Why Winning Matters: How to Attract and Retain Top Talent Through Next-Level Performance Leadership-Why Winning Matters How to Attract and Retain Top Talent Through Next-Level Performance Leadership Recording

Why Winning Matters How to Attract and Retain Top Talent Through Next-Level Performance Leadership Recording

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Video Summary

In this presentation, Peter Atherton discusses the critical importance of "winning" in attracting and retaining top talent through what he terms "performance leadership." Drawing on over 30 years of experience in the engineering and architecture (AEC) industries, Atherton emphasizes that effective leadership today requires strategic, proactive ownership of organizational success. He highlights the challenges in employee engagement, noting that only around 46% of professionals in AEC report high engagement, with significant disparities between leaders, managers, and practitioners. This gap stems from managers’ own engagement struggles, as they play a pivotal role in influencing their teams.<br /><br />Atherton traces the evolution of employee engagement from "Employee Engagement 1.0," which focused on discretionary effort and extra work, to "Employee Engagement 2.0," which prioritizes energy and alignment toward meaningful, purposeful work that fosters sustainable growth and impact. He underscores four major shifts impacting work: the redefinition of winning (balancing work and life with impact), the transition from workplace to workspace and community, the emergence of adaptive new ways of working, and the shift from manager-centric to team-focused performance.<br /><br />He introduces frameworks such as the New Work Covenant—a progressive employer-employee agreement emphasizing meaningful work, real relationships, open communication, growth, and impact—and the Team Success Ecosystem, which aligns individual goals with team and organizational success. Atherton advocates for leadership that develops engaged managers and cohesive teams to build thriving cultures, sustain employee engagement, and drive organizational growth in the evolving workplace landscape.

Keywords

performance leadership

employee engagement

AEC industry

manager engagement

Employee Engagement 2.0

New Work Covenant

Team Success Ecosystem

workplace transformation

leadership development