Why your employee engagement survey scores aren't what you want them to be

I spend 80 percent of my time working with healthcare organizations that are serious about positively impacting employee engagement.

The leaders in these organizations understand the benefits of engaged employees. They willingly invest in improving their workplace and levels of engagement.

After working with dozens of organizations over the last several years, I found the following 3 reasons why engagement isn't improving:

1. Leaders talk about employee engagement and how it benefits the organization and leaders. Employees don't care.
2. Leaders take on too much of the responsibility for engagement of others. Employees take the easy route of pointing fingers instead of owning engagement themselves.
3. Leaders see employee engagement as something on their to-do list. It's not a one-time thing; it's an all-the-time thing that can easily be woven into everything that happens at the organization.

This article gives you ideas to overcome reason No. 1: The way we talk about engagement and its benefits.

What is employee engagement?
According to Dr. Zinta Byrne in her book, Understanding Employee Engagement: Theory, Research, and Practice, employee engagement is "a state of motivation, wherein one is psychologically present and psychophysiologically aroused, is focused on and aligned with the goals of the job and organization, and channels his or her emotional and cognitive self to transform work into meaningful and purposeful accomplishment." If you're like me, you had to look up a few of those words ('psychophysiologically aroused?') to make sense of this research-based definition. In spite of this, I routinely use this definition because, as we know in medicine, it's always good to start with a basis in theory.

Start by looking closer at the components of engagement. Start with motivation and add presence, plus focus and alignment, to create meaningful accomplishment. Now, use that knowledge to have a more productive conversation about engagement with team members. Because guess what? No one wakes up in the morning and says, "I want to go to work and be engaged today." No one talks about engagement at Sunday dinner or gatherings with their friends. So why are we talking about it at town hall meetings, team meetings, huddles and one-on-ones?

"Employee engagement" is one of those business jargon phrases that worker-bee folks don't care about. In fact, in a recent survey by Accountemps, employee engagement is one of the top 20 business words people dislike.

Rework your vocabulary
If you want to positively impact engagement, start with talking about it in a way that's relevant to the employee. In my first book, SHIFT to Professional Paradise: 5 Steps to Less Stress, More Energy & Remarkable Results at Work, I define engagement as when someone is satisfied, energized and productive. A synonym is Professional Paradise™. Yes, you read that right. Professional Paradise. It's not an oxymoron and it's not something you can create for someone else.

Being engaged, creating your own Professional Paradise, is an inside job. So we need to talk about it in ways that are more relevant and less management-speak. Start by asking each direct report, "What makes you satisfied, energized and productive at work?" Introduce the idea of creating Professional Paradise as a daily goal. I've never met anyone who didn't want to work in Professional Paradise. Change the way you talk about engagement, and the dialogue will change for the better.

The benefits of engagement
At leadership workshops and retreats that I facilitate, I typically ask the group, "What are the benefits of engagement?" Responses include increased productivity, improved safety, more positive workplace, less complaining, improved patient satisfaction, better teamwork and the list goes on. The great news is there's a growing body of evidence-based research that proves these benefits. And, you can probably think of other benefits (better quality outcomes) you would add to the list.

It's interesting that the benefits almost universally fall into things that are good for the organization and leader him or herself. And notice that most of these relate to the metrics we regularly measure. I guess this makes sense in our accountable care environment and WIIFYM (What's In It For Me) culture. This focus is a powerful reason that engagement isn't where you want it to be.

Reframe the benefits
What if you changed the focus of the conversation to the benefits to the employee? What comes to mind when you think about that? When I ask that question, I hear..."less stress, better health, more fun, happier life, better relationships, better teamwork, etc." Now those are ideas employees will strive for.

When you talk with employees about wanting them to feel satisfied, energized & productive because you care about them, and your actions back up this assertion, then you start to see positive change. It doesn't happen overnight because it takes time and trust. But if you are consistent in your focus, it will change over time.

For the next few weeks, pay particular attention to conversations about employee engagement. Is the message coming across as employee engagement for us (leaders/organization) or Professional Paradise for you (employee)? If it's not the latter, don't be surprised when you review your turnover data or get your next employee engagement survey results back and they aren't where you want them to be.

Look for Part II of this three-part series that includes tips for creating shared responsibility for engagement with frontline staff.

Vicki Hess, RN, is your go-to resource for transforming employee engagement at the individual, department or organization-wide level. As the author of four books, keynote speaker, trainer and consultant; Vicki inspires clients to take action in a real-world, relatable way. Organizations that implement Vicki's ideas experience increased engagement, productivity, safety, quality, retention, client satisfaction, creativity and more. For more information, please visit www.HealthcareEmployeeEngagement.com

The views, opinions and positions expressed within these guest posts are those of the author alone and do not represent those of Becker's Hospital Review/Becker's Healthcare. The accuracy, completeness and validity of any statements made within this article are not guaranteed. We accept no liability for any errors, omissions or representations. The copyright of this content belongs to the author and any liability with regards to infringement of intellectual property rights remains with them.

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