Engagement statistics really haven’t changed much over the past 10 years. Why? Surely, we’ve focused enough attention, money, staff, time and energy on the concept of engagement to make a huge difference. And yet the numbers remain relatively flat and generally negative.
But what if people just don’t want to be engaged?
By and large, leaders know that they can’t make their people suddenly become passionate about the company’s mission and strategy, the customer experience, the bottom line, or any other owner-level consideration. Thoughtful leaders understand that employees must first want to make a larger contribution, so these leaders institute recognition and reward programs designed to foster a desire to engage…and still, in many cases, no appreciable or sustainable engagement materializes. Why?
It might be time to build a process of engagement that includes more than just an organizational motivation approach. In the book Influencer, authors Patterson, Grenny, Switzler, Maxfield and McMillan reveal two other, equally important sources of motivation that can be brought to bear on any change goal, including this stubborn challenge of employee engagement—namely, social motivation (peer influence) and individual motivation (intrinsic desire). When combined with organizational rewards, these two sources of influence can create a formidable recipe for sustained increases in engagement. Let’s explore both.
Dispatches From The Front 