It’s always interesting to me when the leadership of a company says that engagement is high and all they really need to do is keep the momentum going. It’s interesting to me for two reasons:
1. That’s not really any easier than improving engagement. And the idea is that it will be easier to maintain. Just like any relationship in life, the employer/employee contract doesn’t go on autopilot.
2. It’s often true for leadership, but not the people who report to them. It’s too easy to think your personal professional experience is the same for others. Leadership is often more engaged because they can see clearly the vision and big picture and their role in it.
I’ve had more than one brand call and ask if we can do anything to improve morale at their company, without their leadership knowing anything about it. But leadership has to know about it because they’re central to its success. Research has shown that organizations actively seeking to improve employee engagement, including through the use of formal and informal recognition, financially outperform their competitors. The results of Watson Wyatt’s Human Capital Index Study show that better Human Capital Management (as measured by a composite HCI Score) is correlated to improved financial performance:
• Low-HCI companies: 21% total return on shareholder value
• Medium-HCI companies: 39% total return on shareholder value
• High-HCI companies: 64% total return on shareholder value.
So, am I saying that you’ve got a problem you don’t know about? Absolutely not. Here’s what I’m saying:
• Leadership needs to be sure they’re not just talking to themselves. When you’re close to the nucleus, you immediately understand things faster than people further away.
• Traditional surveys don’t always tell the whole story. Show me a survey where people don’t inflate or deflate the truth for one reason or another. I’d love to see it.
• Be sure people of all ranks and geographies get equal billing. It’s easy to subconsciously and subjectively dismiss findings that don’t appeal to what you want to hear or that can be easily explained away.
The beauty of being a leader is that you can have a far-reaching impact. Value your employees and they usually return the favor by doing their part to make your brand a success.
You’ve hit the nail on the head here! The close alignment of leaders to the vision of the organization often results in “engagement blinders” with regard to the rest of the workers. Leaders, indeed, need to be cognizant of potentially lower engagement levels further down in the organization. One suggestion I make is to always dive deeper into any survey data. Corporate-level findings tend to mask true variance of results in individual divisions or business units. Only by understanding where (and why) engagement is high or low within an organization can leaders truly understand: 1) the true level of engagement, and 2) how to drive higher results, and as you point out, higher shareholder value.
Nice post, Jennifer!
Thanks, Trevor. I completely agree with your response. Truly, variances are terrific indicators that something is or isn’t working. And, if you can figure out what that is, then you have a great opportunity to improve engagement across an organization. Regards – Jen