. Looking beyond the Emergenetics Profile, Emergineers expand their vision to see how these tools can support the entire organization and workplace culture. They set targets to achieve and devise a plan so that Emergenetics has a place in all workplace discussions. They build a community that appreciates and values one another, where employees can share their knowledge, feel motivated and embrace its path forward.

While it is not easy to change a culture, the results of building one that truly engages and embraces each employee makes the effort well worth it.

I’ve broken the concept of Emergineering into seven principles that leaders and companies must take to heart in order to successfully apply Emergenetics to every level and transform their companies. These principles are:

• Leadership Is an Inside Job – Know yourself
• Embrace the Scratchy – Uncomfortable is the new norm
• Using the Language of Grace – Words are powerful
• Creating a Meeting of the Minds – Cognitive collaboration
• Using the Power of WE – Techniques to unleash your team’s potential
• Let Your People Live to Work, Not Work to Live – A job is more than the time between vacations
• Love – Care for your people and the profits will come

Over the next few months, I will be writing a blog post on each one of the principles and how to apply them to help you on your journey to become an Emergineer.

If you can’t wait for our series (for which I couldn’t blame you!), I encourage you to buy the book today and begin implementing its lessons.

Purchase your copy of Work that Works today, and keep an eye out for my blog on Principle #1 “Leadership Is an Inside Job” soon!

I look forward to sharing with you how to transform your organization and create an exceedingly positive work environment.

 

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