What does a typical day at work for you look like?
DB: My staff and I read a ton of articles that may impact people
and the day-to-day management of businesses. We work with
data assessment and analytics from a client focus with the webbased
tools and platforms used for data collection that help us
understand the issues and challenges they face. We then work to
interpret that information and provide feedback through reports
and recommendations. As well, our company and clients often
participate in research projects with our strategic partners that
aim to help people understand the trends in people management
and human capital challenges.
What do you love about your job?
DB: Everyone should be entitled to work in a career they enjoy,
that they can take pride in and that has meaning for them. It can’t
just be about a paycheque or working for the weekend, so to speak.
If I can bring some enjoyment, pride and meaning to employees
in the workplace, it’s very gratifying and rewarding. I really enjoy
hearing stories from clients where they’ve seen positive results
from tools we provide and that they’ve had a positive experience in
improving their businesses through use of our strategies – that really
makes it worthwhile to do the work that we do.
What are some of the challenges you
experience on a day-to-day basis?
DB: To help clients and prospects understand what engagement
means and how it impacts performance and their business. I think
many organizations still struggle with getting a bigger impact from
their work on engagement; studies show that there is clearly significant
room for improvement in engagement levels but also that it
fluctuates and is dynamic and ongoing. It impacts businesses in
many different ways and at many different levels. I think that while
engagement surveys provide important information, they don’t tap
into the individual levels and, after all, it is individuals who make a
private decision to engage and perform really well or not. I believe
many organizations don’t put enough attention to supporting engagement
at the individual level.
Another is helping clients understand that emotions, both positive
and negative, are at the core of engagement. Both have a significant
influence on things like motivation, determination and performance.
What skills do you possess that make you
a great fit for your position?
DB: I do extensive research in our field, which involves dialogue
with motivational experts, reviewing the findings of human capital
firms’ studies and conducting employee interviews to better understand
needs. That, plus the commitment to make a difference
in supporting business organizations to increase and sustain engagement
is what makes my company successful. I consider myself
people oriented; I enjoy learning about client challenges and figuring
out which solutions can make a difference for them.
What are your ultimate career goals?
DB: As we continue to grow, I want our company to play a key
role in helping other companies understand engagement, but
there’s a lot of work to be done in this field. A big part of that is in
research and we’re really involved in two exciting projects that are
currently underway.
One is with Wayne Clancy at Mindsuite Metrics, called
Humanizing Performance. This is a global research study, which
is all about looking at how people treat one another in the workplace
and how that impacts performance. This is not research in
the traditional sense but will engage participants in dialogue so
they are providing suggestions on solving the problems they have
identified.
The other project is with Jacob Schneid at The Momentum
Group and focuses on the roles that managers play in engagement.
Partnering with a local community college, we’re working with
managers from the private and public sectors to improve leadership
skills using an employee-manager engagement tool that we
provide as an opportunity to learn through practical experience.
Being involved in projects like these and utilizing the excellent
tools we offer, I think we’re on the right path for continuous
growth in helping businesses achieve more in their pursuit of improving
engagement. n
BeautyLine/Shutterstock.com
career paths
“EVERYONE SHOULD BE
ENTITLED TO WORK IN
A CAREER THEY ENJOY,
THAT THEY CAN TAKE
PRIDE IN AND THAT HAS
MEANING FOR THEM.”
– DOUG BROWN
48 ❚ OCTOBER 2016 ❚ HR PROFESSIONAL