« When you are surrounded by people who share a passionate commitment around a common goal, anything is possible. » The quote comes from Howard Schulz, the famous founder of Starbucks, whom we love to cite just as much as his fellow countryman Richard Branson. Nothing to argue with—we can only embrace this mantra that makes all seemingly impossible things possible, centered on this cornerstone: ‘engagement’. A trendy subject, if ever there was one.
Yet, what is engagement? Try it around you, ask the question, and you’ll see there’s no single answer, no definition everyone agrees on. Granted, the notion often encompasses enthusiasm (an employee’s enthusiasm toward the missions entrusted to them in their workplace), and translates into investments in, and toward, professionally related tasks, with engaged collaborators traditionally being those who demonstrate unwavering commitment, take initiatives, and are extremely high-performing.
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Engagement: what makes it distinctive?
If we struggle to define engagement, let’s start by defining what it is not:
1/ Engagement is not satisfaction — which is the positive evaluation made by an employee based on their own criteria regarding their quality of work life (QWL). One can be satisfied with their working conditions without necessarily feeling engaged toward their company.
2/ Engagement is also not motivation. A motivated employee will work hard when there’s a reward at the end (what we call discretionary effort). An engaged employee will work hard because it provides them with a great sense of accomplishment.
3/ Finally, engagement is not correlated with feeling happy at work. An employee can be happy at work without being engaged. They may enjoy certain benefits related to quality of work life, such as provided breakfasts or a gym membership, without feeling fulfilled in their role or experiencing loyalty toward their company.
Beyond the strict psychological state characterizing an employee’s relationship with their organization and having implications for their decision to remain a member of the organization, engagement is actually a complex notion because there are different levels of work engagement.
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The different types of engagement.
Scientific research identifies three degrees of engagement that employees can experience:
- Affective engagement: an emotional attachment to the organization. It is the most important for an organization and should exceed the two following levels of engagement.
- Normative engagement: a moral obligation of loyalty toward the organization. It depends on the sense of duty toward one’s supervisor and the employee’s values.
- Continuance engagement: a high perceived cost of leaving the organization (an employee with no other job opportunities due to their sector’s job market would benefit from remaining engaged with their company).
The holy grail? Succeeding in building a team as defined by Claude Onesta, legendary coach of the French national handball team who achieved 2 Olympic titles, 4 world titles, 3 European titles…: « (A team is first and foremost) an uncertain space, made of power dynamics, adherence, rejections, hypocrisies, pretenses and subtle role-playing games, a human society, quite simply… A community of individual interests that, through a community of values, becomes a community of shared destinies. »
Good management is its own reward!