It had been a while since I had traveled to the Netherlands, and on a recent work trip to Amsterdam I saw a new “piece of art” at the famous Rijksmuseum. There are large, 5 foot letters that spell out “I Amsterdam” with all the letters in white except for the first 3, which are red. It has become one of the most popular places to get your picture in this city, similar to Philadelphia’s “Love.” In another sense, it is promoting city pride… “I am”….a sense of personal ownership of the city.
A colleague’s doctoral dissertation had a simple question….it had two circles and asked employees to rate the distance between the two circles, assuming one circle represented them and the other the company. The distances ranged from separated, to close, to overlapping. Essentially, she was measuring the employee engagement at this company – the sense of two-way commitment.
Before you answer the question below, know that Gallup recently reported that:
- 30% of Americans are engaged/inspired at work
- 50% have “checked out”
- 18% are “actively disengaged”, which results in undermining co-workers due to acting out their unhappiness
Do your employees feel “I Am” about your company?
