I recently came across an interesting article written by The Energy Project and published in The New York Times titled “Why You Hate Work“. They partnered with the Harvard Business Review on a global research project to better understand the influences of engagement and productivity in the new business landscape. It is an important subject seeing that all recent surveys show 70-80% disengagement in the workforce.
In 2012, Gallup found that companies in the top quartile for engaged employees, compared with the bottom quartile, had 22 percent higher profitability, 10 percent higher customer ratings, 28 percent less theft and 48 percent fewer safety incidents.
It is quite obvious that factors they point out like feeling valued, focused, and purposeful have a major impact on retention and engagement. It is also clear that leadership plays an important role in driving productivity and influencing job satisfaction.
What the article further points out, though, is that very few companies or organizations invest in trying to address the gap. A lot of the factors described in the article are somewhat intangible, which means that solving the puzzle requires introspection and involves customized leadership development.
The investment in this kind of development doesn’t always have a clear ROI, but with an un-engaged workforce on the cusp of a major generational changeover, along with a rapidly changing market environment, can you afford inaction?
I join you in scratching my head over this gap and what appears to be disinterest in doing anything about it. As I listen to people in the leadership development space I hear a couple of themes:
“We’re growing so fast. All our time is spent selling and getting orders out the door as fast as we can.”
Those same folks share horror stories about leader behavior.
Good is the enemy of great. And leaders who lack self awareness — or the courage to take a peek — risk “good” and “great”.
JFK wrote in Profiles in Courage “To be courageous . . . is an opportunity that sooner or later is presented to all of us.”