"Employee Engagement is the state of mind when we feel passionate, energized and dedicated to our work. When that happens, we give ourselves completely - heart, soul, mind and hands - to what we are doing."
Heart means meaning, passion, fulfillment, even joy in what you do. Soul means attitude, energy and excitement. It is something you feel when you are in the same environment or working with a highly committed team. Heart and soul imply that we should feel what we do. Unfortunately, most models of engagement don't go beyond that, which is a mistake. Commitment is not just about "feeling something". The mind and hands must also be involved.
Intellect means cognition, interest, curiosity and creativity. Hands means labor, productivity, personal determination, using all your skills and sweat of your brow to produce something of value. So the mind and hands are about taking action and making things happen. Being fully committed to your work requires action. In short:
Commitment requires not only our actions but also our emotions. In other words, our heart, soul, mind and hands all together form a whole. For commitment to work, we need to feel something and act on that feeling. Without one of these, there is no commitment.
You can think of emotions and action as the oars of a boat. They are complementary opposites. Both are necessary. If you pull only one, you will go in circles around yourself. You may sweat and think you'll get somewhere in the end, but you won't. If you pull both at the same time, you will make progress.
Think about this in the context of your own experience. Have you felt that energy when you do something that is worth the effort, that really floats your boat? What did it feel like?
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