Three Keys To Engagement.
Gallup just released its 2026 Global Employee Engagement Survey which indicates that globally only 20% of employees are engaged at work. In the US the number is 31%.
Best practice organizations however have 70 percent employee engagement.
Managers who are supposed to motivate teams have suffered the greatest decline in engagement.
There are many reasons ascribed for the low engagement from a) too much work spread across too few people b) a forced return to the office placing pressure on juggling myriad personal and professional responsibilities c) the speed of change and d) the threat of AI to jobs.
When people are engaged they feel challenged by the work, connected to each other, aligned with the purpose of their company and see a path way to growth.
Another critical factor is to have a manager or leader who is highly capable and who treats them with respect and understanding.
In the end disengagement has a lot to do with the person one is reporting to more than anything else. A feeling that one is not heard or seen. A belief that one is treated as replaceable cog in the wheel.
The solution is not bringing in a bevy of consultants or training but upping three human traits that any of us can do at any time without permission or budgets.
We can enhance engagement with our own teams with :
1) Curiosity
2) Empathy
3) Generosity
Curiosity
One simple way to get people engaged is to ask about them and by doing so, also get them curious about others.
If someone asks you questions about yourself that are not tricky or puts you in a vulnerable place, it is very likely that you will be engaged.
One simple question that few people ask but significantly boosts the ability to connect is this one:
What three decisions or events have made or shaped who you are? (These really two different questions depending on whether you chose events or decisions)
This makes the person who you are asking the question to have to think a bit and in that way is difficult.
However, there is no right or wrong answer and everyone can come up with an answer, so no one is on the spot.
Their answer helps build a conversation because the person who is asked the question may then ask the questioner for their answer to the same question.
Try it on yourself and people you wish to engage with.
Empathy
Today a mixture of polarization, generational differences, work pressure and speed give us very little time to figure out what we are doing, let alone getting to see people from their perspectives and understand where they are coming from.
To engage one needs to be empathetic.
Asking others about the events and decisions that made them, which is being curious about them, is one way to generate empathy.
In addition, a simple question can let you be more empathetic.
How can I be of help to you?
A very simple question that few people ask.
People find it hard to ask for help (though we all should) but we should find it easier to ask people how we could help them.
This question can be refined in many ways to better telegraph understanding of a situation or elicit a particular type of answer.
For instance.
How can I help you more to manage X (X might be a client, an employee, a situation) which signals you understand the situation and ensure that you can provide the help.
How can I do things differently in the way I work or manage to help you become more effective? This signals empathy by understanding that sometimes helping someone is not changing what they do but what you do.
Generosity
Whenever you give someone a non-monetary gift of time, kindness, help, or a monetary reward of a special bonus or one time award which is unexpected and goes above and beyond they will be deeply engaged.
Give first.
Give more than you get.
Give without strings.
And you will find that you will get attention, time and much more at a multiple of what you give.
In a world of transactions and negotiations try not being transactional or a negotiator.
Today people get taken aback when people help people with no strings attached.
When one is generous there are two amazing rewards:
First one earns goodwill which lasts a long time.
Second one feels good about oneself.
Generosity is a great strategy.
Curiosity. Empathy. Generosity.
Always works. And will work really well in an AI Age.
One Single Thing.
Beginning last week, I plan to end every post linking to one single thing to listen, watch or read that might make you see, think or feel differently.
Last week I shared a short video called Retirement Plan.
This week is a recent post by Om Malik.
Om is a San Francisco-based writer, photographer, and investor who has spent three decades in the trenches of Silicon Valley as a journalist, entrepreneur, and, more recently, as a venture capitalist. Om has been writing about the commercial Internet since its birth.
Om has an incredible free blog from where I share a post called Velocity is the New Authority. It begins like this…
“Why does everyone feel overwhelmed by information? Why does it feel impossible to trust what passes through our streams? We tend to blame individual publications, specific platforms, or bad actors. The real answer has less to do with any single media entity and more with structural changes in the information ecosystem.”
Take five minutes to read it and it will give you a new perspective on why and how we consume content: Velocity is the New Authority.