🤔 Are you merely satisfied at work, or are you truly engaged?
There’s a clear distinction between the two.
♥️ Think of your work-life like a romantic relationship.
When you’re in the dating stage, you’re content and happy with your partner.
But if someone new catches your eye, you might consider exploring that option instead.
Engagement, however, is about unwavering commitment. When you decide to get engaged to someone, it means putting in the effort to nurture and strengthen the relationship, regardless of temptations. Engagement represents a deeper, more long-term aspect of relationships.
💼 Now, apply the relationship analogy to your work-life.
Being satisfied or happy at work might mean you’re in the ‘dating’ stage.
It doesn’t necessarily mean you’re deeply connected to your company’s mission or consistently delivering your best work. You are merely surviving without burning out.
On the other hand, being engaged means you can confidently answer “yes” to questions like:
- Am I consistently driven to give my best efforts at work?
- Do I feel motivated and excited throughout the workday?
- Would I be concerned if my company faced failure tomorrow?
- Am I actively seeking opportunities to enhance my contributions?
- Do I understand how my role fits into the company’s broader goals?
If you answered NO to any of these questions, it’s time to take action.
Schedule a 30-minute call with me for two specific strategies to enhance your engagement at work.
Tips For Managers:
Happy and satisfied employees might not necessarily be the most productive. They could just be doing the bare minimum to keep their jobs, or ‘cruising along’ in other words.
Engagement (and not happiness and satisfaction) fuels productivity and drives organizational success.
Start asking the right questions to gauge and foster true engagement within your team.
In addition to asking satisfaction-based questions, like whether employees are content with their roles or work-life balance, start delving into engagement-focused inquiries that drive productivity and growth:
- Are your ideas valued and heard?
- How do you perceive your role in advancing our company’s mission?
- What new skills have you recently developed that have benefited our team’s performance?
Note: Here is a database full of engagement questions you can add to your employee survey or modify and ask in one-on-one meetings (special shoutout to my friend and mentor, Thom Powell with 30 yrs of experience in HR for putting a large part of it together): PDF LINK
🕰️ Remember, you’ll spend 100,000 hours at work.
Do you want to merely go through the motions during these hours –
Or do you aspire to feel energized and fully engaged?
Don’t settle for mere survival—strive to thrive.
