Disengaged Employees

Gallup’s most recent survey of employee engagement shows, once again, that 70% of the American workforce is disengaged at work. Our own research shows that only 24% of people in organizations can link what they do on a daily basis to their organization’s Key Results (Key Results are what matters most to the organization in terms of must-have deliverables). Furthermore, 74% percent of business leaders feel that their organization’s Key Results are not clearly understood or actively pursued throughout the organization. The primary driver behind employee disengagement, in our view, is this disconnect between what employees do everyday and what matters most to the organization, and as a result, they become less invested in the organization’s purpose and priorities.

To increase the personal engagement of your people, begin by clarifying the results they need to achieve as a team or organization. Then make your best case for “Why” people should sign-up, buy-in, and invest in getting it done. In the end, engaging the hearts and minds of your people is about harnessing the power of their individual and collective ability to get things done.

This means that by engaging their hearts and creating a deep sense of personal accountability for the success of the team or organization, you engage the most vital part of their conviction to get things done. By engaging their minds, you ignite their most creative thinking as they devise solutions that may never have occurred to you or them.

The power of gaining people’s hearts and minds in getting things done may seem obvious, but the price you pay when they only apply their hands and feet to a task can be enormous. People who invest their hearts and minds take accountability and go beyond the basic requirements of their jobs, and by doing so, they often make things happen in ways that surpasses our wildest expectations.

To learn more about engaging the hearts and minds of your employees by connecting them to what to what matters most to the organization, we invite you to join the Accountability Community at www.partnersinleadership.com, where you can review actual client stories that illustrate the impact of employee engagement on organizational results.

Accountability Community is a registered trademark of Partners In Leadership, Inc. All other trademarks and registered trademarks used herein are the property of their respective owners.