Strong leadership: Mending broken engagements

Only 17 per cent of Canadians are “highly engaged” in their work, Towers Perrin HR Services found in a recent survey of 5,100 Canadians. This low number is disconcerting, to say the least. Also disconcerting is that Canadian engagement scores have decreased over the past few years.

Yet engagement is a key variable in an effective workforce. It contributes to accomplishing organizational objectives, a healthy organizational climate, bottom line results, and worker wellness.

Different organizations define engagement in different ways and ask different questions to measure engagement. Some key terms associated with engagement are: energy, involvement, efficacy, vigor, dedication, and absorption. Because strength based leadership can be a key contributor to employee engagement this blog will examine various studies on engagement in greater detail with an eye towards the contribution of leadership to overall engagement within an organization.

Hewitt Associates, who conduct research to determine Canada’s 50 Best Employers, use 3 S’s to operationalize engagement: say, stay, and strive.

Say – how much an employee speaks positively about the organization to to others.

Stay -how much an employee wants to be a member of the organization.

Strive – how willing an employee is to exert extra effort and how dedicated the employee is to doing excellent work.

Hewitt Associates will be releasing their latest results on Canada’s 50 Best Employers later this month in the Globe and Mail.

Strength-based leadership can be a key driver to contribute to employee engagement.

Leaders who are aware of their strengths and practice their strengths have a higher probability of being engaged themselves and engaging their employees. Their caring for employees and the organization will contribute to engagement while the skillful management of personal and organizational energy will sustain engagement over the long term.

Here are a few questions to consider: How engaged are you at work? Has your level of engagement fluctuated over the past year or years? What do you do to stay engaged? How do you contribute to the engagement of the people you lead?

This blog will feature strength-based responses to these and other engagement questions over the next few months.