Haven’t we talked about employee engagement enough?
Nope! Despite the amount of time, energy and effort that organizations around the globe are investing in helping engage people in work, things aren’t improving much.
Weekly pizza socials, guest speakers and telecommuting options are certainly appealing. I like pizza as much as the next guy. And, sure, a monetary bonus and summer hours will certainly put a smile on someone’s face.
But here’s the issue – none of these things will motivate your people day in and day out. These tactics don’t drive people’s discretionary efforts, passion or dedication.
It takes a completely different approach to drive a culture of engagement in your organization. You just need to follow four steps that I call the Four Roots of Engagement.
1. People want to be part of something bigger than themselves
People want to be a part of something big.
Who isn’t interested in being a part of something that’s bigger than themselves? Think how concert-goers act as one, connecting with hundreds of people they’ve never met … creating a force far bigger than they could achieve by themselves.
By association, they feel they’re a piece of something more significant than they could ever be alone. When this happens, people get a feeling that they are as big as the effort is. This feeling affords a sense of substance, importance, pride and direction.
The something big that you can offer is your business, your brand. Your organization’s culture is key here – helping your people feel a part of the big picture – helping them understand what that big picture is for them and the business.
Remember your culture isn’t defined by your pet-friendly, casual attire office rules, it represents the commonly held set of beliefs or values that people use to govern their interactions with each other. These values, that are talked about, embraced and demonstrated daily combined with a sense of purpose around the strategy, create the “something big.”
Set the tone with your culture and it can help you help connect and engage with your people’s minds and hearts for the long-term.
2: People want to feel a sense of belonging
People want to feel a sense of belonging.
When people are truly engaged, they believe they really belong. They have a sense of meaning or validation when they feel they “fit,” they’re accepted, they’re one of the group. With this sense of association and connection, they can go forward together because they have something in common.
On the other hand, a feeling of being on the outside, or not belonging, can disintegrate into disillusionment, then disengagement, and ultimately, destructiveness. In worst-case scenarios, people who feel like they’re not important members on the team will actually begin to silently hope for the team and business to fail, as if their sense of not belonging is made better by the team’s failure.
Surprised that your own people might actually be happy when no one succeeds? Yes, people will actually root for their own team to fail. Whether you’re in the auto industry, hospitality or even on an elementary school soccer team, it’s happening everyday.
So leaders, it’s your responsibility to build “belonging connective tissue” between the future state vision for the business and each individual’s importance in bringing it to life. Connect your people with your mission and they’ll be active participants on your path to success.
3, People want to go on a meaningful journey
Helen Keller said, “Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.”
Some of the most widespread and repeated stories are stories of adventure – like the classic adventures in books like The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Treasure Island and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, and movies like Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Lord of the Rings. Whether in print or on the big screen, the common elements are a call to adventure, a hazardous journey and eventual triumph.
A meaningful journey has elements of extraordinary challenge, risks, excitement, suspense, unexpected events, unknown outcomes, a dare to go and a purpose that makes it all worthwhile.
In the same way, a strategy can and should be an adventure – a meaningful journey that captures a sense of purpose, of doing something together that gets us through the hazardous journey, that builds energy from formidable challenge and unites people in the pursuit of outstanding achievement.
The call to action is unmistakable. There is more drama and adventure in most companies than on the highest rated reality shows, but it’s paved over by sterilized Power Points of outcome metrics that are yawners for most people, and are silent to the formidable challenge of achieving something that matters. So while you’re not going to eliminate weekly meetings, presentations or strategy decks from your business, think about the big picture, the adventure that your business is on – and tell that story to your people too.
4. People want to know they make an impact
All of us are faced with fears. American psychologist Abraham Maslow talked about the fears that drive us to attain our basic human needs – the need for food, water and shelter for starters. Of course, the fears about financial security and employment are often at the top of the “keep-you-up-at-night list.”
But all of these fears, as prominent and powerful as they are, pale in comparison to the big one. The biggest fear is we live a life of insignificance — that what we do doesn’t really matter.
Unfortunately, the complexity, fragmentation and specialization of work have separated and siloed us to the point that we can’t see how our work is impacting others. But leaders, you can change this! Simply make the time and make it part of your culture to connect your people to the impact of their work. Show them that they are a critical part of the process.
Employees carve these four things
The bottom line is this: Engaged people, whether they’re in a conference room, on the frontline or on the soccer field, feel that whatever they’re doing is unquestionably connected to making a difference in the lives of other people.
Leaders at all levels need to remember that people crave these four necessities:
- Being part of something big;
- Belonging;
- Going on a meaningful journey; and,
- Knowing they make a difference.
When these “roots” are present, when company culture incorporates these roots as a living, breathing part of the workplace, engagement occurs naturally – even in business.
So leaders, what are you doing to help get your people engaged in our mission? If you were to convert your strategy into a story of adventure, how would you best share it with your people? Let me know your tactics for creating your engagement!
This post originally appeared on CultureUniversity.com.
Editor’s note: See Jim Haudan’s full TED talk on the Roots of Engagement here.