Hey, this is Chris with Hacking Your Leadership. On this week's discussion of employee engagement, I want to talk about the importance of defining what employee engagement is and actually having an employee engagement strategy. I think a lot of leaders have started using the words employee engagement as a much broader term that can encompass whatever it is they're experiencing in their organization, so they can say, oh,
you know what, yeah, everything, everything's good. That there are a lot of employees out there who aren't quitting their job, who aren't looking to leave to go elsewhere. They're they're can they're perfectly content would be the right word. It would They would they like more money, sure, but they're paying their bills. The people they work alongside are nice people and they
like them, but that doesn't mean that they are engaged. And I think in a lot of organizations, a lot of leaders have started to take that criteria that I just listed and using that to define high employee engagement, when
high employee engagement is so much more than that. In order to be able to impact employe engagement positively, you have to define what it is in a way that is challenging in a way that actually quantifies what you're looking for out of employees, not just something that allows you to say what I already have is fine, and then you actually have to have a strategy on how to raise it, not just measure it and then react to whatever rise or fall
in the in those numbers are, which is what I think happens in a lot of organizations. Employee engagement runs much deeper than just being happy with your pay and the people you work alongside. It's tied with a level of self esteem that comes from believing that the work you do is something that you can derive respect from that you can, you know, find the ability to get closer to your long term goals and dreams. And it sounds kind of like
ethereal and kind of like out there, but it's true. You know, if all you're doing for your employees is meeting the basic needs, almost like a transactional relationship of hey, yeah, I pay you fairly for the job you're doing, and you're doing the job and you're not looking at leaving because that checks those boxes. That doesn't mean that they're engaged in doing the work in a way that allows them to feel like they are growing themselves and becoming
better people and accomplishing long term goals and dreams. I guess it's just so important that we define employee engagement in a way that includes those things because it's harder to reach, but if you but the efforts that it takes to get there will increase productivity and performance and long term happiness. Even if you can't get all the way there for every person, just having that as part of your mindset as a leader will move the needle, so to speak. Yeah,
I think it's a great point when I hear the term engagement. To me, it's so much more than just like do I show up and just do the job? And even like do I do the job well? Like I think that that that that's kind of a ticket to entry when it comes to like really talking about true engagement. But I think when true engagement happens, it's kind of like when when when you've when you've got somebody who is connected to the leader, connected to the work in such a way that they
are not just doing them in an expectation. They're they're looking for ways to improve, They're looking for ways to learn, they're looking for ways to grow which means that they're taking some professional risk on certain things or trying things for the first time. They're open to to to learning, to to to feedback,
to coaching, whatever that might be. Like that, when somebody is truly engaged, that means that they show up and they really think about like not do not not can I just do the job it's in front of me? But like, how can I make this better? How can I make the thing that I do better? How can I make our team better? How can I how can I help to pour into the culture that we're building,
like whatever that might be. But there's a piece of it that is just beyond the basics of do I go to work and it's like, you know, I like my job. It's a cool job. It's a good job. I like it. It's cool. Like if if that's it, then that's that's fine, and like most companies would like to have that.
But when we talk about true engagement, it has to build upon that aspect and it has to include some of the things that you spoke about so that we're so that we're measuring it appropriately and we're really thinking about how do we strive to have the most engaged workforce possible. How do we have the most
engaged team possible. That's going to require a lot of heavy lifting by the leaders, by the organization to constantly not only you know, connect with with with with the people, but then like make adjustments and evolve things in work, in benefits, in opportunities to allow there to be this continual, you know, momentum of building engagement across you know, everyone that's there, right
right. I found a quote online from a CEO of a company's name is Robert Losman, and it kind of jumped out at me because it reminds me of something that we've said on this show before. His quote is, as CEO, I employ a management system that centers on three in engagement initiatives, Transparency, alignment and voice or transparency and training associates about our goals as a
company, our expectations of them, and how to pursue their goals. In the system, we align objectives behind a shared passion, and we expect employees to challenge us with their voices. I read that and I started thinking, vision, clarity, and support. Right. You know, the alignment part of it is the vision or we align on the same vision, and what we're here to do. Transparency is clarity, and voice is that support.
You expect employees to challenge you with their voice. What you're saying is you're willing, you know, to meet them where they are and to give them the support they need. In a lot of organizations, if you don't, if you're not willing to support your employees, you don't want them to have a voice because you don't know how to react to that voice in the long term and how to give them what they need. By definition, if you want your employees to challenge you with their voice, it means that you at
least have the desire to support them in the things that they need. And so you know, transparency, alignment, and voices. I think they are synonymous with vision, clarity, and support, and it brings things full circle. This is what employees look for to be fully engaged. If you're listening right now and you want some advice on how to be better at this or do this better, I want to go into that, but first I want
to get up to word for one of our sponsors. So if you're a leader and you're looking to get better at these things, you don't need to be a decision make you're within an organization, you just need to own your role as a leader. So transparency doesn't necessarily mean that you have all the
answers. It means that you are clear and honest and forthcoming with the information that you do have in a way that allows people to understand the why behind the things they're being asked to do, and they're able to tie that information into the broader goals of the organization. It means that if you are asking for them to give you feedback, that you're not doing it because you want the credit for asking them. It means you're doing it because you actually want
to make changes that will help engage them better in their work. And no matter what it is that they say, either it means you can help them get that fix, or you can make changes, or you can articulate very clearly why that can't change or why that isn't something you can you can compromise on in a way that lets them leave the conversation thinking I get it. I might not like the answer, but I understand why that is. These are things that you can always do on a local level, regardless of well,
what the broader organization is doing. Yeah, I think that's so important to the transparency aspect, the building the trust, you know, spending the time to to create consistency and predictability with the team is critical to having them be engaged because they have to feel uh, they have to feel good in that space, and they have to be willing to understand that like, there's more that we want to accomplish together than there is specifically to like the job
expectations that we all have. And so I think that that's a that's a great call out. I think the other part of it, too, is is constantly checking in with the team as a leader of people to say, like, how are you feeling? And and and what are things you know? What? What are things that we do here that you maybe want to get more time to do? What's a passion of yours? How can I connect what people enjoy doing or what they're passionate about, or things that they
want to learn? How can I connect that to the day to day Because I think when people then see the opportunity to learn and to grow, that also increases engagement because they're really feeling like, again, they're not just a part of They're a part of something bigger than just the day to day of the job, and that could be a really big piece in getting people to want to show up and not put forth just an effort, but put forth really their best effort, right, you know, in a way that shows
that they are proud of the work that they're doing because they believe that work speaks to something broader or bigger than themselves, which is what everybody wants. And I know there are people listening right now who roll their eyes at that because they don't think it's possible, or they think that it's you know, a pipe dream to have that be They what their goal is is to just find a job that they don't dread coming to. And I'm telling you that
that's not employee engagement. You know, that's just having a job that you don't dread coming to. If you look at it from a you know, from a psychology perspective, on a on a on a Maslow hierarchy of needs scale, you know, having a job that that makes you not have to live paycheck to paycheck, that just that that you're able to pay the bills, put some money away for savings. You don't dread going there. It's fine, but you don't want to think about it when you're not there.
There are people there that are nice, but if you left the organization that you'd never talk to them again. Like all of those things, That is the lowest level of Maslow's hierarchy of needs. That's just like checking off the basic boxes. And then there are other layers on top of that. To
me, employee engagement is the top layer. It's that it's that self actualization layer that says that you've you've transcended beyond just these basic things, and you've gone into an area where employees they think about their job when they're not doing it because they're so passionate about the work that they just want to do it. And and and you're not going to get there with every but if you think that engagement is just that basic level, that's all you'll ever get to.
If you think of it as that top level and you make steps to strive for it, even though you know for a fact you'll never get completely there for every person because everybody's different. You will get further along than you are. You'll get further above where you're currently defining engagement, which is just hey, no one's quitting, and people tend to report on an engagement survey
that Yeah, things are fine. That's not employee engagement. You're gonna get the best productivity, the best work, and the most fulfillment out of your role as a leader if the people who report to you can do these things in a way that is meaningful for them. I want to thank everybody for joining us this conversation on employee engagement. Join us next week for another one. Have a great day.