Why does employee engagement generate up to 45% greater productivity?

Well, there isn’t a lot of research currently available to show the relative interactions of different factors, but it is generally accepted that when an employee is highly engaged with the organisation, several factors are in balance. These relate to the psychological contract, the management process and personal value systems.

For example, the employee feels:

• their job has importance to customers or society
• they commit to the values and ethos of the organisation
• they understand their role and have clear work objectives
• there is an appropriate balance between challenge and achievement in their job
• they receive relevant and timely information for decision making in their role
• they receive high quality personal feedback and adequate support from their immediate manager
• working relationships with peers, superiors and subordinates are respectful and supportive
• there are clear paths open to them for career advancement (inside or outside the organisation)

Commonsense tells us that when these factors are flowing smoothly for an individual, the work stress they experience is reduced. My assumption is that jobs put pressure on people and that people all require a level of pressure to function. And this level varies from person to person, dependant on life factors.

Not enough pressure and the result is disaffection, disengagement, boredom and stress. Too much pressure, and the result, if prolonged, is eventually failure, dissatisfaction, disengagement, illness and stress.

A balance of reasonable pressure is ideal.

For example, in a survey conducted by a recent client, team leaders reported too much pressure compared to other groups who believed their workload was in balance. This indicated a need for further investigation of the training and support given to team leaders across the company, particularly when they were new to the role and questioning the extent of their responsibility and how to manage relationships with their team, colleagues and manager.

Stress causes us to put our internal resources on problem-solving to reduce its effect, leaving much less energy available for the legitimate activities of work. We ask internal questions like ‘how can I stop my manager being angry? Or what can I do to stop people knowing I am not getting this right? Or why am I feeling so bad?’ Inevitably, if we are dealing with difficult issues we cannot be productive as well.

This is where good management and effective team process really does pay dividends. If the internal questions can be facilitated by active and supportive feedback and dialogue, they are resolved. Energy can then be released to put to customer and business related activity. And without unnecessary stress, the person is happier.

For example, another client recently asked for a facilitated review of teamworking processes, where people at all levels were encouraged to be open about their goals, concerns and challenges relating to their job. The resulting information brought clarity, enabling the group to develop increased confidence in the value of collaboration. It also generated a new respect for the effort and intention of each individual within the team.

We hear the term ‘discretionary effort’: that extra effort that people can choose to give or withhold. I would suggest that until an acceptable balance between positive and negative engagement factors has been found, there is nothing discretionary about it. If unresolved issues and problems remain, the individual has no choice but to work internally to surmount them and productivity will continue to suffer.

So, putting your management effort on to the engagement environment is an essential driver of productivity. As a manager, how do you do this?

• Ensure there is a clear ‘line of sight’ from your objectives to the organisational strategy
• Agree personal objectives within the control of each employee, early in the year
• Schedule monthly 1:1 meetings with your team and honour them
• Resolve issues that create barriers to progress for team members
• Support employees with coaching, training, or learning opportunities as they need them
• Encourage your team to develop their careers, even if it means you lose them. After all, it is testament to your management skill that they have grown in your care.
• Ensure you are developing new talent to backfill key positions
• Develop good formal and informal working relationships between your team and other departments
• Create opportunities for clear and open two way communication

Putting your effort into creating an engaging environment will enable your team to develop the self confidence to step up to the challenge of performance.