Fix Engagement Challenges with Clarity

In recent weeks and over the last few months, reports of falling workplace engagement have regularly occurred.  

My friend John Eades wrote this week in his Building the Best newsletter, available on LinkedIn, "The Leadership Factor You Can't Ignore Around Employee Engagement."

In John’s article, he cited one of the most alarming trends we see across the employment landscape.  

Employee engagement is at a decade-low of 31%, as per a Gallup survey from early 2024.

Earlier this week, Clarify Capital surveyed 1000 people and found that 33% have layoff anxiety, a sign of disengaged and fearful workers.

John's solution via his newsletter is well-matched with what my podcast guest this week, Kendra Mack, shares from personal experience.

Kendra cites the necessity for employees to know their PATH. (Her PATH framework is Pin Your Vision, Affirm Your Beliefs, Tailor Your Routes, and Hone Your Habits.)

John posed that the opportunity in many organizations is for leaders to lead… to lead people!

Engagement can't be forced

Over the last seven or eight years, while I have worked hard to learn everything I can about leadership, I often reflect on lessons that cows taught me in my youth.

Caring for our family's milking herd taught me a lot, and I also learned more about the personalities and behaviors of the cows I exhibited in 4-H and beyond.

As I have reflected, I learned this: Cows want to belong. They want to be part of a herd.  Very few are loners, reasonably so because loners lose in the game of survival.  Aka Herd Mentality!

People are the same.  People want to belong.  They want to be valued, cared for, and looked after.  People, like cows, don't want to be forced to do anything, and most usually, they will go and do precisely what you want when you calmly guide them.

Today, leaders and executives see their organizations' engagement numbers wane, and too many are bent on forcing people to become engaged.

In the past, generations of leaders could get away with forcing engagement.  Do it or else.

However, we live in a new world. Gen Z and Millennials know all too well that leaders need them. They realize there are many options, so it becomes a game of cat and mouse.

For the actively disengaged and not engaged, they do just enough to get by or act out their best impression of Office Space, begging the boss to fire them.

The Plan

Ok, let's do a game reset.  

General employee engagement is around 30%.  

70% of employees are not engaged or actively engaged. 

So, what do we do to fix it…Lead.

It is that easy, but I’ll caution you: It's simple. But for many, it is not easy merely because leaders have been managing rather than leading for years.

Leading is seeing more and before and then bringing out the best in others.

You do that, see more and before and bring out the best in others and the right people will be engaged. If you or your leader aren't doing those things, you will be as  checked out as much as Johnny Manziel was as the starting QB for the Cleveland Browns.

In the Impact Driven Leader framework, LEAD is supported by three pillars: Clear Vision, Connect, and Influence.

Employee engagement is low because leaders are failing to cast a clear vision.  They have been too busy doing what they did before they were leading.

Something magical happens when leaders cast a vision of where they are going and take the time and effort to connect with others.  People find their PATH.

Pinning their Vision creating focus and clairty.

People Assign their own beliefs to their work, creating clarity.

Tailor their own routes; is this the bus and seat for me, or do I need to get on the 97 Uptown express shuttle instead?

Lastly, they Hone their habits to drive their engagement.

Leading is coming beside someone to help them discover their PATH and understand if your path and theirs can merge for a bit.

Pinder this thought: Are you having meaningful conversations with people who work with or for you? 

Summit

Driving employee engagement, providing clarity, and finding time can be challenging for many leaders.

As we've seen in times of challenge and uncertainty, leaders fall into micromanaging by means of being producers rather than leaders.

This creates a culture of disengagement and apathy.

In just over 12 weeks, I will host the 2nd annual Impact Driven Leader Summit.

This year, we have an unofficial theme and its culture.  Culture Matters, Winning Culture, Connecting Culture and Creating Culture.

Be a part of the event and learn from some of the best culture-focused leaders in the country.

As a kick-off to promoting this event, you can reserve your seat for less than the price of a plane ticket. This offer is limited to the first 20 seats, so get it locked in now.

I can't wait to see you in May!

Did you catch this podcast? If not, listen to it here.