Great insight from John and Michael. I'm a huge believer in Employee Engagement. Higher employee engagement has been shown to impact organizational results. But, most senior leaders are not looking for statistics or data. They want to know that the program or initiative makes the company more successful. Whether its investing in advanced technology or "human capital", the gauge on whether leaders pay attention is - does this help us reach our goals. Does it impact business results. Therefore, the most critical thing that can be done with employee engagement (or any other "people program") is to connect it to a business goal or result. That way, it is not a program or an added step or "something else to do". Instead, it shifts to a tool to drive business results. If a program can be connected to impacting a goal that senior leaders care about, it will get buy-in, funding and attention.
Let me give you an example. I worked with a regional bank that wanted to connect employee engagement to business results. We worked with them to link employee engagement to 3 goals - lowering teller attrition, increasing new accounts, decreasing savings account attrition. Why did we pick these to link engagement to?
1. They were important to the C-Suite
2. They were heavily impacted by people
We administered the survey and looked at the results through the lens of those 3 goals. Then came up with recommendations directly to impact those three goals. At the end of the fiscal year: teller attrition was cut in half; new accounts were up by 20%; saving account attrition was cut by 40%. These were goals that impacted the bottom line of the company, helped to grow marketshare and increase customer engagement. They could also be directly linked to the work done on employee engagement. That is what senior leaders want to see.
link your programs & initiatives to supported key business goals. Then you will get buy in, earn a seat at the decision making table & help the organization grow.