{"id":659,"date":"2025-08-07T08:03:15","date_gmt":"2025-08-07T15:03:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/betterplaces.blog\/?p=659"},"modified":"2025-07-23T09:47:39","modified_gmt":"2025-07-23T16:47:39","slug":"employee-engagement-is-the-real-secret-to-leveraging-ai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/betterplaces.blog\/?p=659","title":{"rendered":"Employee Engagement Is the Real Secret to Leveraging AI"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There\u2019s a lot of hype about what artificial intelligence and new technology can do for business. But the difference between organizations that thrive\u2014and those that stumble\u2014almost always comes down to one thing: <strong>Are your people engaged, trusted, and truly invested in the mission?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It\u2019s not enough to roll out new tools and hope for the best. Presence, trust, and real partnership are what unlock the promise of innovation. If your staff feels seen, valued, and heard, they\u2019ll learn to use these technologies in ways that move your business forward. If not, they\u2019ll avoid them\u2014or, sometimes, use them simply to shield themselves from change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What Engagement Really Means<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">True engagement isn\u2019t about pizza parties or gift cards. It\u2019s about knowing your work matters, that your voice has weight, and that leaders are sincerely invested in your well-being. Over and over, both research and real-world experience show:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Disengaged employees<\/strong> are more likely to hide inefficiencies or work around new tech instead of embracing it.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Engaged teams<\/strong> are more likely to suggest improvements, spot problems early, and help each other learn and grow.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The cultures that thrive are those where engagement is not left to chance, but becomes a living practice\u2014built into every decision, every project, and every conversation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Building a Culture of Engagement\u2014Together<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Here are some practical ways to build this foundation, inspired by hard-won lessons and the organizations I most admire:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Make engagement visible and measurable.<\/strong> Don\u2019t just go on gut feeling. Track engagement and psychological safety as carefully as you track sales or output\u2014and act on what you discover.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Design tech rollouts as partners.<\/strong> Don\u2019t spring AI or automation on teams as a surprise. Invite people to co-create how these tools are used, what guardrails are needed, and how to spot both the risks and the opportunities.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Share in the gains.<\/strong> When technology brings new value, return a portion of it\u2014through time off, new learning and growth opportunities, or wellness investments. The \u201cTime Dividend\u201d is about making progress something everyone can feel.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Celebrate transparency, not just results.<\/strong> When someone raises a challenge or finds a smarter way, celebrate it. Make it genuinely safe to speak up.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What I\u2019ve Learned: Engagement Isn\u2019t Automatic<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I\u2019ve made mistakes\u2014assuming people would naturally get on board with whatever new tool or process we rolled out. The real lesson is this: <strong>trust and engagement must be built, week by week, with real conversations and shared decisions.<\/strong> When we started inviting people into the process, results improved\u2014and so did energy and commitment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>A Gentle Invitation<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you want your staff to become true partners in progress\u2014and the most authentic advocates for your mission\u2014start by welcoming them into the process. Measure what matters. Act on what you hear. And be sure the rewards of change are shared, not hoarded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">These are just a few of the practices and stories I share in my new book, coming soon. For a deeper look at what works\u2014and what doesn\u2019t\u2014stay tuned for future posts and for the book launch later this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>I\u2019d love to hear your own reflections and experiences. Please leave a comment and subscribe to stay in the loop about new posts and updates on the book.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Book Announcement<\/strong><br><em>Look for my upcoming book later this year\u2014a practical, honest guide for leaders and teams who want to create trust, share success, and build cultures where everyone can thrive.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Norwegian Translation:<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Det er mye snakk om hva kunstig intelligens og ny teknologi kan gj\u00f8re for n\u00e6ringslivet. Men forskjellen mellom organisasjoner som lykkes\u2014og de som snubler\u2014handler nesten alltid om \u00e9n ting: <strong>Er folkene dine engasjert, har de tillit, og opplever de at de virkelig har en plass i oppdraget?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Det er ikke nok \u00e5 innf\u00f8re nye verkt\u00f8y og h\u00e5pe p\u00e5 det beste. N\u00e6rv\u00e6r, tillit, og ekte partnerskap er det som virkelig frigj\u00f8r potensialet i innovasjon. Hvis de ansatte f\u00f8ler seg sett, verdsatt og lyttet til, l\u00e6rer de \u00e5 bruke teknologien p\u00e5 m\u00e5ter som bringer virksomheten fremover. Hvis ikke, vil de unng\u00e5 den\u2014eller bruke den mest for \u00e5 beskytte seg mot endring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Hva engasjement egentlig betyr<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ekte engasjement handler ikke om pizza eller gavekort. Det handler om \u00e5 vite at jobben din betyr noe, at stemmen din teller, og at lederne virkelig bryr seg om din trivsel og helse. Igjen og igjen viser b\u00e5de forskning og praksis:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Uengasjerte ansatte<\/strong> skjuler lettere ineffektivitet eller omg\u00e5r nye verkt\u00f8y, heller enn \u00e5 omfavne dem.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Engasjerte team<\/strong> foresl\u00e5r forbedringer, fanger opp problemer tidlig, og hjelper hverandre \u00e5 l\u00e6re og vokse.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Kulturer som blomstrer er de hvor engasjement ikke overlates til tilfeldighetene, men blir en levende praksis\u2014innbakt i hver beslutning, hvert prosjekt, hver samtale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>\u00c5 bygge en kultur for engasjement\u2014sammen<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Her er noen praktiske grep, inspirert av egne erfaringer og arbeidsplasser jeg virkelig beundrer:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Gj\u00f8r engasjement synlig og m\u00e5lbar.<\/strong> Ikke stol bare p\u00e5 magef\u00f8lelsen. M\u00e5l engasjement og psykologisk trygghet like n\u00f8ye som du m\u00e5ler salg eller resultater\u2014og handle p\u00e5 det du finner.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Design teknologi sammen.<\/strong> Ikke innf\u00f8r KI eller automatisering som en overraskelse. Inviter folk til \u00e5 v\u00e6re med og forme hvordan verkt\u00f8yene brukes, hvilke rammer som trengs, og hvordan dere sammen kan fange opp b\u00e5de risiko og muligheter.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Del gevinstene.<\/strong> N\u00e5r teknologien gir ny verdi, returner en del av den\u2014gjennom mer fritid, l\u00e6ring og utvikling, eller investering i velv\u00e6re. \u201cTidsutbyttet\u201d handler om \u00e5 gj\u00f8re fremgang til noe alle kan f\u00f8le p\u00e5 kroppen.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Feire \u00e5penhet, ikke bare resultater.<\/strong> N\u00e5r noen tar opp en utfordring eller finner en smartere l\u00f8sning, feir det. Gj\u00f8r det trygt \u00e5 si ifra.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Hva jeg har l\u00e6rt: Engasjement skjer ikke av seg selv<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jeg har gjort feil\u2014trodde folk automatisk ville bli med p\u00e5 alt nytt vi innf\u00f8rte. Men den virkelige l\u00e6ringen er denne: <strong>Tillit og engasjement m\u00e5 bygges, uke for uke, gjennom reelle samtaler og delte beslutninger.<\/strong> Da vi begynte \u00e5 invitere folk inn i prosessen, ble resultatene bedre\u2014og energien og eierskapet vokste.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>En vennlig invitasjon<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Vil du at de ansatte skal bli ekte partnere i utviklingen\u2014og de beste ambassad\u00f8rene for oppdraget deres\u2014start med \u00e5 invitere dem inn i prosessen. M\u00e5l det som teller. Gj\u00f8r noe med det du h\u00f8rer. Og s\u00f8rg for at gevinster blir delt, ikke hamstret.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Dette er bare noen av praksisene og historiene jeg deler i min kommende bok. For et dypere innblikk i hva som faktisk fungerer (og hva som ikke gj\u00f8r det), f\u00f8lg med videre i serien og se frem til bokutgivelsen senere i \u00e5r.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Jeg vil gjerne h\u00f8re dine egne erfaringer og refleksjoner. Legg igjen en kommentar, og abonner for \u00e5 holde deg oppdatert p\u00e5 nye innlegg og nyheter om boken.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Boknyhet<\/strong><br><em>Min kommende bok lanseres senere i \u00e5r\u2014en praktisk og \u00e6rlig veiviser for ledere og team som vil bygge tillit, dele suksess, og skape kulturer hvor alle kan trives.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If your staff feels seen, valued, and heard, they\u2019ll learn to use these technologies in ways that move your business forward. If not, they\u2019ll avoid them\u2014or, sometimes, use them simply to shield themselves from change. <a href=\"https:\/\/betterplaces.blog\/?p=659\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Employee Engagement Is the Real Secret to Leveraging AI<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":238892274,"featured_media":686,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[329724783,16750853,7885,769224191],"class_list":["post-659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-betterplaces","tag-bettertogether","tag-leadership","tag-tealorg"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pf3Jag-aD","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/betterplaces.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/create-a-featured-image-for-a-blog-post-titled-employee.png?fit=1024%2C768&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/betterplaces.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/betterplaces.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/betterplaces.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/betterplaces.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/238892274"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/betterplaces.blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=659"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/betterplaces.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/659\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":687,"href":"https:\/\/betterplaces.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/659\/revisions\/687"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/betterplaces.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/betterplaces.blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/betterplaces.blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/betterplaces.blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}