What’s Employee Engagement Really Look Like?

There is a bounty of information on the definition of employee engagement and what it looks like in the general sense, but what does it really look like? Through my very own eyeballs, what will I see?

When I work with employers on employee engagement, I start with three basic statements.

1. Define employee engagement.
2. Specifically describe a time at work when you felt fully engaged.
3. Specifically describe a time at work when you felt disengaged.

I ask them to write down their responses alone. No talking. And I begin watching them.

They’re on the first statement. I observe a pause at first. Eyes search around the room and then stare at the paper in front of them. They slowly pick up the pen and jot down a few words. They read what they’ve written. A bit more thought, more writing, more revision and usually some self affirming head nodding.

Next, I see people starting to write more quickly. Smiles appear on their faces. They can’t write fast enough and are absorbed in what they’re thinking about. They’re writing a lot more words now and with more enthusiasm in their movements. They’re on the second statement now. The mood perceptibly lightens. They’re usually breaking the no talking rule by now, but still mostly focused on writing.

The writing begins to slow. Faces begin to furrow. They’re on the third statement now. They don’t really even seem to want to write about it. They don’t need to. I can see how they feel about it. They slouch more. They’re quieter. Lots of deep sighs. Finally, a reluctant response is written and they alternate between staring at me and their paper.

Next, I put them in small groups to discuss their answers. Again, I observe.

First statement. I love the thought that people put in to their definition of engagement because it is hard to define outside of the academic definition. Some of my favorite responses:

• “It’s when I go home and talk about work in a positive way to my family. And I just have good things to say.”
• “It’s when I wake up in the morning and am excited about what I get to do, even when what I’m doing is hard.”
• “Engagement is getting to do what I’m good at doing and what I’m good at doing is something I really enjoy. Because I’m good at it and I enjoy it I think I work harder. I don’t feel too stressed out.”

When people first start sharing their answers, sometimes they’re a little hesitant because they’re usually talking about feelings and who wants to talk about their feelings with their co-workers. Once the first person shares, the floodgates open.

They become more animated and louder. I hear laughter. I see lots of hand-talking. The stories they’re sharing are long. They sound like challenging things. Yet I still hear positive, energized and enthusiastic tones. They’re on the second statement now. The pace of the conversations pick up. People lean in to hear more. They’re focused on each other. They seem inspired by each other’s stories. They’re asking lots of questions of each other. I hear how what they were doing seemed to really matter. And they knew what they were doing, and why. They knew what was expected of them. There is usually a slight fervor. They don’t want to stop.

I give a five minute reminder. The voices soften. They lean back in their chairs. Arms cross. Deep sighs. They’re on the third one now. Some people talk quietly and appear a little withdrawn. Some people are quietly loud. There is sharpness in the tone of their voices. Faces sneer. Heads shake in the recollection. Hands are thrown in the air. Others are subdued. They seem drained. I can tell they’re ready to move on. They don’t need the five minutes I gave them.

Next, I ask them to describe what they observed. They usually notice some of the more obvious things such as talking louder or with more animation. They don’t usually pick up other things like the number of questions other people asked them when they were talking about a time when they felt most engaged or the amount of time it took them to write a response to the times they felt engaged compared to disengaged.

I do this exercise for a couple of reasons. First, to show that engagement isn’t difficult to identify. The exercise is a micro-example of what it physically looks like. Second, to demonstrate that we are bad observers at times. The busyness of work gets in our way of recognizing when employees are engaged . Yet somehow, it’s much easier for us to notice when they’re disengaged (a conversation for another day).

Finally, I present them with a basic profile of an engaged employee. The one who is confident, enthused, resilient, a high contributor, energized, and passionate about what they do. What does that look like? What does confidence look like? What does resiliency look like? I’m not talking about the amount of work an employee does or how productive they are. I’m talking about what it physically looks and sounds like. They know it. They describe all of the types of things I observed when they were simply talking about when they were the most engaged at work, but they didn’t recognize it when it was actually happening. These are basic and telling things, but so quickly overlooked.

So slow down out there. Help your brain process what your eyes see and your ears hear. Pay more attention to what’s happening when it’s happening.

I would be remiss if I did not address the fact that building a culture of engagement is a much different conversation and there is far more to engagement than the physical manifestations I’ve described. I simply put this out there to remind us that there are some basic ways to get a quick pulse on engagement levels by just being better observers and taking the time to truly process what we see and hear.

This doesn’t require a survey (funny enough I do a lot of engagement surveys for employers for other reasons). This is something anyone can do and it’s generally pretty accurate.

Back to basics.