Ever since we published our book, Leading the Malcolm Baldrige Way: How World-Class Leaders Align Their Organizations to Deliver Exceptional Results, we’ve continued to follow research on organizational culture and employee engagement. Both were certainly challenged during the COVID-19 pandemic and even subsequently amid the Great Resignation and the Quiet Quit. And, according to latest polls, we’re not out of the woods yet.
2nd Quarter 2024 Gallup Poll Results
Results from the latest polls from Gallup show, “Employee engagement in the U.S. has not returned to pre-pandemic levels, but improvements in quarter two of 2024 are most pronounced in foundational elements: (1) knowing what’s expected at work; (2) having materials and equipment to do work right; and (3) having an opportunity to do what employees do best. Each of these elements saw an increase of four points or more in the percentage who strongly agree. Employees’ ratings on each of these elements had become vulnerable in the second half of 2021, contributing to a decline in overall employee engagement.”
https://www.gallup.com/workplace/647564/employee-engagement-inches-slightly-year-low.aspxWhile the latest polls show a slight uptick in engaged employees to 32%, those who are actively disengaged remain at 16%, significantly higher than pre-pandemic. What remains unclear are the underlying causes of those and those workers who are neither actively engaged nor disengaged, which surely are a factor in less than optimum productivity.
Return to the Office, Remote Work, or Hybrid Work?
And months after the pandemic waned to a point where in-person interaction was deemed safe, the jury is still out on what is the “right” model for workers to be employed. Some of the differences appear to be generational in nature, especially with those younger workers who entered the workplace in entirely remote settings. Many push back on returning to in-person settings, even with hybrid work weeks.
Other studies cite other “Top 3” ways to engage employees, but we have our own bias based on all of the leaders we interviewed for our book as well as observations we’ve made working with dozens of clients on their Performance Excellence journeys.
It All Starts with Culture
Is your organization’s culture accidental or intentional? How would you know? How would you like your culture to be described? Customer-focused? Improvement oriented? High performance? Teamwork? What descriptors would you use for your ideal culture? And then, how would your organization stack up? If your actual culture differs from your ideal, your culture is the result of a lack of attention. Intentional cultures are designed to reflect the noble purpose of your organization’s mission and vision. They are reinforced with the core values of the organization. The senior leaders serve as personal role models for those values, and rewards and recognition are tightly aligned with the values.
Senior leaders are also intentional about their communication that regularly references the mission, vision, and values and underscore the “Why” of your organization. They are also relentless in emphasizing the need for a pursuit of excellence and its inclusion of every employee on that journey.
Your Organization’s Noble Purpose
Does every employee in your organization know the mission, vision, and values? Do they connect with your noble purpose? If you can’t answer both questions in the affirmative, I can pretty well guarantee that your employees are not engaged. And that means higher turnover, lower productivity, increased safety incidents, and poorer customer service. Even currently profitable businesses can’t be successful in the long run with those negative results.
Making the Connection
Where do you start? Talk with your employees, and more importantly, listen to them. When was the last time you conducted an employee satisfaction survey? Have you shared the results with your workforce? Have you solicited their feedback on the actions you’re proposing to take? Even if you aren’t able to conduct a complete survey, you can easily (and inexpensively) conduct a pulse survey of a few questions with a random sampling of your employees across the organization (and make sure you include employees who work “off” shifts or in remote locations!).
We’ve come out of a tough couple of years, and we’re still not back to where we need to be to thrive and flourish. How engaged are your leaders and employees? How do you know? And where will you start? What actions will you take next?
