I am always impressed by people who are resourceful. You know the type who can make do or do without, who survive on minimal funding and still manage to produce a great outcome. I come across them all the time in my not for profit and association sector clients and often amongst my small business clients too. It’s easy to look good when you have lots of money but it’s much harder to do on a budget. I think large, wealthy organisations can learn a lot from these groups about how to engage staff without using the lure of money. I have seen the big players throw money around and still have highly disengaged teams.

Gardening is the same. Not all gardeners have ample resources. Many have to make do with whatever is available. This breeds a group of resourceful people who find ways to use and reuse everything. Take a close look at this picture of a hanging garden I took in Bangkok. The plants are growing in recycled soft drink bottles. Solves two problems at once . . . how to create a garden when there is no land available and how to deal with the growing garbage problem in a large city. This idea has inspired me to think of how I am going to decorate the balcony in the new apartment I’ve just moved into. I don’t have a big budget so I’m going to look around for some resourceful ideas. Stay tuned for pictures in the coming months.

So are you resourceful or do you simply throw your hands in the air and say “we have no money so there is nothing we can do”? Think again. There are plenty of engagement strategies you can employ that cost very little. If you need some inspiration check out my tips sheets on “Engagement winners and losers” at http://www.letsgrow.com.au/tip%20sheets.htm which has lots of great ideas, mainly free, on what engages and what doesn’t.

Tags: employee engagement, Employee engagement tips, Employee retention, engagement