You'd think employee engagement's meaning would be clear, even if quite a few people don't know it. It's probably not that they don't know it; more likely they don't have a mental file folder labeled "Employee Engagement."
That's why when I answer someone's what-kind-of-work-do-you-do question with, "I'm an employment engagement consultant", I usually get the arched-eyebrow response.
I usually respond to their facial expression with, "What do you think that means?" And given the moment to think about the phrase employment engagement, almost everyone comes up with a pretty good definition. Here's what I've heard:
- Involvement in your work.
- Job commitment.
- Passion for what you do.
- Loving your job.
You can mix and match the underscored words with the ones in italics and come up with dozens of definitions...that all say about the same thing.
Those are all quite good definitions.
Here's mine. It's not any better but it is longer. That's just because I spend more time thinking about employee engagement than most people.
Investment of one's body, mind, and spirit in one's work.
Exceptional degree of emotional commitment that fuels the doing, thinking, and believing in one's work.
Willingness (eagerness, desire) to exceed expectations and fulfill one's self-satisfaction quota. (These may be one's boss's expectations, expectations iterated by one's job, and/or one's own self-expectations.)
A phrase's meaning may not mean much until we see it in action. Remember how kids on the Scripps Spelling Bee always ask for their word to be used in a sentence?
Here is an example of employee engagement I witnessed first hand last week.
Gabe worked in facilities management in my apartment complex. Recently promoted to assistant office manager, Gabe took his personal engagement with him. He even ramped it up a level.
Last week I called to get minor work done. Gabe answered the phone and told me he would "top of the list" my request. In an hour, Gabe called me back to tell me the process was in motion and a maintenance man would be by soon.
Gabe called me back in 2 hours to verify what he already knew: the maintenance man had shown up, repaired the problem, and reported such to Gabe. And he wanted to know if I was pleased with the service. Next day Gabe even called me. "Mr. Wright, I just want to check that everything is still OK and you're still satisfied that we took care of it in a timely, professional manner."
[You're completely right to be thinking, "He's new to the job. Let's see how he's doing in 3 months." And I will.]
And here's something to think about:
Is Gabe demonstrating engagement with his work...or only with customer satisfaction (a part of his work)?
More on this and that tomorrow.
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