Employee Engagement is the new buzz by the water coolers outside the HR director’s office. The statistics and research blogs are coming in fast and furious from Google that organizations that seemingly have a high, measured, level of employee engagement are vastly outperforming those organizations not engaged. Hogwash!!! Stop drinking the kool aid!!! That’s only 1/2 of the story.
Let’s start at the beginning. How important is it to have an engaged workforce? Very, is my answer, but let’s talk about the “how” to get there and what you need to do to really make it meaningful.
First, the definition of engagement has been all over the place. How and why there are so many different measures of engagement is beyond me. One company has 12 measures, another 28, another 15 and each are different. Everyone is measuring different elements, so who knows what are the right ones? Does it really make a difference? Maybe not. Just having high survey scores signifying happy people might well be enough to make them pliable for a change process.
It’s intuitive that happy workers are more apt to be committed to the company and their boss. That in and of itself will create a foundation for the “high performing” culture you’re seeking. It’s also the precursor for the real next step: aligning your business to your customer. This is where you can “show me the money.”
Every Engagement survey must have at least 50% of the questions focused on organizational issues. Happy workers that are so disconnected to the business will not make you more money. It these issues that really matter: How about the manager to worker relationships? do the processes really meet customer needs? Are the worker connected to the real business strategy and do they know how they contribute? How about the ongoing training, communication, culture and so much more that align to happy customers?
If you really want to convert straw to gold, the buzz about EE is only 50% correct. The second 50% is to link the “happy people” to the business issues. This is the hard work; How to mentor and supporting the managers to sustain the “happy people” attitudes, while improving their efficiency and effectiveness. Take this to the bank--happy people first, organization rehab second; then start counting your pennies.
Stanley Labovitz, CEO
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