Many top-level executives dedicated to measuring and improving employee engagement have no idea how people become engaged or disengaged in the first place. Blanchard Research shows that motivation plays a critical role and is a skill that can be learned, developed, and sustained. Individuals can learn how to choose a high-quality motivation experience at any time.

The Ken Blanchard Companies®, an expert in leadership development and employee engagement, aims to help organisations address the growing decline in employee engagement by explaining the source of disengagement. The enhanced training solution Optimal Motivation®, developed by Blanchard®, is rooted in Blanchard’s innovative approach to motivation as outlined in "Why Motivating People Doesn’t Work … and What Does", the best-selling book by programme co-author Susan Fowler. Optimal Motivation helps organisations understand that the key to engagement is the quality of an individual’s day-to-day motivation.
 
"Many top-level executives dedicated to measuring and improving employee engagement have no idea how people become engaged or disengaged in the first place, a top-level executive recently confessed to me," said Blanchard senior consulting partner, Susan Fowler.

"His organisation is spending a fortune to measure and implement engagement initiatives, but nothing seems to be working; ‘in fact, our employee engagement numbers are getting worse instead of better.’ This is because organisations are trying to fix a problem after it has occurred using techniques based on outdated approaches to motivation. Organisations need to intervene before people are on the road to disengagement."
 
Blanchard’s award-winning research has clarified how people ultimately come to be actively disengaged, disengaged, or engaged - or have employee work passion. Through a phenomenon called the appraisal process, people are constantly evaluating their experience in the workplace. These appraisals lead to conclusions that result in people’s sense of well-being, intentions, behaviour, and ultimately, their experience of employee work passion.
 
Fowler, together with Optimal Motivation co-authors Dr. David Facer and Dr. Drea Zigarmi, make the bold claim that motivation is a skill for managing those appraisal processes more effectively. Motivation is a skill that can be learned, developed, and sustained. Individuals can learn how to choose a high-quality motivation experience at any time.

Leaders discover that the quality of an individual’s motivation is what matters most. The leader’s role is to facilitate employees’ shift to a more optimal motivational outlook and use cutting-edge best practices for creating workplaces where high-quality motivation - and people - flourish. As programme co-author Drea Zigarmi likes to remind people, "The most powerful moment in motivation is when you are able to use the skill of motivation and shift to an optimal motivational outlook. It can be done personally, and with some time, attention, and training, you can learn how to help others make that shift also."

Getting to the root source of engagement makes good business sense. Research shows that optimally motivated employees are three times more satisfied with their jobs, deliver 31 percent higher productivity, are ten times more engaged by their jobs, and demonstrate three times higher creativity.