Employee Engagement: The Holy Grail?

In my profession I am forever hearing the phrase 'employee engagement'; it is something of a Holy Grail. People believe that if they can get it right they will have outstanding employees delivering exceptional results at all times! This may be true but as a concept it is a tough thing to get right, and my concern is that it is not often fully understood. I recently read something that I think perfectly explains the requirements for engagement at work:

For individuals to flourish, they need to feel a combination of six things: Valuable, Autonomous, Challenged, Passionate, Safe and Connected.

If we think back to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (1954), these things all feature in some way; basic needs of safety and belonging (safe and connected), esteem needs (valuable), self actualization (autonomous, passionate and challenged). The concepts haven’t changed but sadly, in many workplaces, nor has the achievement of such factors for employees.

What is going wrong?

Often people come to me telling me that there is something wrong with their internal communications and, as a result, people aren't showing an interest in the content and things aren't getting done. The question I am often asked is "How can we write our communications differently to increase employee engagement?” To which my response is "Why do you think your employees are disengaged, have you spoken to them about the issue?" which then brings the response, “No, why should we do that?”

More often than not people assume that they know why their employees are disengaged without even asking them. It is often not until surprising employee engagement survey results surface, or they have had so many failed ideas to increase engagement, that the true issues are realised. When we dig deeper to learn about why people aren't responding to communications, we often find that there are hidden cause and effect relationships at play; and not surprisingly, these true issues always boil down to the factors mentioned above.

Organisations often throw new solutions at a problem without ever really knowing the cause. By understanding what is behind the lack of engagement; you are half way to having engaged employees. By continuing to build on the connectedness you have achieved, through increasing your understanding of your employees, the Holy Grail is within reach.

So what do we do next?

Talk to people: this might sound simple but you will be amazed how many people don’t do this, often for fear of opening that dreaded can of worms people talk of… This process doesn’t have to be scary. Often, once people have the initial rant off their chest’s, they can be quite reasonable in their wants and needs, and usually – you’ll be pleased to know – it doesn’t boil down to higher wages (this has been found to be one of the things that is least engaging to employees).

Keep people connected to the broader purpose: does the company have a set of values or a broader purpose? If so, ensure communications, performance management, values and daily operations are always connected back to this. If not, you might want to think about developing one, and if not for the whole organisation (this is a big undertaking), developing some common goals that unite the 'people on the ground' to the wider organisation. 

One way of doing this might be to have an event, or series of events that encourage people to get involved in something that the business stands for but that also means something to them as individuals. The obvious stuff relates to health and fitness events for charities - most people will buy into this because it is human nature to care about others. This creates team competition and engagement, but makes the broader goal something that the whole organisation can achieve and helps the organisation to achieve a philanthropic status. 

You can be as creative as you like with these things but the principles are the same. You can then use the intranet as an outlet to share progress and increase traffic and engagement in wider communications. 

Encourage people to share stories about the business: positive anecdotes that work towards the greater goal of the company, helps to unite people, encourages them to see the organisation in a more positive light and gets them thinking creatively about their work.

Try some quick wins: building on the last idea; you could offer a prize for the person that shares the most fun story or some other in house competition. You could also treat people to a Friday cake day, or fresh fruit day, if you prefer to go down the healthy route. Treat them and they will feel valued. 

Get senior stakeholder buy in: If people on the ground hear/see senior stakeholders sharing and showing the importance of people connecting and communicating across the business, they are more likely to see the value in it and feel like they are an important part of making the business work. People often get stuck in hierarchical mindsets but an organisation cannot operate without everyone in it. When people see that they add as much value as everyone else around them, it can work towards increasing their engagement. 

Give people ownership of their work: in effect this means, be there to support your teams but do not micro manage them. If they need you, encourage an open door policy that allows them to ask questions and bounce ideas off you, but ultimately allow them to take risks and make mistakes for themselves. This is the best way to learn.

Test them: encourage people to take on things that challenge them but ensure they are within their skill set and their area of interest, or that you have given them the resources to build the skill set required. If these factors are not present, people will get either bored because they are under challenged, or frustrated and lose confidence because they are over stretched.

When broken down into bite size chucks the Holy Grail of engagement isn't so hard to achieve. Small steps can help everyone to feel more valued, more connected and have more ownership over their work. 

If you are interested in learning more or you have similar issues in your organisation, please feel free to contact me for further hints and tips.