Last time we ended with the question, “Does your organization and work energize you, or suck the life from you?”  Was your answer meaningful for you?

How engaged I am in my work, and with the organization, is related to my emotional connectedness in five areas (fit in the job, with workmates, and organization; clarity about job and expectations; support in my job; valuefor my contribution; and meaningful work).

Feeling like I ‘fit’ starts with recruitment and continues through the hiring, orientation, and the early phases of the job. I know very quickly if I ‘fit’ in my job, department, or organization.

‘Clarity’ is about what I understand about my job, what’s expected from me, how I am measured, etc.  It is a key component in how secure I am in my job.  If I’m clear, I’m more secure and will be more willing to take some risk in order to create a better outcome.

‘Support’ and ‘Value’ may be the most important.  Am I supported?  Do I receive regular feedback about how I am doing?  Do I have all the resources I need (i.e., training, tools, skill upgrades, information, etc.,)?  Do I feel supported by my supervisor?  Will they go to bat for me?  Do I feel ‘valued’?  Am I complemented when I make a unique or special contribution?  Am I a valued member of the team, organization?  How do I know this?

Am I doing ‘meaningful work?’  We are created to do meaningful work.  Depending on your industry, or whether you are a for-profit or non-profit company may make this easy or a little more difficult.  Regardless, it is important that the connection be made.

The combination of these five components are all ‘heart’ components.  When linked with my attitudes about work (listed in last month’s newsletter) I have the major influencers to how engaged (energized) I am about my work and my organization.  Each of the five areas has a set of behaviors that either encourage a positive response or not.  How does your organization create ‘energy’ with each component?

Employee engagement gets a lot of attention and for good reason.  Engaged employees are up to 30% more productive, and organizations where at least 60% of their employees are engaged are 28% more profitable!

In the course of my work with organizations about how to ‘engage’ employees I make the distinction that they’re job is to create the ‘atmosphere’ where the employees feel engaged;  the actual ‘engagement’ or ‘motivation’ is the employee’s job.  The ‘atmosphere’ is the sum total of how all the daily ‘stuff’ we do (i.e., hiring practices, on-boarding, retention, performance feedback, interaction with clients and employees at all levels, etc.) aligns or doesn’t, with the values and collective behaviors of the organization.  Some call this culture.  Attempts to create an environment that is more engaging to work in are often de-railed by inconsistencies in the alignment between our stated way of doing business and what we actually do.

What emerges for you about your own organization?  Where are there opportunities?  What is your contribution to improving your culture?

There is so much ground to cover when we talk about engagement and culture.  My guess is that this topic will come up again in my writing, particularly if you want to see more.

I hope that armed with additional insight from the last two newsletters that you will be able to create for yourself meaningful differences in your behavior to ‘engage and create.’