When I began to form The Heart of Culture, I had been working with a brand consultant. We discussed the term “employee engagement”. I found myself resisting it. I had to sit back and reflect why I was resisting it as a way to express one of my service offering to leaders. I came to the conclusion it’s because my clients, senior leaders in organizations, view employee engagement as a one-time event. Many don’t take it seriously until they lose a valued employee.

So what’s the problem? Why is employee engagement such a challenge for most organizations? After some good discussion with my consultant, my colleagues and reviewing my client list I have come to the conclusion it’s because most organizations view it as a one-time event.

People are not Tasks

All too often it sits on a “to do” list and includes things like “conduct annual employee engagement survey” or “build team building into the staff retreat”.  Those organizations that are somewhat better at it get senior leadership support with an email announcement to participate in the survey or a follow up congratulating themselves on a glowing survey.

I recently asked one leader how he knows his employees are engaged. He answered, “I have one team that hugged each other at the end of the retreat. Can you believe it? Hugs!”

Employee Engagement is Not a Group Hug

It’s not a one-time event. It’s not something you put on your to do list. Employee engagement is a behavior. It is a leadership act.  Employee engagement happens every day, in the day to day conversations and interactions between a leader and his/her staff.

Great leaders engage their employees by helping them understand what their purpose is and they help align the values of their work to the values of the organization to find meaning. My mentor, Mike Jay (a business coach) used to call it Meaning Making.

Great leaders engage in moments, finding opportunities for meaning making and facilitate an understanding of the employees work with their hopes, dreams, goals and strengths.  Those day to day coachable moments are leadership acts, they are not one-time events.

Great leaders understand that employee engagement is not an event but a very human thing for all of us to want to do work that is meaningful.

Employee engagement is important and will only work when it becomes a part of the culture.