John was with his company for a little over two years. He was one of the senior management reporting directly to the CEO and Chairman. He was very soon expected to take over as CEO and Chairman. However, John was frustrated and has been mulling over leaving the firm to pursue other opportunities. John had joined this firm with a lot of expectations in terms of the vision he saw for this company. This was the second firm in his 15 year career so far.
Employee engagement has become a key word and an area of focus within organizations more so from the point view of retention. What is employee engagement? Employee engagement is the emotional commitment that a person has to their organization.
What is the Key to Employee Engagement
From Gallup
12 questions for Employee Engagement
1) Do you know what is expected of you at work?
2) Do you have the materials and equipment to do your work right?
3) At work, do you have the opportunity to do what you do best every day?
4) In the last seven days, have you received recognition or praise for doing good work?
5) Does your supervisor, or someone at work, seem to care about you as a person?
6) Is there someone at work who encourages your development?
7) At work, do your opinions seem to count?
8) Does the mission/purpose of your company make you feel your job is important?
9) Are your associates (fellow employees) committed to doing quality work?
10) Do you have a best friend at work?
11) In the last six months, has someone at work talked to you about your progress?
12) In the last year, have you had opportunities to learn and grow?
Key questions to ask to retain good people
Please refer this LINK
In John’s case, he had always surpassed what was expected of him, he was also a strong candidate tipped to become the next CEO and Chairman. But yet he wanted to leave.
The key question here is was he ever asked by the CEO and Chairman How can I, and the company, help you fulfill your career goals and your vision ?
Whenever you have changed organizations ask yourself what is that you lacked the most. Was it just a promotion and salary hike or one or all of the following
- Appreciation – As leaders it is key to deliver the recognition in a manner that the employee is comfortable. Just saying “Hey good job” delivered in a no care attitude hardly does the job. Recognition and appreciation has to be specific (with referral to what was done well and the efforts that they put in) and timely.
- You Matter – being appreciated, recognized and made to feel You Matter is a continuous process rather than a onetime event. A true leader realizes that it is important to create and maintain such an environment. It is about them and not about you or your achievements.
- Larger goal – engagement is high when what we do is linked to a larger vision or purpose. True meaning is achieved when we can connect to something bigger than us.
- Tone – delivery of words of praise has to be meaningful and sincere. Tone in which the message is communicated matters most.
- Clarity – you have to be clear and focused in what you liked the most and how it contributed to the overall vision of the company or goal of the project. Sandwiching too many compliments makes the feedback confusing. The Sandwich Approach also undermines your message.
No one is perfect and we all learn from mistakes. While correcting the employee for their mistake the following should never be done
- Public humiliation – none of us like to be embarrassed in front of our team. Even when circumstances warrant you to correct someone amongst a group, the way the message is delivered is important.
- Not walking your talk – you need to spend time with your team. You need to deliver on your word. Motivation is badly affected when you as a leader don’t lead by example.
- People skills – communication of the goals, developments, changes in management structure is imperative. Employee engagement will be low when you keep your employees second guessing. Many employees learn from media as to what is going on within their company rather than from their managers.
John was recognized for his performance but the communication lines had broken down. The company changed its vision which was never directly communicated to him, the ‘why’ was never answered and ‘what’ he was hired for was forgotten along the way. Bottom line of career management is to align right people to right position, doing the right thing = operational performance + productivity + profit.
Employee engagement is a three-way process and requires responsibility, accountability and ownership from the employer, the employees and the organization.
Useful References
Research on Employee Engagement
This post offers a lot, Lalita including great insight into why the Gallup Q12 matters. You help us see below the questions into why they matter. John’s story is all too common and organizations are left wondering why top talent, that they’ve rewarded financially and promoted, still chooses to leave. Truly engaged employees give their discretionary effort to the work and goals of the org… when engagement wanes, they begin to wonder if it’s time to wander.
Thank you Alli. You have beautifully put that when employee engagement wanes, you wonder of it is time to wander. Many organizations and senior management fail to understand the simple concept of how to keep top performing employees engaged.
Thank you for always taking the time to read and comment. I truly appreciate.
This post is chock full of goodies. When I talk about my partners company with him, these are the elements they lack the most and they are constantly losing people. I think the last bit about the communication breakdown is so key. When a company changes it’s direction and does not take the the time to communicate it, it creates feelings of mistrust, betrayal and disorientation.
Thank you Blair. You made a relevant point on communication. Many people in many firms take communication for granted. With respect to employee engagement, many firms think that a high performing employee will continue to be engaged and an open dialogue or appreciation is not required.
Thank you Blair for your insight and comment.
I appreciate.
Great post, Lalita! Thank you for sharing and elaborating on the Q12 study. In addition to appreciation and recognition, I think a big factor for employees is knowing how their work fits into the entire organizational picture. Too often, people don’t understand why they are doing certain things. When leadership is open and shares all the information, people connect with the vision. It is only when information flow is not forthcoming that people get frustrated and cannot see their worth. Great leaders make sure all the facts are available. Thanks again!
Thank you Terri for your insights. You have made a valid point on being engaged on causes bigger than ourselves. Yes we do need to see how we abc what we are and what we do links to the bigger picture or with the overall vision if the company. Otherwise as you point out frustration builds and mind starts to wander resulting in employee turnover.
Thank you 🙂
I find the idea of making workers accountable for their own effort inquisitive. Engagement is depending on a desire to provide more than estimated. But the employee/employer build is depending on an fairness doctrine. I have what you need; worker needs cash, company needs work (or information or skill). Until an company is willing or able to review, codify or set up other non-monetary benefits and make them obvious to the staff, the worker will keep provide what they experience is reasonable.
Thank you. Yes employee engagement is a three way process amongst the employee, employer (overall organization) and the manager concerned.