What Drives Employees To Perform? Part 3

In part 3 of a 10-part series Robert Gray, President of Insightlink Communications identifies the top 10 drivers of employee engagement according to Survey of the American Workforce, a recently completed national survey conducted annually by Insightlink.

Enjoying what you do was found to be the number one driver and the single most important motivator of job satisfaction in the US today. The second most important driver is Reciprocity. Provided here are the 3rd and 4th drivers of employee engagement: Communication and Momentum.

Communication

Effective communication is an important part of a well-run organization; it’s always a top indicator of workplace engagement.

Unfortunately, at least from the perspective of employees, this is an area most organizations do poorly. Only four in every 10 employees are satisfied with the level of communication where they work; extremely low for such a key driver of job satisfaction.

This includes messaging that is largely top down and one-way. Such messages tend to be sanitized, bland and non-committal summaries of recent events, often nothing but generalizations with no substance. Real information is protected as a state secret. The tone of such communications is cold and clinical, with little effort to assure people understand what is being said, and a lot of effort spent rationalizing failure or assigning blame. Does any of this sound familiar?

Successful communications operate differently. The goal is to share information, knowledge and understanding with those whose cooperation is required to achieve corporate goals. They engage in two-way communication, encourage and welcome feedback and react positively to hearing how employees feel and think.

Bad news is not hidden. Rather, problems are reported upward and addressed, and there is a genuine effort to match words with actions. In winning organizations, communication is regarded as an integral part of management. Employees trust and are often willing to put themselves out for the good of the organization. Many of their communications celebrate and sustain success.

Momentum

The Insightlink survey asked employees to what degree they felt that their organization was improving and moving in a positive direction. Organizational momentum is an important determinant of employee engagement. All things equal, employees that they feel are moving forward are more likely engaged with their jobs than those working in an organization without a sense of momentum.

This is human nature. People like to associate with success. Interestingly, when employees are asked why or why not their organization is moving forward, they assign values based on their perceptions. That is, some see recent growth as a positive reinforcement, while others see growth as adding even more to their already-heavy workloads.

This is not something organizations can affect directly, but they might consider whether they are doing enough to promote achievement throughout the organization.

Of course, the best way to plan action for your own company is to conduct your own survey so if we can help please let us know. Contact us at info@insightlink.com for more information, to get pricing click here or feel free to contact Lynn Gore at 866-802-8095 ext. 705.