Published by Greenleaf Book Group Press Austin, Texas www.gbgpress.com Copyright ©2014 DecisionWise, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the copyright holder. Distributed by Greenleaf Book Group For ordering information or special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Greenleaf Book Group at PO Box 91869, Austin, TX 78709, 512.891.6100. Design and composition by Greenleaf Book Group Cover design by Greenleaf Book Group To our families, valued client partners, and the DecisionWise team—our magic. CONTENTS INTRODUCTION PART ONE: ENGAGEMENT VERSUS SATISFACTION CHAPTER 1: Myths of Engagement CHAPTER 2: The Power of Engagement: How and Why Engagement Works PART TWO: KEYS TO UNLOCKING ENGAGEMENT CHAPTER 3: Meaning CHAPTER 4: Autonomy CHAPTER 5: Growth CHAPTER 6: Impact CHAPTER 7: Connection PART THREE: HOW TO GROW ENGAGEMENT CHAPTER 8: The Engaged Self CHAPTER 9: The Engaged Manager CHAPTER 10: The Engaged Organization APPENDIX: Further Questions APPENDIX: Engagement Conversation NOTES INDEX INTRODUCTION IMAGINE IF ONE-THIRD of the people at your company felt that they could not speak up at work for fear of negative consequences. What would that say about your organization? Would it suggest an environment that stifles free expression? Most important, what would be the consequences of such a “culture of silence”? Many organizations don’t have to imagine this scenario, because it’s happening right under their noses. Analysis of more than 14 million DecisionWise Employee Engagement Assessments revealed something shocking: 34 percent of all employees are afraid to speak up at work because they believe they will be subject to retribution. That’s a major symptom of disengagement. And what if you were one of these employees—or have you “been there, done that”? The outcome? Impaired innovation, reduced safety, and poorer-quality work, for starters. When employees can’t speak up about dysfunctional policies or processes, they wind up feeling powerless to direct their work in a way that makes the company competitive. Okay, so what happens when employees are fully engaged in their work? When we analyzed the publicly traded companies that scored in the top 10 percent and bottom 10 percent of our Employee Engagement Assessments, the results were just as dramatic … but a lot more favorable. The companies that scored in the top 10 percent in employee engagement were considerably more profitable, grew faster, and had lower turnover than the companies in the bottom 10 percent. Example: CHG Healthcare Services is at the top of our list with an incredible engagement score that consistently exceeds 90 percent (meaning that over 90 percent of survey question responses are favorable). They have been ranked as high as number three on Fortune’s “100 Best Companies to Work For” list, in the same league as titans like Google and SAS. They are the most profitable company in the health-care- staffing industry. However, before CHG launched its “Putting People First” program and transformed its moderately engaged corporate culture, the company’s turnover rate was negatively impacting growth. Today, turnover is half the industry average, and CHG even managed to grow revenue and profits during the 2008–2011 recession while their industry peers saw profitability plummet. THE CHEESECAKE FACTORY CHG Healthcare Services didn’t change on a dime. It took extensive planning, conscious effort, hard work by leaders and teams, and consistent follow-through to gain the trust of employees and transform the company’s culture. But the results speak for themselves. The Cheesecake Factory, Inc., also experienced firsthand the power of employee engagement in changing the trajectory of a business. One of the most popular restaurant chains in the United States (and now a player on the global restaurant scene), The Cheesecake Factory, Inc., operates more than 180 restaurants. The company regularly conducts engagement surveys throughout these locations, and correlates employee engagement scores with business outcomes like attrition and guest (customer) satisfaction. The Cheesecake Factory, Inc., restaurants with the most engaged employees have consistently strong marks for quality, the highest levels of guest satisfaction and, not surprisingly, the lowest turnover. Simply put, they’re great environments to work in, and their guests take notice. WE CAN’T GET NO SATISFACTION With results like those, it’s no wonder that organizations around the world are investing heavily in order to find ways to “get employees more engaged.” The trouble is, they’re wasting most of that money. According to a 2012 report produced by research firm Bersin by Deloitte, entitled Employee Engagement: Market Review, Buyer’s Guide, and Provider Profiles, organizations currently spend about $720 million a year in the United States alone on programs intended to increase employee engagement … and that figure is expected to double.1 Yet by most accounts, employee engagement at work is at dangerously low levels. Depending on the source, you’ll read that anywhere from 63 to 70 percent of American workers are not fully engaged in their jobs, and results are similar outside the United States. Want to keep yourself up at night? Read Gallup’s State of the American Workplace Report: 2010–2012, which insists that fully 18 percent of workers are actively disengaged at work and every day from nine to five are actively sabotaging their employers’ businesses.2 We don’t put a lot of stock in this sort of hand-wringing data (for reasons we’ll explain later), but they do drive home two important points: In the wake of the Great Recession, there is a serious problem with employee engagement in the United States, and that problem is echoed across the globe. Companies are spending a lot of money trying to “drive engagement,” but all they’re really doing is measuring it year to year, rather than impacting it. They’re not getting much for their investment. Even more telling is the finding, also from the Bersin report, that employers can’t even agree on what engagement is or what it looks like when employees are more engaged. So, we’re spending three-quarters of a billion dollars a year to cultivate something without knowing what it is. Is anybody surprised that most of those efforts fail? One of the biggest reasons for that failure is that while organizations think they are enacting programs to increase employee engagement, their changes are really all about employee satisfaction. Engagement and satisfaction are not the same. When you install an espresso machine in every break room, provide each floor with its own air- hockey table, and open an onsite gym, you might get a temporary bump in employee satisfaction. But it doesn’t last. You don’t win hearts and minds with shade-grown coffee and arcade games. Most organizations don’t understand engagement, so they can’t create it. One of the biggest misapprehensions is that engagement is something the organization imposes on employees—that it’s transactional. If I give you this, that, and the other, you’ll become engaged in your work. And this is another reason most engagement efforts fail—they assume the responsibility for engagement rests solely on the shoulders of the organization. But in reality, engagement is a 50-50 proposition—a two-way street. Yes, the organization is responsible for creating an environment where engagement can flourish—tilling and amending the soil so that engagement can grow, so to speak. But the employee has an equal responsibility to be engaged. Engagement is collaborative: Management must create the opportunities to find meaning, connection, and self-actualization at work, but it’s up to the employee to say, “I’m in!” THE PURPOSE OF THIS BOOK We’ve written this book as a tool to help both employers and employees shed the many fallacies and myths about engagement and learn to leverage it for what it is: a secret weapon that, when unlocked, can turn a faltering company into a healthy one and a good organization into a great one. In these pages, we’ll share the insights that we’ve accumulated over years of surveying millions of employees and working with hundreds of organizations throughout the world, ranging from small not-for-profits in Uganda, to state and national governments, to the world’s largest and most respected corporations. While we’ve worked hard to teach those clients what we know, we have also learned from them. One of the most important lessons we’ve taken away is this: Engagement is a fundamental human need. It is a power that resides in most people, waiting to be unlocked. People want to be engaged in what they do. If employers build the foundation, employees will do the rest. That was a critical discovery for us, and it’s been a game changer for the organizations we work with. When senior executives find out that the burden for engagement doesn’t rest entirely on their shoulders, a weight lifts. Suddenly, the unmanageable becomes manageable. We wrote MAGIC as a “what’s next” manual of sorts—a guide to using the extraordinary power of engagement to take your organization to the next level, whether that means growth, greater profitability, lower turnover, a more enjoyable workplace, all of the above, or something we haven’t thought of. WHO WE ARE This book is constructed on a foundation of academic scholarship, psychology, and real-world experience. Tracy Maylett has an MBA, earned a doctorate in Organization Change from Pepperdine University, and has spent more than two decades coaching and consulting with organizations on five continents. He teaches leadership and organizational behavior at Brigham Young University.