The Gallup organisation’s latest engagement survey indicates that organisations are still trying to function with a largely disengaged or, even worse, actively disengaged work force.
Considering that ‘actively disengaged’ employees are considered to be actively undermining what the organisation is trying to achieve, these stats are of huge concern. I believe that as long as we make ‘engagement’ solely the employer’s problem to solve, we will continue to see numbers like those quoted in the Gallup's surveys.
Every relationship, including that of employer/employee, is subject to the values of the ‘It takes two to tango’ idiom. The relationship itself should be valued, in addition to the two participants. And, if the success of any relationship is left up to one party, it is bound to fail. So when it comes to building and maintaining engagement, employees are just as responsible for making the relationship work as employers are.
However, as long as organizations are competitive about talent, or feel they should own talent and control it only for the benefit of the company or organisation (or manager), we will see low levels of engagement and a lack of commitment to the vision, no matter how compelling that vision may be. This does not negate the employee’s role and responsibility for making the relationship work, though.
For their part, employees can learn to appreciate and take responsibility for their own choices and the role they play at work, where almost 80% of our lives are spent. Not doing so leads to a lack of accountability and a sense of powerlessness, which often results in apathy, resentment and, of course, disengagement.
High levels of engagement usually exist where employees have been given the opportunity to actively participate in their future and are able to fully appreciate what they themselves can (and cannot) contribute, and what is needed for them to grow and excel. Sometimes in these discussions the realisation naturally arises that they really don’t want to be a part of where the company is going and they feel their contribution is best suited elsewhere. In our consulting practice, where we have encouraged these conversations, we have seen employees make empowered choices to move on and find spaces that better celebrate their particular combination of talent, skills and experience. While no organisation ever likes to lose a valuable employee, it is better to lose a good employee that’s not a good fit and make space for a good employee who IS a good fit.
Although the role of the employer is certainly to respect and value who their employees are as people, it is also the employee’s responsibility to understand what it is they have to offer, where their best space is, and how that can be applied to achieve a mutually productive and financially rewarding relationship with their employer. At the end of the day, the organisation exists to meet a need and has to do so in a financially sustainable way. If an employee can define how they WANT to fit into that equation and then successfully market that to their employer, it’s a win-win for everyone involved.
To make things easier, there are some things an employer can do to facilitate this process. Enabling access to interventions that can increase an employee’s level of self-awareness, and their capacity, is one of them. Encouraging managers to gain basic coaching skills in order to have more effective conversations with their direct reports is another.
In short, if employers and employees can work together to define and understand their respective expectations, we can hope for greater levels of both engagement and productivity to be the result.
