The Brutal Truth about Employee Engagement with Geoffrey Wade

Business Habitat with Sam Dean

In Episode 107 of The Business Habitat podcast, Sam is joined by business performance specialist Geoffrey Wade for a thought-provoking conversation around the importance of embracing emotions and the merits of employee engagement. From a background in engineering, robotics and computer science, Geoffrey became fascinated by people and in particular how they interacted in the workforce. Likening businesses to cybernetics, Geoffrey refers to the principles of complex systems, with multiple people and stakeholders, often with conflicting goals and drivers. In discussing the human factor, Sam and Geoffrey turn their attention to emotions and the growing understanding that employees cannot be expected to compartmentalise and leave their personal life at home when they come to work. Therefore they note it is necessary for both employees and employers to understand how to deal with emotions and all that they entail, and Geoffrey provides a real life example to clarify the point. The conversation turns to imposter syndrome with Sam and Geoffrey exploring what this means in a practical sense, and whether or not it can be outgrown. Sharing their own experiences, Sam and Geoffrey note that rather than being an uncommon feeling, the perception of feeling inadequate for a particular role is likely experienced by the majority of people as part of the human condition. With Geoffrey's professional focus on business performance and psychological safety, Sam and Geoffrey spend time discussing the merits and pitfalls on employee engagement metrics. Geoffrey quotes significant academic research which sheds light on the role that staff surveys play in the workplace and Sam and Geoffrey explore the drivers which have the most impact on employee satisfaction. Regardless of where you sit in the corporate arena, whether it's as a business owner, employee or senior executive, or are simply a keen observer of human interaction, this episode will provide compelling insight into team dynamics and the evolving nature of the world of work. Here at BlueprintHQ, we are here to help. We are super passionate about the professional services industry and supporting you with what you need. We are offering a 30 minute consultation call to help you with this process. Go to https://www.blueprinthq.com.au/consultation For episode shownotes: https://www.blueprinthq.com.au/podcast/episode-107-geoffrey-wade