The last time I watched the Blackhawks, I followed players like Bobby Hull, Stan Mikita, Tony Esposito, and Denis Savard. But I started watching them again this year, during the play-offs. It’s not that I’m not fan. It’s just that there are many things in competition for my time, for my attention. I think I’m like many other “fans” in that I didn’t follow every game, hadn’t heard of most of the players on the roster, and until they did something to capture big news, I spent my evenings doing something other than watching big guys on skates slam into each other.
Apparently, I’m not alone. The city of Chicago anticipated that the celebratory parade would draw in about 350,000 fans. The crowd that gathered exceeded that number. Where did all of these new “fans” from? These newly converted fans followed the play-offs, watched the winning goal, and wanted to become part of history. And as a result, over 2,000,000 die-hards and johnny-come-latelys braved a sweltering heat index to be part of something exciting.
When the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup, the crowd was a sea of red. Everyone became a fan. The excitement of the longtime, loyal fans converted those who just started following the game.
The same phenomenon happens at work. Some employees are highly engaged. They take a lot of their own time to better understand the business, the “big picture”, and how they can get more involved in creating successes for the organization. These people don’t show up and give 110% to please their bosses. They do it because of they feel like they are part of something big.
Other employees sit back, distracted by doing the tasks at hand. They have the same access available to them to jump in and get excited, but work is just one more thing in competition for their attention. And they likely don’t see much to get excited about because they keep their heads down instead of getting involved.
Great managers know how to use the excitement of their highly engaged employees to get the attention of those who haven’t yet bought in. And great managers know how to create excitement year-round as a way of inviting everyone on the team to get engaged and get involved. Excitement breeds excitement.
What do you need your employees to get excited about this week? How can you use your engaged employees to rally the enthusiasm of the others? And how can you reward your engaged employees for their loyalty?