5 Reasons Employee Engagement Fails
“How to keep employees engaged” was one of the top searched phrases this year. But with such a broad definition, what does employee engagement even mean?
In an article written for Forbes, Kevin Kruse specifically differentiates employee engagement from employee happiness and/or employee satisfaction. Being happy or enjoying your job is not the same thing as being engaged in your workplace, Kruse argues.
“EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT IS THE EMOTIONAL COMMITMENT THE EMPLOYEE HAS TO THE ORGANIZATION AND ITS GOALS.”
— KEVIN KRUSE
In essence, employee engagement is the degree to which employees take on the goals and well-being of their organization as their own - how committed they are to their organization and how much they personally identify with their work, co-workers, and place of work. An engaged employee is not counting minutes or hours; they are fully committed to the success of the organization and the people within it and will do what is necessary to get the work done and the goals met.
How do we get these rare “unicorn” employees?
Perhaps a better question is: “What makes an organization worthy of employee’s emotional investment and committed engagement?”
Instead of focusing on finding the unicorns, perhaps the wiser course of action is to think about what an organization must embody to foster loyalty and enthusiasm. If you already have an employee engagement strategy or program but are not seeing the type of commitment you would like to see…..what is going wrong?
5 Reasons Employee Engagement Fails
Unclear and/or Misaligned Mission & Values
An organization will not have much luck asking for employee commitment and engagement if they cannot clearly articulate their mission and values - the “what” and “why” to which employees are being asked to engage.
Employee engagement is, at its core, an emotional ask. It is an emotional investment. It is about the employee and the organization having overlapping values, which means that if you want great employee engagement - you need to hire people who have aligned values with your organization.
How you can clarify your organization’s mission: When I say articulate, I don’t mean, “Can you regurgitate your mission statement?” Invest the time coaching your employees on articulating your organization’s values in conversation and action. Those are the things that build relationships and community, and relationships and community are the necessary precursors to engagement and commitment. This leads us to point #2.
2. Incohesive Culture
A brilliant marketing professional that I know espouses a fantastic concept that he calls “branding w/ a big B.” Branding with a little b (branding) refers to the nuts and bolts of a brand - the logo, fonts, brand voice, website, etc. Branding with a big B (Branding) is anything and everything that demonstrates and reinforces an organization's brand, values, voice, and energy.
The same concept is true for culture. Culture with a little c vs. Culture with a big C. It is one thing to have a written mission statement, written core values, and written policy (a.k.a. culture with a little c). It is entirely another to consistently live those cultural values through everyday action (Culture with a big C).
How you can avoid an incohesive culture: The first step is to clarify cultural values, but the key is the never-ending work of aligning those values in every single interaction, relationship, process, decision, etc.
I would argue that in the realm of employee engagement, this is the organization's most important work. Consistent demonstration of mission and values is essential for trust, and trust is essential for any healthy relational commitment, including employee engagement.
3. All Work and No Play
A person’s relationship with their organization is directly tied to their relationships with the people within those organizations.
“Research has shown that having a good relationship with co-workers is an integral aspect of employee engagement. By measuring the level of camaraderie that exists in a company, we can determine how much of an impact this has on overall employee satisfaction. Some surveys ask employees if they have a good friend at work, and research has shown that this single question is an important indicator of employee engagement.” - Casey Mulqueen, Ph.D.
Edgar H. Shein & Peter A. Schein, authors of Humble Leadership, propose that worker satisfaction and engagement increase dramatically when employees can develop “Level 2” relationships in the workplace. A Level 2 relationship is defined as “a relationship that acknowledges the whole person.” In a Level 2 relationship, co-workers are seen as whole people rather than just the roles/jobs that they occupy at work.
Shein & Shein are deliberate in pointing out that a Level 2 relationship does not necessarily mean friendship. In fact, it doesn’t necessitate you “like” or enjoy a person. It means that you have humanized the person through an understanding of them that goes beyond the tasks they execute in the workplace.
How to build Level 2 relationships: Through thoughtful engagement, shared learning experiences, and deliberate investment.
4. Wrong Butts in Wrong Seats*
Above, we noted that employee engagement is not the same as employee satisfaction. While this is true, it cannot be denied that the two are closely related and intertwined. Employee satisfaction and happiness is dependent on many factors, but one of the most important is tied to feelings of success and failure.
It is very hard, if not impossible, for a person to feel satisfaction and happiness if they do not feel successful.
One of the most important jobs of an organization’s leadership is to create infrastructures of learning and success for the people in their care, and the single most important piece of that complicated puzzle is making sure that the right people are in the right roles - the right butts are in the right seats.
How to foster employee satisfaction: Engagement requires that people feel aligned, useful, supported, and hopeful. This does not mean that there is no place for failure or that people must always succeed. Failure and setbacks are critical for learning and growth. But it does mean that motivation, engagement, & commitment require forward movement & hope. People have to feel like they “can” in order to consistently try, and we need people to consistently try to be engaged.
*borrowed respectfully from Jim Collin’s book Good to Great.
5. Lack of Accountability & Support
Why don’t good ideas get executed? It happens all the time. Why?
Lack of clear strategy & directive and lack of accountability.
If no one is accountable, nothing will get done….or it will at least take a very long time.
A Common Story: Your organization’s leadership is passionate, committed, and dedicated. They have strategized an organization with great bones, excellent products, and defined mission, vision, and values…..yet, except for the holiday party, the employee engagement seems…..tepid or, at the very least, inconsistent.
How to build a culture of accountability and success: Ask yourself and your leadership team the following questions. When you answer them clearly, you’ll be able to instill a strong culture of accountability and success.
What specific person and team is in charge of each objective’s outcome?
How are they developing their strategy?
How are they measuring success?
How are the objectives integrated into daily, weekly, monthly, and annual goals?
Note: Accountability is not synonymous with “doing all the work.” It doesn’t mean that those held accountable must execute every task. It means they are responsible for planning, delegating, tracking, and reporting on an objective - keeping the objective in view and bringing attention back to it when it falls off the list.
Investment: In any workplace, the day-to-day of “the work” can overwhelm the most well-meaning of leadership. Deadlines, bottom lines, and operations can easily fill every moment of every day. To ensure values integration, cultural progress, and systemic cohesion, deliberate attention, time, support, and resources (time and money), leaders must be committed to the task. When investments are made to avoid the 5 factors listed above, you will reap the major rewards of a committed and united team.