A big part of what we talk about when we discuss team building strategies for greater workforce effectiveness is recruiting and developing employees who are so inspired by the company's mission and goals that they become nothing short of company evangelists.  Harder to pin down, though, is what an inspired employee looks like, or acts like.

A good example of this appears here.  My colleague Jason spotted this blog post last week while wrapping up his Success Story on our 2008 Top Small Workplace The Redwoods Group, which will go out in our July IDEAS newsletter later this week.  He was especially moved by this portion of what Redwoods employee Dan Baum wrote:

There's so much potential and need for [sending employees to work with Habitat for Humanity] by for-profit corporations.  Non profits and NGOs are strapped, especially in this financial crisis, and governments aren’t always effective and can’t do it all.  On the other hand, there’s so much untapped potential in the corporate world: money, people, brainpower, expertise, resources, etc.  Today there are many companies touting their socially responsible business practices, yet there is still so much room for many of them to invest more fully, not simply financially but also in their attitude, decision making processes and goals, in making the world a better place.

...

Redwoods allows me to do what I think we all hope for: live one whole life without compartmentalization, meaning that I don’t need a work version of me and a non-work version of me, but that I can be me all the time.

Let's take a closer look at this post and examine the hallmarks of an inspired employee:

• Leadership-sanctioned platform for employee engagement and communication with the outside world – in this case, Redwoods' Thoughts from Zambia blog.
• Clear understanding of how the organization fulfills a need, including shortfalls/opportunities of the current marketplace.
• Clear understanding of how the employee's actions help the firm accomplish its mission (for for-profits – make money).
• What I like to call the culture of ownership elevator pitch.  (Who can read Baum's second paragraph cited above and not want to work for Redwoods?)
• Perhaps most importantly, ongoing leader or manager feedback – in this case from no less than Redwoods President and CEO (and 2009 Top Small Workplaces judge) Kevin Trapani.

Whether it's a blog or some other communications vehicle – a newsletter, wiki, or company intranet, for instance – you'd be surprised how much inspiration you can whip up among your staff by encouraging more open communication.

Related: Our July newsletter will contain results of a survey of both our registered website users and past honorees on ways to engage employees using technology.  Subscribe to it here and get it as soon as we send it out.

Photo credit: 2008 Top Small Workplaces Finalist Steppenwolf Theatre Company