I’m sure you will agree with me that not a single day passes without some article on employee engagement and various factors contributing to it or derailing it posted on LinkedIn. It’s such a fascinating topic for business leaders, HR people and consultants. Everyone tries to demystify and give new meanings for engagement with a long list of contributing factors.
Let me use the formula of relativity (courtesy Albert Einstein!) to define engagement level of an employee in an establishment.
E = MC2
M in this formula stands for Motivation ( it can be the intrinsic and extrinsic motivation of the person to be in a role or in the organization). An organization which offers the right learning atmosphere, opportunities for growth, rewards and recognition for the performance to a reasonable extend can keep the employee intrinsically and extrinsically motivated. I have seen lot of employees who take pride in being attached to a team, an assignment or a certain level of exposure which brings out the best in them. Some people attach their motivation to rewards and related consequences. The mindfulness to be reflective and sustain superior performance comes from this motivation!
The first C in this formula stands for Cultural fitment – This is a tricky one!
Ravasi and Schultz ( 2006) defines organization culture as a set of shared assumptions that guide what happens in organizations by defining appropriate behaviour for various situations. To put it in simple words, Culture sums up the organization’s vision, value systems, beliefs and aspirations – the tagline of the brand, work atmosphere and many other things reflect the attitude and culture. To a great extent, employee’s engagement also depends on the ability to understand this culture and align with the DNA of the company. The seamless integration (through work habits, collaboration etc) to the organizational fabric and the ability to demonstrate value in any given situation makes cultural fitment easy!
The second C is about Commitment. It’s nothing but the willingness to give your time and energy to a mission aligned to the vision and the core objectives of an establishment. Some companies aspire to be more profitable, some most admirable and some craves to be the most recognized. The employee has to be truly committed to this cause and there has to be a great level of alignment towards the organizational priorities which creates an absolute state of dedication to a cause. People involved in the field of sports and military reach this state quickly and stay as powerful role models with their continuous devotion to a purpose.
If M and both the Cs are in place, it drives effective Engagement (E). An engaged employee will be very passionate about the work and will keep doing the best to further organization’s reputation and aspirations.
Thus, the formula of relativity works well for Employee Engagement too!
