We fail at engagement because we're always asking the wrong question

In high school, around the time we stopped being all about today and started thinking about the tomorrows that were about to turn up, I recall a conversation with a friend who asked what I thought he would have to do in order to make a living as an astronomer. 

I told him I thought what he did was less important than who he was.

In order to succeed at a career where the humdrum probably outweighs the spikes, I thought it would be essential for him to feel it in his bones. I thought it mattered that he had never to my knowledge lay on the grass in the back garden at night and stared at all the stars. I thought it would likely be a career staller from the outset that he couldn’t name dozens or even hundreds of them. 

He could certainly go and learn the science, but that would only make him someone who was trained in astronomy and therefore technically qualified to work at a telescope, not an astronomer. 

That was what I thought then.

Today, that thinking is amplified by thousands of times.

In order to manage people, it’s less important that you have an MBA than that you demonstrably care about people. It matters less that you’ve been taught strategy than that you inherently have empathy. It’s less impressive that you’ve been hand picked for promotion than that you’re grateful for it and humbled by the responsibilities that come with the increased pay and better office furniture.

That challenge is amplified thousands of times for organisations of thousands of people, because it affects every single one.

But here’s the thing: I personally don’t know of even one company that says it doesn’t want engaged employees. And yet almost everyone is failing. Why is that?

One giant clue can be found in how adaptable you were to the WWAH* phenomenon of April and May 2020.

Never mind the trash organization that asked employees to start two hours early because they didn’t have to commute any more, or the company that famously asked employees to keep their video cameras on at all times so they could be seen by their managers.

They belong in the tiny bucket of companies that aren’t even trying, and I am sure you don't feel you belong there.

No, the bigger problem is that most managers at least tried to make something work. You approached the WWAH challenge by applying loads of great technology to get closer to people, but in the end, all it was able to do was broadcast the fact that your people priorities are no good.

If this is a hard thing to read, trust me when I say it’s a hard thing to write.

If your Zoom Beer o’clock sessions or Braaiday Afternoon Google Hangouts or daily check in and chat sessions seem forced, it's because they are intended as replacements for care and attention that never existed in the first place.

They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions; well I think the road to poor engagement is often paved with bad priorities. 

I think we’ve only really just realized how bad they are.

As we go back to work, I hope for you and for everyone around you, that employee engagement becomes the only priority.

The objective of great employee engagement is that we have a great business. That hasn’t changed. That will never change. The measurement of ‘great’ is open to debate, but the objective is nevertheless the right one.

But we’ve totally lost touch with the meaning of that statement. For managers it should be so blindingly obvious that it hurts to look at it. Your goal is not to create a great business, it is to create great people engagement so people can go on and do the rest. 

It’s time now. Seriously.