You asked for it—We lead this month with more from May’s meeting of The Engagement Institute in Texas. What else did members take away from firsthand visits to engagement exemplars Vizient, Toyota North America, and Southwest Airlines?

• Beware of “accidental values," which creep into every organization and become part of the culture. Such questionable “values“ as conflict avoidance and optional buy-in are more prevalent than we may think, and simply ignoring them is not enough. Instead, we heard how one company works to steer its culture in a new direction by proactively addressing “accidental values” alongside core and aspirational values with its leadership team.
  
  
• Ask yourself: When was the last time your engagement research produced productive disruption? Sometimes we get caught up in the numbers and forget that the goal of our engagement initiatives is to create positive, lasting change. 

Disruption, maintaining engagement during times of organizational change, impact management, rethinking the employee experience: These top-of-mind concerns traveled across the Atlantic to June’s meeting of The Engagement Institute Europe Group, hosted in Edinburgh by the Royal Bank of Scotland. The conversation continues this October in Brussels, where we’ll map out an approach to continuous employee listening that captures the wisdom of the group.

And the discussion will soon expand beyond Europe and North America, with The Engagement Institute Asia-Pacific group set to meet in Singapore this September. We’re very excited about the opportunity to explore employee engagement in an Asian context. Let me know if you’d like to learn more about any of these upcoming meetings—we’d love to include your voice!