Maximise engagement

Description

Leaders have a responsibility to maximise the engagement of the organisation's human capability to harness the potential creativity and cognitive abilities. This will enhance the organisation's chances of surviving and thriving, and it will also improve the culture, morale and staff retention.

Rationale

The regular engagement survey from Gallup shows that 70% of employees are not engaged. Employee engagement is highly related to many performance outcomes, lack of engagement has significant potential performance consequences.

Forbes defines Employee engagement as "the emotional commitment the employee has to the organization and its goals." This emotional commitment means engaged employees actually care about their work, their team and their company. One of the main reasons for employee disengagement is a lack of purpose or meaning in the work. Sometimes, a company’s vision doesn’t resonate with employees. Or the company may fail to give its employees purposeful, meaningful work to perform.

Therefore leaders should ensure followers have a clear connection to organisational goals, they care about their fellow team members, and they are given the space to engage in problem-solving and actively practice personal growth in their skills and relationships with others.

Much of the research we refer to in leadership is interconnected, has many similarities and supports this broad view.

Whilst extrinsic motivational factors, rewards or other incentives like praise, money or fame do provide a level of motivation, intrinsic motivation encourages cohesive interaction and a higher degree of effort and long-term performance (Pinder 2011). Self-determination theory (Ryan & Deci, 2017), provides one of the most robust models for human motivation.

For complex, knowledge-based, problem-solving work, once so-called hygiene factors have been satisfied (such as enough money), there are three main factors that drive motivation in the workplace (and hence engagement). These are autonomy, competence and relatedness. Leaders should actively maximise these factors so that teams achieve higher levels of personal satisfaction and performance.

Related Research

• Self-Determination Theory - Deci & Ryan
• Drive - Daniel Pink
• The Full Power of Engagement - Jim Loehr & Tony Schwartz
• Job Crafting - Amy Wrzesniewski

Related Principles

• Create the environment for people to thrive
• Foster a high trust environment
• Create clarity of purpose
• Involve those affected by change
• Create a Learning Organisation
• Maximise team empowerment and localised decision making
• Favour Teams with broader Solution Accountability
• Favour Teams with broader Business Domain Accountability
• Self-managed teams
• Self-managed Team of Teams
• Maximise Team autonomy
• Organise around value streams

Related Practices

Job Crafting Exercise - Relies on the individual knowing their strengths, passions and values