Who Owns Engagement: Employees or Leaders?

Unless you’ve had your head in the sand, you’ve been barraged with reports telling you how the American workforce is utterly disengaged. Gallup recently reported that only one-third of American workers are engaged and 16% are actively disengaged. In a 2013 survey, only 24% of the 550 executives surveyed reported that employees in their organization are highly engaged. Given that the cost of disengagement is estimated between $450 billion to $550 billion in lost productivity per year, it’s probably time to get to the bottom of this issue.

So, who is responsible for engagement? Your employees? Your organization’s management team? The executive team? I’m here to tell you — and the research proves —it’s all (paywall) of the above.

The research is replete with examples of organizational practices and leadership behaviors that lead to higher levels of engagement, often referred to as the employee experience. Now, you ask, what is the employee experience? It's the psychological and cognitive experiences that touch an employee in their workplace --their manager's style, the design of the job, the policies and procedures of the workplace, the culture of the workgroup, and the organization at large. These all make up the employee experience.

How Leaders Can Enhance the Employee Experience

After reviewing more than 200 studies on this topic, I’ve identified the top leadership behaviors and organizational practices that create an exemplary employee experience. I’ve put them into straightforward actions and behaviors for your ease of use below:

1. Set transparent and achievable expectations for performance that are logically tied to the organization’s vision and give employees a sense of purpose.
2. Provide employees with the tools and resources to do their job.
3. Ensure employees have opportunities to put their strengths to work.
4. Allow autonomy to accomplish tasks most effectively.
5. Build individualized and caring relationships with and between team members.
6. Offer recognition as well as regular and timely feedback.
7. Support ongoing development (paywall).

About now, you’re probably thinking, “That’s a lot of work,” or, “If I do all this, I won’t have time to do my job!” To that, I say: Engaging your team is your job. It should be your No. 1 priority. If your team is highly engaged, you will spend a great deal less time delivering disciplinary action, firing employees, hiring new staff, managing poor relations between team members, and dealing with disgruntled customers or clients.

Oh, but wait, it gets better: You’ll also have higher productivity, employees who engage in greater discretionary effort, and team members who look for and identify ways to improve processes and the work environment. And now for the best part: You’ll have greater customer loyalty and higher profits.

Now, I ask you: Should this not be your No. 1 priority? Look at the list again. Would you rather offer recognition, provide feedback, and support development, or spend your days preparing and delivering disciplinary action?

How Employees Can Enhance the Employee Experience

OK, so we’ve got a great case for what leaders and organizations should do to engage their teams. What about the employees themselves? Do they have anything to do with engagement levels? You bet!

There is a good deal of evidence indicating how individual traits and characteristics play a significant role in employee engagement. Employers should look for a candidate who demonstrates these traits if they want to build an engaged workforce.

For example, there is a positive relationship between employees who are more open to experiences (a trait found in the big five personality measures) and levels of work engagement. One study (paywall) found that the greatest predictor of individual engagement is EQ (emotional intelligence). Finally, some researchers have explained that personal resources such as self-efficacy and resilience are directly related to higher levels of work engagement.

I leave you with one last thought from Dr. Arnold B. Bakker, a prominent researcher in the area of work engagement: "Enthusiastic employees excel in their work because they maintain the balance between the energy they give and the energy they receive."

My challenge to you is to create an environment that drives employee engagement -- put that energy out there! Hire team members who can demonstrate through their past employment experiences that they have high EQ, are open to experiences, and are resilient when faced with change. You will see a dramatic improvement not only in employee engagement but in your organizational performance overall.

Are you more focused on the leader or employee part of the employee experience equation? Why? Share your thoughts in the comments! 

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This article was originally published by Lisa Barrington in Forbes' Coaches Council CommunityVoice -- an invitation-only division of Forbes Magazine -- where Lisa is a member and contributing author. Lisa is a certified coach, keynote speaker, and workplace & employee engagement strategist. She helps organizations excel through their people, and she partners with individuals who want to achieve more in their careers and lives. Lisa also is a doctoral candidate, working on her dissertation for a Ph.D. in Organizational Psychology, with a focus on employee engagement. Learn more about Lisa at barringtoncoaching.com.

Image credits: Robin Higgins on Pixabay; pressmaster on Pond5; Lori Krenzen Photography