Engagement - made simple!

Mon, October 05, 2015

Last week we held our ‘Innovate and Thrive’ Breakfast event for the Third Sector. Our guest speaker was Elaine Lilley, the inspirational CEO of The EBP, a leading social enterprise in Lincolnshire.

Lilley is a very people-focused CEO, and so it was refreshing to hear the cost-effective methods they use to increase employee engagement and morale throughout their office given their very tight budgets.  Lilley explains that even simple things like putting time aside every month (no excuses) to bring all the teams together to celebrate wins (big or small), acknowledging personal celebrations such as birthdays, or delivering business updates, reiterates the importance of a team environment and what is achieved when everyone is working together.  Their monthly get-togethers are not held in a dull boardroom.  Lilley opened the last meeting to the sound of Coldplay, and using a quote from Chris Martin.

The EBP has recently taken on a £30m contract and on the outside they want to act as if they are a FTSE 500 company, but how they do this from the inside is crucial.  Making sure they have the right staff who know what they need to do, and do it really well, is critical to them getting it right.  Lilley strongly believes in the importance of making employees accountable for the part they play, especially in an environment where ‘performance’ is not accounted for on a spreadsheet.  She expects a lot from her team and, in return, wanted to reward their hard work, so she introduced a bonus directly linked to competencies.  Whilst many organisations have bonus structures in place, for a social enterprise on a limited budget this really speaks volumes about how much Lilley understands the need to remain competitive in the market to ensure she retains her talent.

The “Innovate and Thrive” title came from the fact that Lilley knew she had to make some very tough - but ultimately very easy - decisions in order for the organisation to survive.  And survive they have.  Through taking a commercial approach and giving her team the confidence and support to do things they haven’t done before she has created a very unique organisation. Her staff are engaged because she engages with them in the right way at the right time.  It really is that simple.

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