Have you ever worked for a manager who inspires you, one who you would follow to the ends of the earth and for whom you would put in extra effort? That’s the feeling of being engaged. Simply put, an engaged employee is one who puts in extra effort because he or she has an emotional connection to the organization, its leaders and his or her co-workers.
While many talk about it and a few measure it, employee engagement could be the one greatest area for potential improvement in a company’s operations. The simple fact is that engaged employees produce results. If you’re not sure how this works, check out this article by Kevin Kruse in Forbes. It shows the results of 28 research studies that demonstrate the benefits of employee engagement.
There is another great article in the Gallup Business Journal today on The Business Impact of Human Emotions. The most amazing part of it is the statistic at the end that says “that when organizations engage their customers and their employees, they experience a 240% boost in performance-related business outcomes compared with an organization with neither engaged employees nor engaged customers.”
For real success, a company must be measuring and managing stakeholder engagement.