Ending the low engagement death spiral
Anil Saxena
Partner Strategy & Ecosystem Growth Expert | Innovating Through Talent & AI-Driven Learning | Driving Revenue, Leadership & Scalable Growth in SaaS & Technology | Co-Host of “Monster in My Closet” Podcast
For years Gallup, Aon, Towers Watson and others have reported on the dire state of employee engagement.
- According to our recent State of the Global Workplace report, 85% of employees are not engaged or actively disengaged at work. - Gallup
- In a single year, employee engagement globally dropped from 65% in 2015 to 63% in 2016. - Aon Hewitt
- Globally, 29% of employees are engaged in their work and committed to their organization.- Kenexa
It seems as if, there is nothing we can do to turn things around. But, as a long-time practitioner I am here to tell you that is just not true.
First of all, the news is not as dire everywhere. There are many companies where employee engagement is fairly strong year over year. My company, Comcast, is one example of an organization that has perennially high levels of engagement. Of course, there are low pockets, but overall, we regularly beat our benchmarks. It’s true in other companies as well (you know the usual suspects). Why is it that some organizations have consistently high levels of engagement? What can those companies that don’t do to raise the bar?
What’s the secret to consistently high engagement?
There is no real magic that drives high levels of engagement. It is a mixture of three critical ingredients:
Leadership making it a priority.
Shocking right? When leaders in the BUSINESS see that engagement drives business results, it has them concentrate on working on it. There is no dearth of information linking high levels of targeted engagement to increased business results. The business and HR own engagement together in organizations that take engagement seriously. Want to know the companies that focus on creating an engaged workplace? Look at the highest performing companies in any sector (almost) and those are the companies that concentrate on engagement. No surprises, right?
Constantly work at it
This is sort of the blocking and tackling or the “eating your veggies” of organizational development/effectiveness. In order to get the most out of an initiative like employee engagement, it is vital to continually leverage the feedback given by employees to alter or improve the organization, both at a macro and micro level. There is one caveat to this. Sometimes, there are requests or complaints that employees share that are never going to happen. Part of working this feedback is to share when things aren’t going to happen as well. For instance, if there is a desire to have on-site day care, but that is not possible due to location limitations (can’t build due to no room). It’s important to let folks know that it’s not going to happen, why it’s not happening and what can be done instead… (a bump in child care reimbursement, allowing to work from home more often, etc.)
Reward those that make it happen
One of the underlying principles of leadership is “What gets measured gets done” (Tom Peters). Although that is not always the case though, right? It’s really
“What gets measured gets done, what gets measured and fed back gets done well, what gets rewarded gets repeated.” John E. Jones"
People pay attention to what gets rewarded. One of the best ways to create a culture of engagement is to reward those that focus on it AND create business results (it’ll probably be the same folks). It doesn’t happen universally, but generally speaking those organizations that have a high level of engagement have leaders that focus on it.
But what if you don’t have that kind of organization?
What’s the secret to becoming a highly engaged organization?
There is no magic bullet. No new tool - putting the survey on an app; pulsing surveys daily/weekly/monthly; etc. will drive high engagement. Because the survey and the data it spits out are only a VERY small part of what drives engagement. What it is that makes it happen?
Making a big deal of it at an org level
It is vital that the results of the engagement process/initiative are made very, very public. This seems like one that falls into the common-sense category. Unfortunately, it’s not. It is vital to make a big deal about letting employees know that their feedback is taken seriously and put into action. Think about how much you hate being asked for your feedback only to have it ignored. It’s the same thing that employee feel when they give input via a survey and nothing is done with it.
Connecting it to everything
Make sure that as an organization and team, there is a connection between actions being taken and the results of the engagement study. Showcasing that things are changing or being implemented based on feedback that was given is critical. Connect the results of engagement to internal changes, changes to approaches to customers/vendors, etc. It showcases that employee feedback is being taken seriously.
Giving front line leaders the tools and skills to drive it
At Gallup we used to say, “People don’t leave companies, they leave managers.” Truthfully, some people do actually leave companies. But, the vast majority leave managers. One of the many ways to combat that is to give the knowledge, skills, and tools to every level of leader to act on employee feedback from engagement surveys (or eNPS for that matter). This also requires that leaders need to understand how to set expectations, what their limitations are, and the necessity of following up on actions that are set out. Nothing will stall engagement initiatives faster than if front line leaders are not accountable for driving engagement on their teams.
Talk about it all the time
Sorry, sounding a little like a broken record (for those of you unfamiliar with this euphemism, go here) but successful engagement requires focused communication. It’s important to connect it to changes that impact employees, customers, vendors, etc. In fact, all programs/vehicles that are connected to employee feedback should be leveraged this way. It showcases that employee feedback is an important input to making decisions. Don’t underestimate the criticality of being explicit about connecting feedback to impact.
Reward those that make it happen….
It’s one of the best practices of highly engaged organizations. Trust me or don’t, but it’s something that works.
Reality checks:
Of course, there is a chance that you could work for an organization or leader that just doesn’t buy into engagement. As strange as it seems, it can happen. A key lesson learned on the battlefield of trying to convince people to do something they didn’t want to….
What happens if your senior leaders aren’t convinced engagement is important -
· Drop it and try something else. Seriously. Don’t waste your or their time trying to convince them of something that they just don’t believe. Trying to throw data and best practices at a leader that doesn’t believe that engagement matters is like trying to convince someone of that GMOs or immunizations are safe. Regardless of the data, they push harder against it.
What should you do instead
- Pretend like you are measuring engagement and encourage front line leaders to work with their teams to build “engagement plans"
- Try to implement eNPS. It’s not as sound or actionable, but it’s kind of a “gateway” to full-fledged employee engagement
- Work on initiatives to make the workplace better (leadership development, mentoring, robust on boarding, etc.). Most organizations need to focus on the basics of good organizational effectiveness. Do those things and measure their impact.
What are you doing to create a highly productive-highly engaged organization? Contact me. I would love to hear about your best practices or share some to help you out!
Anil Saxena: President & Senior Consultant - Cube 214 Consulting
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