Engagement Measurement Mistakes

Employee engagement is a hot topic for organizations big and small. Regardless of size, a highly engaged workforce is a company’s greatest asset and can be a determining factor in how successful the company is. But the only reliable way to measure engagement is through an employee survey. Whether your organization is just starting to quantify engagement or has tracked it for years, it doesn’t hurt to take a look at your strategy and make sure you’re not making any of these top five employee engagement survey mistakes.

It may seem obvious, but the biggest mistake a company can make around employee engagement is to not measure it and track it. If management and executives aren’t paying attention to the engagement levels of the workforce, they could be missing red flags and warning signs that could affect everything from revenue to staff turnover. On the flip side, they would also be missing areas of strength within the organization that they could capitalize on. Employee engagement programs show employees that their opinions are important. When team members feel that their opinions are valued, organizations will see a positive ripple effect throughout the ranks.

Prior to the launch of an employee engagement survey, multiple teams within the organization must be in alignment, so that once it’s time to take action, the right people are in place to follow through. The following teams should be working together to ensure success:

Do you really know what your employees need to be successful, or are you making assumptions? The second mistake organizations often make involves making assumptions about what their employees want and need in order to be successful. Without talking directly to team members about problems, how can management expect to solve them? For example, in order for a doctor to diagnose a patient’s problem, they have to examine and perhaps run tests on the patient. The same goes for a company. The company must examine the drivers of engagement in order to identify strengths and solve issues. Assumptions lead to wasted time and resources and will only slow down the process of making improvements.

Surveying employees without taking action on the data you collect is the number one way to sabotage your company’s engagement efforts. When people feel that nothing is being done to improve the work environment after survey results have been collected, they’ll begin to lose trust in management and employees will stop responding all together in future surveys.

I will often see CEO’s that think an annual kick off is all that is needed to engage the employees and that is enough work on the culture. We found that companies working with their culture continually understand the value of their people and are creating an environment where they can thrive. Humans like repetition—it gives a sense of security and familiarity. Systematising culture work embeds habits that create the behaviors you want to see from your employees. Systematising culture work embeds habits that create the behaviors you want to see from your employees. There are many ways to systematise behavior-based engagement activities that will create the habits for the actions that you want to reinforce in the organisation. Just remember that repetition is vital!

If you’re just beginning to measure engagement, you’re off to a great start. For the first time you will have real data about your employees that you can use to make smart and informed decisions. Using the data you’ve gathered, you can put tactical plans in place in order to change employee behavior and company culture. But how will you know if your plans are successful or not? The answer is surveying consistently.
We recommend that you survey employees at least once per year so that you can adjust action plans as the culture within your organization shifts.

Engagement is a continuously evolving, never-ending conversation that requires consistent dialogue and devotion to resources that promote discussion. That conversation stays alive with an annual survey, and consistency ensures that the life of those conversations thrives.

Trust is built through transparency. If something is working well in one part of the company, it is great to let others know about it. This is what we like to call collaborative or accelerated learning. Leaders will often be inspired by hearing real case studies of what is working in other companies, because it makes it tangible for them and opens their minds to know that it IS possible. They are then they are willing to take the 'risks' to try new ideas. Different departments in companies can be isolated and feel like silos - in their own little world. When you can create a culture of sharing, everyone benefits. Ideas are shared. Innovation and creativity abound, and inspiration spreads. It is so important that we share what is working well inside of the company and even externally. Share the wins and work on bringing more joy to the workplace.

You can't force your employees to be happy. All you can do is create a positive workplace environment with the right work-life balance for your employees. With the right environment, the right employees should thrive.
The survey itself does not equal employee engagement. It provides an overview of the workplace that then allows the organization to make changes to improve engagement. The survey is not the end goal, and putting too much emphasis on it encourages employees to take the survey and forget about engagement until the next one.

We hope reading this article helps you measure employee engagement in the right way. or Hopefully, by reading this, you can avoid all mistakes and save time on your path to creating an engaged workforce where your employees thrive