Part 7: How to actually improve engagement, not just pester your people with another survey

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How to actually improve engagement, not just pester your people with another survey.

#7 in the series: How to build a high-performing organization in the 21st century.


We have an experiment for you.


When we say

“employee engagement”

What do you think of?


If you answered “a survey”, you’re not alone…

most people think of

“engagement” as an annual

survey, and nothing more.


So why don’t we realize itreally sucks when it happens at work?

What the heck?


How in the world does a

survey actually drive engagement??

We’ll give you a

hint. It doesn’t.


To actually improve

engagement, first remember that instead of that annual

survey, your engagement activities should be…


1) Part of your everyday. It’s silly to think that something that occurs just annually has any effect on the hearts and minds of your people the other 364 days of the year. Your engagement activities need to be something you do all the time, not measure every once in a while.

Tip: Avoid an engagement program with a laundry list of initiatives that all get inadequate attention. Pick a very short list, set priorities, and execute one or two at a time. Ensure very visible impact. That focus will pay dividends.

Try making it second nature to your leaders to think about engagement when making business decisions. Make it part of your culture to always ask, “are our employees doing work they enjoy? Do they feel valued and heard?”


2) Connected to your desired business outcomes.

This might surprise you a little, but we don’t think on-site dry cleaning and free foosball are particularly good drivers of engagement. Why? Because they have nothing to do with connecting the hearts and minds of your people to the great meaning – and organizational goals – of your business.

Tip: Think of your engagement activities as a lever to improve business outcomes. Through your data gathering you can diagnose challenges with your performance model, make improvements to your systems, and measure progress.

Frequently share where your organization is headed, why it matters, and the part your team plays in getting you there. Because once you’ve connected to your team’s hearts and minds, real business results will follow.


3) Responsive.

Tip: When it comes to listening, take advantage of the “always on” nature of the world today. Leverage social media, phones, and tablets. Listen to sound bites often — and only occasionally collect extensive survey information.

make those things a reality. Taking actions on their insight is likely to make the business better, and their jobs easier. Talk about an engagement win-win!

We like what Henry David Thoreau once wrote: “The greatest compliment that was ever paid me was when one asked me what I thought, and attended to my answer”.

One of the best ways to drive engagement is through authentic communication between leaders and employees. You can implement cool perks until the cows come home, but if your people still feel like they’re unheard and undervalued, none of that will matter.

Listen to your people when and where they are talking. Participate in discussions. Ask the hard questions. Discover the things that really matter to your people – and then


Of course, we’re not telling you that you should never measure engagement.


Measurement allows you to

assess if you’re putting your people investments in the

right place.

As long as you remember that you don’t get engagement solely by measuring it!


Just think of it as part of a cycle.:

Step 2: Decide how you’re going to measure it.

Step 4: Analyze what you hear.

Step 5: Do something about it.

Step 7: If it worked, decide if you want to do more. If it didn’t, what should you do instead?

Step 6: Find out if it worked by measuring again.

Step 1: Figure out what you need to know.

Step 3: Listen to your people to gather data – when and where they are talking

Measure, learn, act, measure, learn, act…

repeat.


Got it? Let’s review.

Shameless plug: We have a new solution to help organizations do all this. It’s called ACTIVEngagement™. You should check it out even if you’re an engagement rock star. It’s cool stuff.

1) Yearly surveys don’t drive engagement, they measure it.

2) The act of measuring itself does nothing to actually create engagement.

3) But measuring, if done properly, can help you define what activities willcreate better engagement, and improve your business systems as a whole.

4) Remember your beautiful cycle: measure, learn, act, measure, learn, act, repeat.

Your people will thank you.


your people = your success.

PeopleFirm is a consulting firm dedicated to achieving the

ultimate win-win: inspired people driving inspired performance.

We focus on effective tools, measurable outcomes, real results,

and getting your people out of their seats and engaged in your

company’s growth.

www.peoplefirm.com

thanks for reading.

Part 7: How to actually improve engagement, not just pester your people with another survey

Leadership & Management

Transcript of Part 7: How to actually improve engagement, not just pester your people with another survey