CUES 129: Key Do’s and Don’ts of Employee Engagement—an Interview With Matthew Bidwell, Ph.D.

During this episode of the CUES Podcast, Matthew Bidwell, Ph.D., talks about the employee engagement at NASA leading up to the lunar landing. 

If you asked an employee who was sweeping the floor what they were doing, they would have said, “I’m putting a man on the moon,” notes Bidwell, associate professor of management at The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, and a speaker at TalentNEXT in May in Austin, Texas. 

Sharing the vision and how each job played into larger organizational achievement was clearly successful at NASA during that time. And it can be a useful tool to leaders working to boost or sustain employee engagement today. 

During the episode, Bidwell talks not only about what employee engagement is, but also some do’s and don’ts for creating and sustaining it. He also talks about the importance of keeping people at the forefront of business efforts. 

“If we're going to be very process-centric, how do we engage people in actually creating these processes rather than having them as something alien that comes from outside that's imposed on people?” he says in the show.  

Some organizations say, “We'll make the most profit by driving our payroll costs down the furthest in terms of how we schedule people, in terms of how much we pay them, and so on” while other organizations say, “We’re going to pay more, and we’re going to expect more of our people in return,” Bidwell explains. “I tend to think that latter strategy tends to drive much higher engagement.” 

Bidwell also shares insights into how leaders can impact their teams’ engagement, as well as what they can do to boost their own engagement.  

Listen to the show for more on: 

The PERMA acronym for factors affecting employee engagement Do’s and don’ts of employee engagement How “job crafting” may help leaders when they apply it to their own work, but be detrimental if leaders apply it to the work of the people they supervise 

Links for this show: 

Transcript of the audioTalentNEXT, a gathering for teams of credit union talent strategy leaders in May in Austin, Texas CEO Institute I: Strategic Planning is held at Wharton, University of Pennsylvania CUES Consulting for talent development solutions including improving organizational alignment, fostering stronger leadership and creating more cohesive teams