It is widely proven that employee engagement is directly linked to the profitability and sustainability of a business. Why is it, then, that a recent release from the Gallup Organization found that only 11 percent of all employees worldwide are engaged in their work? Shouldn’t engagement be a higher priority for business leaders?
Engagement means being committed to something or someone in an organization. This commitment can be rational (seeing one’s job as serving a financial, developmental, or professional self-interest) or emotional (when someone values, enjoys, or believes strongly in what one does). In either instance, however, even engagement is not always enough. There needs to be something more.
Going beyond engagement
Our research revealed several companies where employees possess strong emotional attachments that have led to remarkable results and exceptional performance. Employees in these companies are more than engaged; they are entangled—where the drive for positive employee-company dedication and commitment run constantly at the deepest levels, resulting in a sustainable competitive advantage for each company.
Although “entangled” sounds negative, it is an extremely strong positive force that draws people together. A key difference between engaged and entangled employees is the tension that arises from the knowledge that things can always be better. Entangled employees are never satisfied with simply being good. They want to be great, and that mentality is what affects profitability and sustainability of their respective businesses.
Olympians versus college athletes
Entangled employees are like Olympians who must interlace all aspects of their live—such as diet, sleep, exercise, and training—into a finely honed discipline directed toward achieving one’s personal best “gold” performance. Entangled employees’ quests for better personal and organizational performances lead to a higher plane, one where they see themselves as part of a larger organization and team members who must rely on others rather than on individual achievement alone.
Entangled employees focus on making collaborative decisions that yield the best possible results for the organization. They devote their discretionary thinking toward tough organizational issues and challenges rather than self-interests. Entangled employees see the world from a much broader perspective, approaching their work with a greater understanding of how performance on each job contributes to individual, team, and organizational success, and entangled employees can be found at any level of a business.
Eight critical elements
Entangled employees operate within unique cultures where eight critical elements exist. The synergy and magnetism that arise as each element strengthens become the distinctive competence that competitors cannot imitate, which leads to a unique competitive advantage.
- Having leaders who do extraordinary things. The primacy of senior visionary, the transformative leaders who shape a performance-excellence culture, is evident in entangled cultures. Transformative leadership operates at all levels within these entangled cultures. Everyone has leadership responsibilities because of the ability to influence the actions of others through one’s behaviors.
- Building an ethical organization. Entangled organizations have explicit core values such as respect, trust, ethical conduct, and caring that extend to all stakeholders. Daily actions reflect a meaningful pronouncement of what each organization holds dear. Trust between suppliers and customers grows each time an obligation is met and a promise is kept.
- Focusing all the human capital. Entangled employees create world-class organizations through shared visions requiring cross-functional teamwork and elevated thinking about potential solutions. Setting and holding to cascading performance metrics—linking individual actions plans with strategic and operational goals—is a critical element for achieving unit and company success.
- Using processes to guide performance. The first step for understanding any organization is defining the key processes that deliver value to customers. Entangled organizations manage and improve these processes constantly. Process improvement stems from the alignment of human capital within each process.
- Increasing individual self-efficacy. Leaders within entangled cultures focus first on the individual, building on a set of core values that respect the dignity of each person. Leaders must support the will to excel, which begins with building trust. Leaders must develop self-confidence and esteem through personal example and constant encouragement.
- Giving freedom and responsibility within a culture of discipline. Freedom to operate begins with clear definitions of each employee’s role and performance expectations, which helps to define one’s area of responsibility. Discipline relates to appropriate conduct in any situation, which relates to core values and desired behaviors. Freedom also means deciding how best to reach one’s goals while helping one’s organization excel.
- Hardwiring discretionary thinking and actions. Entangled companies create the structures and behaviors that result in high employee commitment. Readily identifying errors, conducting post-mortems after every event, and fostering open discussions that lead to continuous improvements reinforce and encourage discretionary thinking.
- Guiding the transformation process to remarkable results. Creating an entangled, world class company requires progressive and continual improvement guided by Kotter’s eight-step model for major change. Building self-efficacy and discretionary thinking requires pervasive trust rooted in relationships between and among stakeholders.
This article is adapted from It’s My Company Too! How Entangled Companies Move Beyond Employee Engagement For Remarkable (2012, Greenleaf).