Episode 49 – Engagement: how it started, how it's going

In this first episode of season 6 of The Internal Comms Podcast, host Katie Macaulay talks to the father of employee engagement, organisational psychologist Professor William Kahn. With the publication of his paper ‘Psychological conditions of personal engagement and disengagement at work’ in 1990, the concept of engagement at work was born. Now a professor of management and organisations at Boston University’s Questrom School of Business, his vast array of academic research explores the relationship between individuals and organisations. In this fascinating conversation, William explains the conditions needed to drive meaningful engagement, and unpacks the differences between ‘personal’ and ‘employee’ engagement. He also dives into what organisations truly want when they talk about engagement and speaks about the danger of not allowing people the space to have chaotic conversations. True engagement – he says – is messy, and without an emphasis on workplace relationships, communications professionals are missing the point.

Om Podcasten

Call it a shift. Call it a revolution. Whatever name you give it, it’s clear internal communications is no longer the poor cousin in the media family tree. At a time when your organisation’s products and services can seemingly be replicated at the touch of a button, the one thing that is hardest to copy – your organisation’s collective wisdom – is fast becoming its most important asset. In one of the UK’s first internal communications podcasts, Katie Macaulay sits down with IC thought-leaders every other Wednesday to better understand how we can improve communications at work. After all, it’s what’s inside that counts.