Employee engagement design is the strategic process of creating an environment where employees feel deeply connected to their work and aligned with the organization's goals. It’s important because well-designed engagement fosters higher productivity and ultimately drives company success and a thriving workplace culture.
Engage from Within: A Deeper Look at What Connects Employees to Their Work
Flow is that state where you're so immersed in your work that time seems to disappear, and you deeply enjoy the task at hand. This experience of flow serves as the foundation for building effective employee engagement strategies, as it highlights the importance of aligning work with personal interests and strengths.
For me, finding flow has been a personal journey, guided by the managers, mentors, and coaches who understood what truly engages me. By recognizing my unique drivers and creating opportunities that resonated with them, they helped me reach my full potential. The strategies I’m about to share are rooted in this understanding—empowering you to do the same for your team
The Link Between Employee Engagement, Satisfaction, and Success
The art and science of employee engagement has been well documented. Gallup's State of the Global Workplace report is a valuable resource for understanding the impact of employee engagement on business performance. There's plenty of data to support getting really good at nurturing employees via their engagement drivers. While this may come more naturally to some leaders, it is a skill that can be learned and practiced authentically by anyone. The return on investing time in getting good at this is big. Gallup’s meta-analysis of more than 200,000 manager-led teams found that more highly engaged managers have more engaged teams. This is crucial because, per the research, highly engaged teams produce higher quality and quantity of output, have more positive daily emotions, fewer negative daily experiences, and have much higher rates of thriving in their overall lives. Higher rates of thriving in our overall lives?! Who doesn’t want that?
These studies are crucial, and they are just the beginning. The challenge is discovering the unique drivers of engagement for each individual employee.
Personal Introspection – When Were You Most Engaged?
Start by reflecting on a time when you were most engaged at work. What were the conditions? Who were you working with? What tasks were you handling? An easy acronym for organizing the engagement drivers is RAMPS - Recognition, Autonomy, Mastery, Purpose, Social Inclusion. Identify which were at play during that time.
My experience shows how powerful tailored engagement can be. To unlock this for your team, focus on understanding each person’s unique motivators, just as my mentor did for me.
Uncovering What Engages Your Employees
Progressing in my career and taking on leadership roles, I learned how to consider what deeply connected my team members to their work. The simplest approach was to ask them, and I packaged a set of questions, tools, and even card games to integrate this into employee relationships through one-on-ones, surveys, and informal conversations. A tailored approach that requires empathy and active listening continues to be paramount in pinpointing the key drivers of your employees. Once you’ve identified these key drivers, the next step is to translate them into meaningful actions.
Pro Tip: Engagement can be stimulated by recognizing and rewarding employees. For gift giving ideas, check out our Corporate Gifts Page or visit the Giftory Corporate Incentives Page.
Employee Engagement Assessment Quick Tips
-
Rate and Reveal: Have your team rate their RAMPS (Recognition, Autonomy, Mastery, Purpose, Social Inclusion) on a 1-10 scale. Focus on the low scores—those are your engagement gaps.
-
Tailor Recognition: In one-on-one meetings, ask how they like to be recognized. If they're unsure, offer a few options. Then, recognize them in the way that resonates most.
-
Prioritize with Cards: Turn engagement survey statements into a deck of cards. Let your team pick their top five priorities. Revisit quarterly to keep engagement fresh and relevant.
Send me a note if you’d like more specifics on any of these, or want help implementing them.
Practical Strategies for Fostering Employee Engagement
Let’s explore some practical strategies that will help you deliver the engagement experiences both you and your team crave.
Create Meaningful Connections: Foster a sense of purpose and connection between employees and the organization’s mission.
Provide Growth Opportunities: Continuous learning and career development keep each of us leveling-up in our flow zones, engaging our mastery driver.
Recognize and Reward: Recognization and appreciation signal to others that they and their contributions are meaningful.
Cultivate a Positive Work Environment: A supportive, inclusive, and positive workplace culture makes social inclusion a natural part of your employees’ days.
One way I have found to do all of the above, all at once, is through experiences. For example, getting the entire team together to celebrate an accomplishment built the social bonds that cultivated a positive environment. When the experience included a challenge to tackle together, they found growth opportunities. The effort made to find the just-right experience (informed by the discovery questions I asked during 1:1s) recognized their contributions, and made space outside of the daily tasks to create connections between what we did and why we did it.
Final Thoughts
I invite you to take the time to reflect on your own engagement experiences and use those insights to better understand and engage your employees. Engagement then becomes about connecting with the heart and mind of each employee, making them feel valued, and helping them thrive and flow. Meeting and exceeding business metrics turns into the byproduct of this environment.
Closing Questions:
-
How do you currently gauge engagement in your team?
-
What strategies have you found effective in fostering engagement?
-
What will you do differently after reflecting on your own experiences?
|
Adrienne John Cooper
About the Author:
With over 20 years in people leadership and advisory roles, Adrienne specializes in creating systems that foster engaged and inclusive cultures. Her work has helped organizations earn accolades like "Best Company Culture," "Happiest Employees," and “Best Startup Employers.” Through a blend of Agile methodologies, Positive Intelligence™️, and LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY®, she guides leaders and teams in discovering new ways of working that align with their goals and values.
Ready to get your team engaged with amazing experiences?
Click here to visit our Corporate Incentives Page
