Some might argue that employee engagement has become a bit of a buzzword, but it’s hard to deny its importance. The commonly accepted belief is that high levels of engagement improve employee well-being, performance, and retention rates. However, what’s accepted as fact regarding engagement doesn’t always add up. First, the correlation between high levels of engagement and higher performance outcomes is far from perfect, which means not all engaged individuals are the high performers that leadership would expect. Often, it’s the least satisfied individuals who are the most productive employees. While this seems counterintuitive, a broad explanation would be that while engagement is an important consideration in predicting performance, there are myriad other factors at play. For example, a recent study conducted by Google found that performance was also influenced by an open and safe team culture, clear goal-setting practices, and a strong sense of purpose among employees. Studies have also shown that the effectiveness of leadership can affect a team’s performance beyond their levels of engagement. In fact, engagement can sometimes become a barrier to performance if the quest to achieve it is taken to the extreme.