"Employee engagement is a complex equation that reflects each individual’s unique, personal relationship with work."
- From a 2008 Employee Engagement Report by Blessing White
The research on employee engagement prompted me the wonder - are the points on our guages calibrated consistently? Is the standard of measurement the same for all employees, for all managers, and for all executives?
Sure, the engagement surveys define what leadership is, what alignment is, what communication is - to give consistency to these eye-of-the-beholder concepts. And, that is very important. But, as we progress through the questions, do we maintain that defined perspective or move to our own standards?
Then an even more basic question occurred to me: do we know what we are looking for when it comes to optimal work engagement? Or, to optimal friendship engagement? Or, to any engagement with others?
How do we gauge success?
* is it according to what we invest or what we get?
* is it defined by how well others understand us or by what we learn by seeking to understand others?
* is it based on how we think we are treated or on how we think others are
treated?
* is it from being heard or being listened to?
* is it from what we know or what we learn?
There have been many studies over the years about significant learning events. In the work context, leaders often say they learn the most from:
* failures
* stretch assignments
* mentors
* turnaround projects
* totally new area of responsibility (where they did not have experience or
expertise)
And, the common reason these examples surfaced was - these situations (or mentors) helped them see things differently. In order to be successful they had to operate differently; they learned new perspectives; they needed to recalibrate what effective leadership meant for them; the ah-ha moments came from an appreciation of how their leadership impacted others.
What can we recalibrate in the present and learn from in the moment? Are we setting aside time to reflect on our impact and to reassess the measure points on our guages?
