The New Employee Engagement Problem Statement

We've been measuring and solving for employee engagement for decades. I dedicated the last decade and a half at Gallup focused on it. Somehow it rarely gets past the neighborhood of 30% of the workforce being engaged. What is holding us back?

There are two things in the workplace we don't directly solve for that keep so many from being great:

(1) CARE. People actually caring about their work. So much can flow from that, including how to put their strengths to work. Yes, there's an overlap. We care about the things that we do well. We find joy in the things we succeed in.

Strengths is the action. What is the object of your strengths?

Strengths + The Object of Your Strengths = Purpose. So, yes, I'm suggesting in order to care, in order to find greater engagement and performance, we need to bring together two parts to get purpose - what we're best at and what we care about. We miss that combo. Who Cares? That's Your Job talks more about this.

(2) TRUST. Consistency in leadership actions, words, and intent based on a clear identity. That clarity of identity helps me know I can live my life's purpose statement with your organization. It is as much a culture and talent retention solve as it is a consumption and customer retention solve.

In Solving For Trust Every Time (Part 4 - Personal Brand) and Solving For Trust Every Time (Part 2 - Consumer Brand) I share more about how to build this identity from leadership to customer, connecting Culture to Customer.

Those two dynamics coming together - bottom-up, top-down - are what I am finding to be the secret combustion to breaking open the engagement ceiling with its accompanying performance outcomes.

The great news is there's a common solution to both. There's a single solve that enables both parts. Both are founded on Purpose.

The fundamental shift that needs to happen is each of us committing to look for jobs that help us solve for our Purpose Statement - how to use your unique talents to make a difference in what you care about most.

That is the new employee engagement problem statement, that generate both care at the individual level and trust at the leadership and organizational level.

But we need to solve the purpose statement right to left. What you care about is where you start. This is an issue of heart. The heart is a lot harder to change than the head. Use the head to get the heart where it wants to be.

The heart speaks in emotions. Emotions tell you where you want to be. Use your head to get you where the heart needs you to be.

What you care about are things that create an emotive response. Some things that create an emotive response are universally human - family, suffering, achievement, failure, etc.

There are specific experiences that you've had, however, that no one else has. And even if it was the same experience, no one has experienced it being you - with your context and circumstance. These help you get specific on what you care about.

Some are lucky enough to care so deeply, they call it passion. By the law of large numbers, the majority of us do not have a passion. But we all have a heart, so we all care about something. Of the things you care about, what do you care about most i.e. where is the most intensity of emotion?

Which of life's experiences have given you the most pain? Which of life's experiences have given you the most pleasure? Those are the polarities of emotive experience. On one of those poles, or both, you'll find the things you care about most, that matter most to you.

Now, connect with others who you think care about the same things you do. Talk to them about how they are able to earn income making a difference in it. Talk to them about what kind of strengths, skills, and knowledge are best to contribute to it. They can help you fill in the blanks of your purpose statement.

Most networking is an economic transaction where you have little to nothing to give to the person you want to connect with. That's job hunting. You don't get as many calls back, because the economics don't make sense!

Learning from each other about your shared interest changes networking from an economic transaction to an human interaction.

Somewhere you've had similar experiences with a person who cares about the same things you do. Learn how to talk about those experiences from each other, how to tie it to your strengths, how people contribute and make a difference to it. Now you're purpose solving, not job hunting. And more likely to find a job or craft a job that you'll be inspired to get up for and fulfilled by when you finish.

That is rewarding work!

My ambition is to finally break the employee engagement barrier by helping every leader and employee solve this new problem statement:

"How can I do what I do best to make a difference in what I care about most?"