re Engage: How To Master The Art Of Intentional Engagement

By Kim Allen

Dr. Kim Allen is an elite executive leadership effectiveness consultant, business advisor, and owner of "The Dr. Kim Approach," propelling senior leadership effectiveness in a transformational forward-thinking way.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Independent Press
• Release date: Jun 14, 2024
• ISBN: 9798990846296

Book preview

Table of Contents

DEDICATION

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

PREFACE

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 1

Why Does Engagement Matter?

CHAPTER 2

What Is Intentional Engagement?

CHAPTER 3

Your Leadership Language

CHAPTER 4

Audience Personality Types

CHAPTER 5

Learning Preferences

CHAPTER 6

Generational Styles

CHAPTER 7

Virtual Communication

CHAPTER 8

Difficult Conversations

CHAPTER 9

Motivation

CHAPTER 10

Perspective

CHAPTER 1

Persuasion and Influence

CHAPTER 12

reEngage—Putting It All Together: Case Study

REFERENCES

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

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How to Master the Art of Intentional Engagement

Dr. Kim Allen

Copyright © 2024 Dr. Kim Allen

Printed in the United States of America.

The information contained in this book is the intellectual property of Dr. Kim Allen and is governed by United States and International copyright laws.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication, either text or image, may be used for any purpose other than personal use. Therefore, reproduction, modification, storage in a retrieval system, or retransmission, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, or otherwise, for reasons other than personal use, except for brief quotations for reviews or articles and promotions, is strictly prohibited without prior written permission by the author and publisher.

This is a work of nonfiction. Nonetheless, some of the names and personal characteristics of the individuals involved have been changed in order to disguise their identities. Any resulting resemblance to persons living or dead is entirely coincidental and unintentional.

Cover Design: Anders and Stefanie Braa Rimhoff

Interior Design & Editing: Michele Chynoweth

Published by: Independent Press

ISBN: 9798990846203

By the Author of

reLead ~

52 Reflections from an Executive Coach to inspire, encourage, and guide leadership effectiveness

DEDICATION

For my grandchildren ~ my joy.

CONTENTS

DEDICATION

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

PREFACE

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 1 - Why Does Engagement Matter?

CHAPTER 2 - What Is Intentional Engagement?

CHAPTER 3 - Your Leadership Language

CHAPTER 4 - Audience Personality Types

CHAPTER 5 - Learning Preferences

CHAPTER 6 - Generational Styles

CHAPTER 7 - Virtual Communication

CHAPTER 8 - Difficult Conversations

CHAPTER 9 - Motivation

CHAPTER 10 - Perspective

CHAPTER 1 - Persuasion and Influence

CHAPTER 12 - reEngage—Putting It All Together: Case Study

THE FINAL WORD

REFERENCES

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Behind every author is a tribe of people who have contributed in various ways. I am fortunate to have amazing, special individuals who undoubtedly are responsible for this second book being published— many who are here with me, again. I thank each one profusely for the profound effect your immense support contributed to mind, body, and soul, while in author mode. If you like this book, you’ll love everyone who I credit for getting it—and me—over the finish line.

My husband, Lawrence, is the only person on earth who continuously supported my idea to write a book, let alone a second one. You have walked every step in this journey with me as my sanity coach and therapist, cheering me over the finish line, again. My gratitude and love for you goes straight into eternity.

My family, again, stood by and cheered me on during this second journey. I remain humbled by the love and support of Stefanie and Anders Braa Rimhoff, whose artistic gifts and talent led to my amazing cover design, creating a visual brand that reflects the essence of the book content and cleverly brings intentional engagement to life. I am, again, forever grateful.

My book coach, editor, and friend, Michele Chynoweth, the quintessential Book Doctor—you are a massive talent, a genius book whisperer whose gifted vision carries a book from inception to completion. Thank you for sharing it with me; I could not have done this without you, again. I am honored to be part of your tribe of many authors you’ve assisted, evidenced by the large number of published books on your bookshelf—all because of your touch. I am honored to be the recipient of your sheer ability to help make something from nothing.

Without blinking, my dear friend Pattie Corkum instantly applauded my second book idea and obliged my ask to provide subject matter expertise and the dose of truth serum necessary to keep me aligned in the writing journey. Your brilliant mind continues to shine bright, and this book is better because of your insights and unwavering support.

Mary Ann Nies, the book review equivalent of a pit bull. Thank you for your self-identified gift of being able to smell oversights. You are tenacious, and I am a better writer because of you.

For my friend Kim Reynolds, who did something for me every author should experience—have a gifted mind create a writing space, beautifully appointed and cozy. It is my happy place and I feel hugged when I write. Priceless.

Again, I thank my extended family for the ways you showed your love and support of me for my first book, and now, my second.

For my friends who lined this journey rooting me on, I feel blessed. A special thanks for my clients and readers—you are my inspiration that continues to breathe life in my quest to change the world in a positive way.

For Greg Kaiser, Sr., my beta reader who consistently offered profound advice. I am appreciative of your steadfast support and saintly patience during the publishing process.

A message from the author about this book before you begin.

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To view messages from the author after each chapter, scan the QR Code with your mobile device.

PREFACE

The future depends on what you do today.

~Mahatma Gandhi

I have spent an inordinate amount of time teaching engagement to multi-level leaders. In an effort to support all leaders and individual contributors (those who do not manage others but play an integral role in achieving organization goals) it is my mission to share my thoughts on engagement with the world for this simple reason: they need to get it right and engage flawlessly, once and for all.

reEngage was born after the onslaught of Covid during which the world endured a seeming century’s worth of change in one week.

No one was prepared for how to navigate the shock and reality of a brand new normal while operating in the dark, because pandemic resource playbooks did not exist. Everyone scrambled to get their footing, personally and professionally, to salvage life as they knew it and forge ahead with work already in progress or at least in queue for completion. The world went on and the workplace struggled to continue existing during the most uncertain time of our lifetime, while we wondered how to professionally remain dedicated, committed, and optimistic as the rug was being pulled out from underneath the globe. The pandemic was the catalyst for the changes we experience now and in the long run. But the need to engage will never change. As we move into the future, we’ll always need to be connected at work, especially leaders and individual contributors who manage and guide the way to success. Covid presented unequivocal transformation with no end in sight as leaders were shooting at a moving target. The aftermath continues while we remain part of unprecedented change and ramifications that continue to alter all of us, both professionally and personally.

In addition, as fast as the complexities and jolt of navigating a pandemic subsided, AI (Artificial Intelligence) has entered the stage of the global workforce. Its aftermath will become a new normal, much like a pandemic, but with benefits and features which seem advantageous and not advantageous simultaneously. Some will fear it, others embrace it.

While the pandemic gave us remote options to work at home virtually, at least for a time, organizations are now keen to get employees back into the office.

During the Covid years, there was an explosion of training and development programs with a new format that quickly needed to upskill leaders on how to be effective working with others virtually (the same people you had previously been seeing face to face for years) almost overnight. It was like tying one arm behind your back and being asked to box.

Leadership effectiveness needed to be redefined with new skill sets to accommodate virtual engagement that sometimes meant using a camera, and sometimes not. We had taken for granted walking over to a colleague’s desk or down the hall to our leader’s office to answer a quick question. This evaporated overnight. But the need to engage others remained, even if it meant knowing effectiveness was taking a back seat to just treading technological waters.

In some ways, leaders paid attention to being effective change champions during the last few whirlwind years because the spotlight, shone on navigating the unknown. They were game to try while in the thick of it.

But the game and the playing field has changed yet again as hybrid meetings emerge, the pendulum swinging back as it usually does, posing the question anew—how do we become engagement champions now?

The world population strives to acquiesce to the newness and uncertainty of health scares and robotic takeovers in proportions unexperienced in our lifetime. While all of these changes will transform how we do business and develop leadership in new ways, some practices will remain unscathed during it all. Engagement is one of them.

Get ready now for the future.

News articles and widescale business predictions along with leadership development survey results reveal human skills are going to be the new hard skills for the future of work.¹ (Townley, 2023) Why?

Even with AI on the horizon, there remains a heightened demand for human skills, like communication, because it relies on human nuances and connections, the ability to lead, and it cannot be automated, despite robots designed to look and think like humans.

They are not human, and AI can’t replace the human experience of creating dynamic interactions while bonding with other people. AI can miss gaps, especially with people who lack engagement skills. For now, AI is unable to accurately see how a person looks or observe subtle cues that contribute to the communication process.² (Gorman, 2023)

Communication, the soft skill that makes some leaders roll their eyes, shrug their shoulders, and shake their heads because they don’t feel like it is a hard-core competency, is now the number one crucial skill set of the future.¹(Townley, 2023)

I continue to interact with leaders who have brilliant minds… but some are unable to skillfully engage. It is not intuitive to engage effectively just because a person has the word leader in their title. This book will describe relatable situations of engagement gone wrong and what effective engagement should look and sound like.

The content will take you from leadership engagement to intentional leadership engagement effectiveness in ways you can use starting immediately, which mirrors my approach when working with clients. Like I teach, coach, and advise leaders and individual contributors, I will do the same for you in this book so you will be able to implement the information effortlessly when you return to your office and computer. It’s not hard. You just need to become intentional.

Engagement goes beyond communication.

Purposeful communication is a skill and an art. But it is actually a very simple behavior to actualize and should be a mandatory leadership skill. The alternative? Sticking to approaches that do not work which can foster problems…for example, when no one in your company will tell you that you aren’t thorough, or when you unintentionally alienate some on your team for reasons of which you are probably unaware but should know. It doesn’t make you a bad person or a lousy leader, but simply points to a need for improvement.

Many confuse engagement with employee happiness and job satisfaction. But what do they mean and do leaders know how to make their employees happy or give them job satisfaction? The answer is probably no.

Intentional engagement is different than keeping your employees happy and goes beyond communication, requiring participation of both the speaker and the listener so they can get their messages across to one another in a meaningful way.

If the intention of communication is to hear me, the objective of intentional engagement is, I’ll listen—but you’ll have to find a way to connect with me to better understand you and take action.

Knowing how your message will land is as important as the message itself.

Obtaining basic information about those who sit at your conference table allows you use it to expertly mold your team for future success. It is not hard to do, but few know how to achieve engagement effectiveness.

How do I know? More times than not, executive and senior leaders reveal they were never taught how to implement basic information about individual or group styles and preferences into daily conversation. It’s not that they’ve been doing it all wrong; their training and development did not elevate their engagement effectiveness to optimize how they communicate. It’s