Tools | Taking the pulse of our work force | Outreach | Leadership development

TI knows when employees feel connected and valued: Their performance and productivity increases. That leads to innovation – and improved retention. Employee performance is business performance.

TI also knows that employee engagement must be continuous and driven at all levels of the company. TIers must be stimulated and recognized for their hard work. They must also understand how their individual roles contribute to the company's success.  

Engagement tools

TI employs a variety of communication, outreach and engagement tools to facilitate two-way communication with our global work force. Traditional tools include staff meetings and newsletters. Interactive tools include Infolink (TI's employee Web site), webcasts and WebEx presentations.

Our CEO has made it a priority to regularly engage with employees from various global sites throughout the year. He invites TIers to talk candidly about challenges facing our company and industry. These "open exchanges" are videotaped and available on demand from Infolink anywhere in the world. 

In 2008, TI will launch live webcasts of leadership conferences and other engagement forums. Once in use, the live webcast is available to every employee via computer at any location. TI also is investigating how a company-specific, online social network would foster more immediate discussions of workplace challenges and best practices.

Taking the pulse of our workforce

In 2007, it had been 10 years since TI took the pulse of our workforce, so we asked employees to share their voice. In Spring 2007, the company conducted a global employee survey to determine the drivers of engagement for TI employees. More than 72 percent of the workforce responded and some common themes emerged:

• Managers are vital to connecting employees to the rest of the company and help boost TIers' commitment to their jobs.
• Development and career growth opportunities drive attraction to TI and employee engagement.
  Employees need to clearly understand how to do their jobs, that their role is important to TI and that their functions connect to the company's goals and objectives.
• TI's reputation helps attract talent and improves employee performance and retention. Employees cited ethics as a TI strength as well.
• A collaborative and inclusive work environment is important to both attract and engage employees. 
  Employees respond better when empowered to offer opinions and ideas.

Based on these findings, each organization prioritized employee engagement activities to drive performance and retention.

Outreach

TI shifted operating strategy late in 2007, when the company's senior leadership team launched a new direction, strategy and set of priorities. To engage employees in the new direction TI launched a series of meetings titled "Where We're Going."

The series invites employees to meet with members of the senior leadership team and engage in discussions about growth. Employees can ask questions and learn how they can help achieve company goals.

To ensure that TIers have an opportunity to access this dialogue, the sessions are broadcast live through webcast and are available on demand on the Infolink Web site. Following the sessions, exit polls are conducted to assess employee understanding and engagement. TI plans to continue this executive series.

TI also has an internal Web site, TI Priorities, that provides business priority information. Employees can access videotapes of leadership sessions and conferences and learn details about each business unit's priorities and goals. TI promotes the site through multiple communication channels and hopes to increase visits to the site in 2008.

Leadership development

TI uses talent leadership doctrines, which outline the company's expectations for those who supervise people. In 2007, we updated the doctrines, originally developed a decade ago, to better describe what TI expects from supervisors to drive employee engagement, performance and retention.

Three areas are the basis of the doctrines: (1) create a winning environment; (2) build the talent pipeline and (3) increase employee performance. Supervisor behaviors are noted for each area. Examples include:

• Explaining the importance of each employee's job to the company.
• Communicating frequently.
• Fostering an inclusive and collaborative culture.
• Identifying and accelerating the development of key talent.
• Setting high expectations.
• Providing honest, timely feedback.
• Taking appropriate action to address poor performance, but also recognizing and rewarding excellent results.

The new talent leadership doctrines will be communicated within each organization in 2008.