Many organizations across the globe have found themselves pulling their hair out in exasperation as they deal with employees who have continued to become less engaged with their job. Commitment and devotion to the goals and aspirations of the organization they work for continues to dwindle on a daily basis. In fact, surveys have revealed that globally, 40 percent of employees say they don’t feel engaged at work at all.
Engagement is one of those words which strangely doesn’t have a universally agreed definition and so I will offer a few of the most popular ones out there. Kahn’s definition, which is quite widely accepted, is that “engagement is the harnessing of organization member selves to their work”. Another and a more recent definition says it’s, “an emotional and intellectual commitment to the organization” and “a representation of the level of personal commitment employees are willing to make or invest in their job”. One more definition and one which is my favourite say that engagement is, “the amount of discretionary effort employees will exhibit in their job”. I believe most employers can relate to this one as getting people to use their discretion is one of the most difficult things to get people to do and if you make the mistake of assuming your staff will use his or her discretion when the situation demands it, you may be making the biggest mistake of your life. In my experience, this has always provided me with one of the earliest and clearest signals that my staff wasn’t sufficiently engaged. This is because someone who feels invested in the business and truly cares about its success will use his or her discretion to make the best decision possible for the organization. They wouldn’t just shrug their shoulders when called upon or insist “Oga must decide” even when it’s obvious that may well come too late. As one man put it, “engagement is positive and fulfilling as related to a work role as it’s characterized by vigour, dedication and absorption”.
So what, you may ask, are some of the factors that determine organizational engagement? In a survey conducted, data was collected from 231 team members from two organizations and it was found that the following, (1) shared vision (2) shared positive mood and (3) perceived organizational support are key factors that have a positive impact on the level of engagement. And these are some of the reasons why employers and leaders should be concerned with these discoveries. Studies have shown quite conclusively that employee engagement is responsible for a number of positive organizational as well as individual outcomes. Some of these are – job satisfaction; job performance; helping organizations to reach their potential through growth; it works as a catalyst for rethinking performance management systems and it’s also used as a tool for improving talent management. For these reasons, employee engagement has for some time been considered a competitive advantage in the corporate world.
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Returning to some of the factors that determine the extent to which an employee may become organizationally engaged, shared vision is critical because this captures the positive emotions an employee has about the organization’s view about the future. An employee’s personal vision is a picture of what he envisages as his ideal self; the sort of person he aspires to be, doing what he believes he was born and wired to do and living his ideal life. When this employee then finds himself working for an organization, doing a job that allows him to implement his preferred self and which appears to move him towards his ideal life, this shared vision becomes extremely potent because it appears to provide an answer to a burning question we all ask ourselves at one time or the other, “what is my purpose?” A man who finds his purpose becomes energized and unstoppable. You will find that his level of engagement, whether Oga is watching or not, is total.
Equally important is the extent to which employees find the working environment emotionally positive. In groups and organizations, the overabundance of positive to negative emotion forms a critical ratio and determines the engaging nature of the environment. Others surmise that positive personal dimensions of vision, hope and compassion and a general positive mood are vital components of an overall positive emotional climate. It’s these personal dimensions that predict how open people are to others and their ideas and more importantly, it also predicts the degree to which employees feel connected to their work and colleagues. Crucially too, it predicts how resilient they will be in times of setbacks or failure. Dependable employees willing to fight in the trenches for the survival of their organization become invaluable assets at such times.
That brings us to perceived organizational support which has been defined as, “a general belief that one’s organization values employee’s contributions and cares about their wellbeing.” As is typical of us human beings generally, we’re less inclined to disappoint someone who we believe cares about us and has our interest at heart. And even more so when they provide us with all the support we need to succeed. An employee who enjoys the support of his supervisor in doing his job is more likely to feel engaged and pour himself into his duties and this in turn will benefit his organization.
As we round up, the findings of the research suggest that one of the keys to the internalization of a shared vision is the level of emotional intelligence (EI) an employee possesses. Organizations should therefore realize that investing in the EI development of their employees is a win-win because this will enable employees to further link their personal vision to the vision of the organization which itself will increase employee engagement. In the same vein, the self-knowledge building capacity of EI will help employees to know the type of support they want and need from the organization. In conclusion, employee engagement is key, both to sustain success or to bring about sustainable desired change to an organization.
Changing the nation… one mind at a time
