I wanted to thank everyone who came out to hear me speak at HR West last week. What a great group I had — smart, engaged and forward thinking. Everything the progressive HR community represents.

My topic was Optimizing the Impact of Employee Recognition Strategies on Enterprise Performance, but it could have just have easily been titled: Why Employee Engagement is Not Enough! I wasn’t there to rain on the employee engagement parade. On the contrary, I’m a big believer in it. It is the key to long term business growth.

Today’s senior executive sponsors are looking for more. They want to more closely align their recognition strategies with the people-related business goals of the organization. They want outcomes that go beyond the balance sheet — benefits they can see and sense every day.

We hit on the benefits of building a collaborative and cooperative (not competitive) culture. I explained how to encourage and capitalize on front-line innovations. I talked about using social recognition to build communities of common interest and finished by explaining how all of this expands HR’s stature and standing at the planning table.

If you couldn’t make it and want to hear more I’ll be glad to walk you through the highlights.