148: Happiness Makes Money: How To Engage Your Employees with Paul ter Wal and Kevin Bees, Profit Maximisation Expert

In this episode, Kevin Bees interviews world-class employability & engagement expert Paul ter Wal.

 

Paul ter Wal is International Engagement Explorer, employability expert, and workplace architect. For more than 25 years he has been in the speaking, consulting, and training business for executives, Human Beings directors, and employees.

Happiness Makes Money.
According to the Gallup Engagement Index, a staggering 87% of employees worldwide are not engaged at work. The world has a crisis of engagement, with serious and potentially long-lasting repercussions for organizations.

This is where Paul ter Wal steps in. The former lawyer works on both sides – employer and employees – to create work happiness and loyalty. His concept is based on finding the “Non-Negotiables” and the core values of the individual as well as the company. Because a highly engaged workforce means the difference between a company that thrives and one that struggles.   When employees are engaged, they are passionate, creative, and entrepreneurial, and their enthusiasm fuels growth. These employees are emotionally connected to the mission and purpose of their work.

 

In this episode Paul ter Wal shares:

•  87% of employees worldwide are NOT engaged at work
• When you have engaged people, they get more energy from their work than they put into it, which makes it easy to go the extra mile.
• Employees, especially Gen -Y & Z want to find purpose and have roles with meaning and live by their core values.
• 7 Keys to profitability - profit for all stakeholders, not just shareholders
• Engaged team members see productivity increases of 20% and sick leave reduced by 40%.  This is especially important in countries like The Netherlands since employers have a liability to pay employees for up to 2 years of sick leave.
• Happy employees create better customer experiences
• How, counter-intuitively, giving them members time to rest, nap, walk, etc makes them around 25% more productive.
• Leaders' role is NOT to be above the team and tell them what to do, but instead to stand beside them and FACILITATE their teams' success by asking them "How can I support you to fulfill their work?".
• Words matter... your team is NOT 'human resources' - that communicates that they are a commodity/replaceable.
• 3 factors for an engaged workforce:  Autonomy, Belonging, and Competence.
• Autonomy - Ask team members 'How can we improve the outcome?' and take action on their suggestions.
• Your team are not employees, they are professionals.  Treat them that way and see how their performance improves
• The life-changing question he discovered on his 800km walk of the Camino: "Are you really performing the way you want to perform?". 

If not, what do you need to perform better in your life?

• Why you should list your core values on your website, and why you should hire first on core values NOT capability.
• Research shows that the idea of success leading to happiness is not true, and instead, if you prioritise happiness first, you are more likely to create success.
• How success without happiness is the ultimate failure
• and much more...

 

 

Resources mentioned in this episode:
Connect with Paul
https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulterwal/?locale=nl_NL

Paul ter Wal books
https://www.amazon.com.au/Paul-ter-Wal/e/B086PZD6R9%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share

 

Happiness Advantage - Shawn Achor
https://www.amazon.com.au/Happiness-Advantage-Shawn-Achor/dp/0307591557

Well being at work - How to build resilient and thriving teams:

https://www.amazon.com.au/Wellbeing-Work-Build-Resilient-Thriving/dp/1595622411

Daniel H Pink - Podcast Interview

https://profithive.com.au/daniel-h-pink-kevin-bees/
https://profithive.com.au/daniel-h-pink-kevin-bees-2/

 

If you would like more insights on profit maximization for your business visit www.ProfitHive.com.au