BOTTOM LINE:
Gallup reports, once again, that employee engagement is not improving, even though we spend billions doing surveys and trying to change it. The problem is that the engagement survey data are pointing us in the wrong direction. I think I have a solution, so I have a free offer: send me your engagement data and I’ll use some tools we’re developing to redirect it towards solving problems in your culture that are causing the poor engagement in the first place. Email me if you’re interested (the first 20 get it for free).
THE DETAILS:
I have been continually frustrated in the way that the business world still fully embraces the value of engagement surveys, even though the percentage of engaged employees has barely changed over the last 22 years (numbers come from Gallup’s annual research on engagement).
Think about that. You might have been concerned about low engagement back in 2001, and since then you’ve had a child and SENT THAT CHILD OFF TO COLLEGE, and now you look around, only to find that the percent of engaged employees has barely crept up, from 30% to 33%. Seriously?! And what’s worse is “actively disengaged” was 16% back in 2001, and it’s still 16% today. Those are unbelievably horrible numbers.
Yet we keep a tight grip on our engagement surveys. We convince ourselves that knowing how we compare to the benchmark or improving our numbers by tenths of percentage points are good things (mostly because the people who sell us the surveys assure us they are). I honestly don’t get it. This is perhaps the business world’s most glaring example of insanity (doing the same thing over and over, but expecting a different result each time).
So I have a challenge for you. If you’ve done an engagement survey but are frustrated with your lack of improvement, then send me your data. I’ll keep it confidential of course, but I will use some tools that we are developing to convert your data into insights about your culture. I won’t tell you how to improve engagement, but I’ll point you to some specific aspects of your culture that are likely getting in the way, and I’ll include some potential action items that could make things better.
I’ll do this for you for free, in exchange for you agreeing to give me some specific feedback on the usefulness of our analysis and action items. I’ll take the first 20 people that reach out to me for this, and after that I might start charging. Email me if you’re interested.