| In his most recent book, Nine Lies about Work, Marcus Buckingham shares what he has learned from the most effective teams and organizations. As part of this research he interviewed team members that were the most highly engaged and productive as well as the least engaged and less productive. From those interviews, he identified the key differences between the groups. Those differences produced a list of engagement survey statements to identify the most engaged and likely most productive team members in the organization: 1. I am really enthusiastic about the mission of my company. 2. At work, I clearly understand what is expected of me. 3. In my team, I am surrounded by people who share my values. 4. I have the chance to use my strengths every day at work. 5. My teammates have my back. 6. I know I will be recognized for excellent work. 7. I have great confidence in my company’s future. 8. In my work, I am always challenged to grow. I recommend that you take these 8 questions and conduct a survey of everyone in your organization to see how you are doing. I am a big fan of scoring from 1 to 5 on questions like these. To further help you interpret the results, Buckingham and his co-author Goodall broke these questions down by a few categories and subcategories: Best of WE – Team – Company Best of ME – Strongest Indicators of Engagement Here is how they break out by category: BEST OF WE 1. I am really enthusiastic about the mission of my company. (Company) 3. In my team, I am surrounded by people who share my values. (Team) 5. My teammates have my back. (Team) 7. I have great confidence in my company’s future. (Company) These deal with the elements of a person’s experience created in their back-and-forth interactions with others on the team—the communal experience of work, if you will. BEST OF ME 2. At work, I clearly understand what is expected of me. (Strong indicator of engagement) 4. I have the chance to use my strengths every day at work. (Strong indicator of engagement) 6. I know I will be recognized for excellent work. (Team) 8. In my work, I am always challenged to grow. (Team) This Best of Me group deals instead with the individual experience of work. What is unique about me? What is valuable about me? Do I feel challenged to grow? This research lines up well with neuroscience research regarding the proper balance all human beings seek regarding group versus individual identity highlighted by the picture below. |
| I believe this picture illustrates beautifully the desire to be unique but also the need of belonging to a tribe and how this seemingly counterintuitive balance works. Jonathan Haidt , evolutionary psychologist, calls this phenomenon being 90% chimp and 10% bee – a combination of being selfish and groupish. We see this played out in many areas such as punk or EMO in music, sports, politics, and more recently tattoos. Once you conduct the survey, feel free to reach out to talk about the results. I may have some exercises I can recommend to help you increase the engagement level. Be exceptional! Bill – Certified Growth Coach, Foundations in NeuroLeadership certified, MG100 member, Predictive Index Certified Partner (bill@catalystgrowthadvisors.com; www.catalystgrowthadvisors.com) For MA companies ONLY, as an approved Training and Development provider, Catalyst Growth Advisors can offer up to 50% off program fees. Click here to see if you qualify. Please click here to order a copy of my book Further, Faster – The Vital Few Steps that Take the Guesswork out of Growth or download the free pdf version.  |
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