Training Industry Magazine - Fall 2016 - 55

LEADERSHIP 2.0

L&D'S ROLE IN
MOVING THE NEEDLE

on EMPLOYEE

ENGAGEMENT
- KE N B LANCH ARD AND S COT T B LANCHAR D

It's been more than 15 years since
Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman
began sharing the Gallup organization's
research on employee engagement. It
was a great breakthrough. HR, L&D and
training professionals finally had a way
to quantify motivation and morale in an
organization. There was great hope that,
by understanding engagement more
intimately, we would be able to improve it.

We created a 15-question, 6-point scale
focused on these five attributes and we
asked 12,000 people how they would
score themselves. This gave us a way to
measure what we would call employee
work passion and provided some baseline
data we could use as a benchmark. It has
turned out to be a remarkably simple,
reliable and validated measure.

That has proven to be a challenge.

NOW THE HARD WORK BEGINS

In spite of all the measurements over the
past two decades, little improvement
has been made in actual engagement
levels. The number of engaged
workers, as defined by Gallup, has
stubbornly remained below 33 percent
of the American working population.
Worldwide, the statistic is 13 percent. In
short, organizations have discovered that
measuring engagement is a lot easier
than improving it.
In 2006, our company began our own
research into employee work passion. The
purpose of the research was to identify
the specific factors and leadership
behaviors that could successfully increase
engagement levels. We first looked at
attributes someone would exhibit if
they were engaged. People told us an
engaged person would:
* perform at a higher level;
* put in extra effort as needed;
* act as a good corporate citizen;
* stay with the organization longer; and
* recommend the organization to others.

The goal is to actually improve employee
engagement, not just measure it.
Learning and development professionals
have an important role to play in this
process. Consider what might happen to
engagement levels in your organization
if managers were more highly skilled in
meeting employee needs in these areas:
Organizational Factors
At the organizational level, performance
expectations should be set so that
people see their work compared to an
agreed-upon standard. Are people clear
on how their work will be measured? Is
there support for job and career growth?
Are policies and procedures consistently
applied? Are resources, compensation
and workloads fairly balanced?
Job Factors
At the job level, managers must ensure
that people understand how their work
connects to the big picture. Do people
believe their work matters? Do leaders
allow people to choose how to perform
their tasks? Do people experience variety
in the type and complexity of tasks they
are asked to complete? Are workloads

T R A I N I N G I N DUSTR Y MA GAZ INE - FALL20 1 6 I WWW.TRAININGI NDU S T RY . C OM/ MAGAZ I NE

proportional to the time people are
given to do the work?
Relationship Factors
At the interpersonal level, organizations
need to encourage the sharing of ideas.
Does a collaborative environment exist?
Do people receive feedback on their
performance and are they recognized
for improvements and ideas? Do leaders
make an effort to build both personal
and professional relationships with
their people?

ENGAGEMENT LEVELS
ARE NOT LIKELY
TO CHANGE UNTIL
MANAGERS
GET INVOLVED.
Our research has shown that organizations
can move the needle on employee work
passion when their leaders address these
factors. This work is challenging but it is
worthwhile-and engagement levels
are not likely to change until managers
get involved.
So mobilize and engage this underutilized
resource. Build these proficiencies into
your leadership training curriculum
and see more committed employees,
more accomplished leaders, and a more
thriving organization.
Scott Blanchard is a principal and executive
vice president of The Ken Blanchard
Companies. Ken Blanchard is the bestselling co-author of "The New One Minute
Manager" and 60 other leadership books.
Email Scott and Ken.

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Training Industry Magazine - Fall 2016