[2024-01-05] Maximizing employee engagement

In last month's post The seemingly inconsequential, I shared highlights of a white paper published in 2015 by the Association of Professional Executives (APEX) of the Public Service of Canada called Civility Matters! That report focuses on how to cultivate a respectful workplace in the federal Public Service.

Today's post provides highlights of a companion paper, also published by APEX in 2015, called Maximizing Employee Engagement within the Federal Public Service. That report identifies what influences engagement at work and provides tools that managers can use to improve employee motivation.

Both papers were written by Craig Dowden—a Canadian writer, speaker and coach with a PhD in psychology and concentration in business.

What is employee engagement?

While Dowden focuses on why employee engagement is important and how to cultivate it, he doesn’t explain what it is. One definition of employee engagement I've always liked is from Brandon Busteed, Executive Director of Gallup Education, who said:

Employees who are engaged are committed to the organization, productive and loyal. Employees who are not engaged may be productive, but they lack commitment to the organization and are more likely to leave and be absent than their engaged counterparts. Employees who are actively disengaged are physically present but psychologically absent; they are unhappy with their work situation and share this unhappiness with coworkers.

Dowden notes in Maximizing Employee Engagement that the subject has emerged as an increasingly important issue in the Public Service, from indicators in the 2014 Public Service Employee Survey (PSES) to results of the APEX 2012 Executive Work and Health Survey to statements by then Clerk of the Privy Council, Janice Charette. Dowden notes that:
  • Less than two-thirds (63%) of respondents to the 2014 PSES would recommend their department as a great place to work [73% in the 2022 PSES] and just over half (57%) would remain with their current department or agency if a comparable job were available elsewhere in the Public Service [61% in the 2022 PSES].
  • Almost a third of executives (32%) who completed the 2012 APEX survey on work and health reported that they were "actively disengaged."
  • And in her first webcast to the entire Public Service, Janice Charette said that "Employee engagement needs to be considered more than just a ‘nice to have,’ or something that’s done from time to time, as kind of a specific exercise. It needs to be accepted really as a critical organizational function."
It’s not surprising that Janice Charette would say that employee engagement needs to be a critical function. Organizations with high engagement have less absenteeism and more productivity than organizations with low engagement.

How can you foster employee engagement?

Dowden devotes the bulk of his paper to the tools for fostering employee engagement.

While he acknowledges that the organization (which I read as senior management), managers and employees all play a role in employee engagement, he puts the lion’s share of responsibility on managers. Dowden cites Gallup research that found that 70% of the variations in employee engagement are attributable to the direct supervisor, adding "of all of the possible influencers on engagement, the manager is the key to achieving peak performance."

Here is my summary of Dowden's best advice for fostering employee engagement.

Help your employees make progress by removing obstacles that interfere with their getting work done.

Dowden refers to breakthrough research by Harvard professors Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer, who identified the "progress principle"—the notion that employees are motivated when making progress on their projects and demotivated when spinning their wheels. What can managers do to help?

  1. Avoid changing goals. When goals change or are inconsistent, employees may feel that their work was a waste of time or that they need to start all over again.
  2. Beware the perils of indecision. Dowden notes: "Each day employees wait for direction the benefits of the progress principle slip away." In other words, with every day that goes by without feedback on their work, employees can lose motivation.
  3. Be sensitive to the impact of setbacks. Leaders can help employees bounce back from setbacks by being more available to their teams during difficult periods, listening to their concerns, and taking part in brainstorming sessions to collectively come up with solutions.
  4. Celebrate small wins. Taking the time to acknowledge small gains as well as major accomplishments keeps the progress principle alive. For large projects, breaking them down into smaller parts can help everyone maintain a sense of progress.
  5. Identify barriers to progress. Ask employees what obstacles they face and work with them to eliminate red tape.
  6. View challenges as a learning opportunity rather than a crisis. When mistakes occur, writes Dowden, "Looking to blame leads to a culture of fear within teams." This may, in turn, make team members reluctant to admit mistakes or even discuss their work for fear that their boss may react negatively. Instead, managers should look for the opportunity to learn from failure.

Give your staff as much autonomy as possible over how they do their work.

Dowden views autonomy—choice over what to do and how to do it—as one of the most important drivers of motivation and engagement. Supervisors run the gamut from autonomy supporters to micromanagers—the former appearing trusting, confident, empowering and supportive, and the latter coming across as controlling, insecure, fearful and demanding. So, how do managers support autonomy and avoid micromanagement?

  1. Check in with employees, not up on them. Spend time with your employees—an average of 6 hours per week through a combination of one-on-one time, group meetings, email and telephone. Interestingly, the research Dowden references found that executives need 7-8 hours per week with their bosses and middle managers do best with 9-10 hours.
  2. Share information. "Micromanagers tend to hoard information," says Dowden. "This sets up a negatively reinforcing cycle, as the lack of information sharing leads to declining team performance, which escalates the micromanagement behaviours."
  3. Let employees know what level of information you need and why. Dowden writes, "Micromanagement can come from anxiety, a key source of which may be a lack of information." He advises: "Leaders should have an open discussion with their team members about the level of information they need and explain the reasons behind it."
  4. Agree upfront on your degree of involvement in a project. At the outset of a project, discuss with your employees which aspects you’ll be involved in and which ones you’ll delegate.

Focus on your employees' strengths.

Dowden argues that employees who have an opportunity to do what they love and what they’re good at are much more likely to be motivated than those who don’t. Dowden writes: "people who were aware of and utilized their strengths more frequently were significantly more likely to be high performers with their organizations." How can managers focus on what’s strong rather than what’s wrong?

  1. Know your strengths and those of your employees. Dowden suggests several tools to assess strengths, such as Gallup’s StrengthsFinder 2.0 and Values In Action (VIA) Institute on Character strengths profile. You can also ask friends and colleagues to identify your greatest strengths.
  2. Focus feedback on strengths. Highlight tasks in which your employees excel. Offer your insights on other areas where they could use their natural talents.
  3. Assign work based on strengths. Dowden states: "strengths-oriented leaders collaborate with their teams to determine who is the best fit and has the most to offer for specific aspects of a project or assignment." Bring employees into these discussions.
  4. Provide opportunities for employees to use their strengths. Micro-missions are a terrific way to give employees a chance to hone one of their strengths.
  5. Enlist the help of team members to identify their colleagues’ strengths. Dowden suggests a team-based strengths exercise. Say you’re on a team of 5. You would receive 4 cards—one for each of your coworkers—on which you would identify their special contributions and unrealized strengths. You would subsequently collect your cards from each of your 4 colleagues, identify common themes from what your coworkers wrote about you, and share both the results and commitments with the group.

Help your employees find meaning and purpose in their work.

Dowden cites a study that found that meaningful work is the single most important feature employees look for in a position. But how do managers help their staff derive meaning and purpose from their work?

  1. Eliminate as many meaningless tasks as possible. While Dowden acknowledges that every job comes with a certain amount of uninteresting work, he points out that when employees become overwhelmed by trivial demands, preventing them from focusing on meaningful work, they lose motivation.
  2. Link individual contributions to the big picture. Quoting Gallup, Dowden writes: "Great managers often help people see not only the purpose of their work, but also how each person’s work influences and relates to the purpose of the organization and its outcomes." Taking the time to report back to employees on what happened with their work and how it was received can go a long way toward helping them to connect their efforts to the big picture.

Be a trustworthy leader.

Fostering the trust of employees appears to be a prerequisite to building an engaged workforce. And trust in senior leaders is an even greater determinant of employee engagement than trust in immediate supervisors. So how do leaders earn, and retain, the trust of their employees?

  1. Act with discretion. Keep sensitive information in the strictest confidence.
  2. Live up to your commitments. Don’t overpromise and under-deliver. And if you can’t meet a commitment, acknowledge and take responsibility for it.
  3. Communicate frequently. Communicate to build relationships. Also, maximize the amount of time spent face to face rather than relying on email or telephone interaction. [In the current reality of hybrid work, this is more challenging now than it was in 2015.]
  4. Listen and collaborate. Dowden writes: "Not surprisingly, people are much more inclined to trust people who demonstrate a willingness to listen and share the responsibility for crafting a path forward." Another tip: don’t be too quick to dismiss employee ideas.
  5. Ensure decisions are fair and transparent. This is particularly important in the area of staffing, says Dowden.
  6. Establish a shared vision and language. Clarity around an organization’s vision, values and goals enhances trust.
  7. Hold employees accountable for living up to core values. Dowden points out that "if employees are allowed to act contrary to these organizational guideposts, frustration and distrust tend to flourish."
  8. Connect with employees on a personal level. Dowden recommends: "Dedicating time to discussing life outside of work can go a long way towards building trust."
  9. Give away something of value. Examples include sharing your expertise or providing access to your network of contacts.
  10. Admit your own limitations. Leaders don’t need to have all the answers. Dowden writes: "Leaders need to be aware that expressing vulnerability and being open about their knowledge and skills gaps build trust with their teams."
  11. Be civil and expect civility in your team. Disrespectful words and actions take a toll on the emotional, psychological and physical health of victims. If leaders tolerate incivility in their organizations, disengagement will ensue.

Conclusion

Maximizing Employee Engagement is a helpful companion piece to Civility Matters! As Dowden says, "Maintaining and protecting a positive culture is an essential building block for maximizing employee engagement."