Employee

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What is employee engagement? Back to Top

My definition of employee engagement is based both on my personal experience with teams and on the criteria of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. The Baldrige criteria define employee engagement as the extent to which workforce commitment, both emotional and intellectual, exists relative to accomplishing the work, mission, and vision of the organization. I see engagement as a heightened level of ownership where each employee wants to do whatever they can for the benefit of their internal and external customers, and for the success of the organization as a whole.

For people to be engaged, they have to be given the time and mechanisms to get involved. They have to believe that their personal contributions matter, and they have to be keenly aware of the connection that exists between their daily personal actions and decisions and the success of the organization. Engagement also implies the existence of strong, meaningful relationships. Sustained organizational success is all about creating effective relationships between customers and team members. Think of your teams like a set of gears - if each of the gear teeth (each person), as well as the gears themselves (your teams), are not properly and consistently engaged, mechanical efficiency will be lost to some degree.

Why do I really need to engage a high percentage of my people? Back to Top

Gauging true employee engagement involves looking at the degree to each employee is connected. In turn, by looking at the percentage of your workforce that you involve in decision making activities, planning efforts, problem solving, personal development events, customer contacts, and team-based work, you can get a better idea of how engaged your people are and where your engagement deficiencies might be. Unfortunately, most organizations only engage a small percentage of their people in activities that...