Engagement – Who’s Job Is It Anyway?

An article came across my desk the other day analyzing what managers and supervisors can do to improve engagement. Over the past couple of years, I’ve read hundreds of similar articles. Each one says about the same thing: Be available, share feedback, provide challenging assignments, be transparent. These are all basic managerial skills, often touted by management consultants. And all of these are great ideas but, as I read through all these hundreds of articles, one question kept arising in my head. If Gallup is correct and fewer than 15% of all workers worldwide are fully engaged, does that mean fewer than 15% of all managers are demonstrating basic skills? Furthermore, if an organization is diligent with these important engagement activities, why is it that on any given team there will be someone who is fully engaged and someone who is not (and plenty in between)? Is it possible that employee engagement requires an effort on the part of the employee, irrespective of the employer? After all, whose job is it?

The research

I created a research study to find out a little more about this question. It turns out that highly engaged employees–those who are fully engaged a majority of the time­–develop their own strategies to engage, remain engaged, and reengage when they find themselves slipping. This is an important finding, one that has not been discussed very much. Highly engaged employees are engaged because they want to be engaged and they look for their own ways to be and stay engaged.

What does that mean for management? Does that mean managers do not need to provide an engaging workplace? Quite the contrary. Employee engagement is a partnership and both parties share an obligation in the engagement equation. Highly engaged employees will seek out the best environment for their skills to shine. They will bring these engagement strategies with them. Managers need to find ways to encourage the development and the sharing of these strategies. Nearly every employee I interviewed looked for ways to help their co-workers. They want to reach out and help their colleagues. Engagement strategies can be shared within work teams, thus creating an engagement community.

Three suggestions

My research suggests the following for organizations. This is not an exhaustive list, but a starting point to develop a more engaged workforce.

• Find out what strategies your highly engaged employees deploy to engage, stay engaged, and reengage when necessary.

• Develop recruiting questions that seek out potential employees who have developed the types of engagement strategies that have proven successful in your organization.

• Create learning programs that share and encourage the development of personal engagement strategies.

Conclusion

Research suggests that highly engaged employees develop personal strategies to be engaged in their work. In addition to providing an engaging work environment, managers should seek to learn what personal strategies employees have developed to be engaged and use those skills to train and to hire a more engaged workforce. Employee engagement is a partnership between employee and employer.