Improve Your Own Job Engagement 10 Ways!

Surveys throughout the ages have shown that a large percentage of employed professionals go through their jobs disengaged. The Gallop survey (1.4 million employees, 192 organizations, 49 industries, and 34 countries) published in February 2013 focused on the relationship between engagement at work and organizational outcomes. The study that resulted in the report addressed issues such as absenteeism, accidents, defects, productivity, profitability, and customer relationships.

The implication of the study was that employers who succeed in improving employee engagement reap the benefits on nine key fronts of business performance factors (profitability, productivity, customer satisfaction, product quality, safety, shrinkage, turnover, absenteeism, and employee welfare or quality of work life).

This seminal study graphically shows the difference between the top and bottom engagement quartiles. It leaves no doubt even in the minds of the most casual reader how important employee engagement is. The study revealed that actively disengaged employees outnumber engaged employees nearly 2:1 worldwide (Engaged 13%, Not engaged 63%, and Actively disengaged 24%). The US numbers are a little bit better (29%, 54%, and 18% respectively), but still having much room to change things!

The implication of this study leaves the reader wondering if employers have so much to gain by increasing engagement what is in it for its employees and what can THEY do to make their engagement better from their side. After all, it is employee engagement and not employer engagement! Here is my list of what employees can proactively do on their own to do their part.

But, wait, why should they do this from their side?

The answer is simple if you do your part on some of the key factors to improve your own engagement, because, then, you can derive a variety of benefits for yourself if you know how to translate that employer benefit into something that you can take it to your bank. Also, it is not just what you can take to your bank from the benefits of your engagement, but, more importantly, how it affects your own quality of life. Quality of your workplace experience spills over in the quality of your own lives. So, to go from being indifferent to your work to being enthusiastic about it here is what you can do to get there:

1. Rather than merely following orders from your higher ups, find meaning in your assignment and approach it with a story-telling mindset. What story would you write about your work assignment that will showcase your heroism and how would you frame that for putting it on your rsum?
2. Talk to someone who cares about your work (best person would be your boss if he cares) and share with them your successes, challenges, and aspirations. Have such conversations often.
3. Revisit your companys vision and mission and tie them to your own work. When you are fighting deadlines and organizational constraints it is difficult to see the forest for the trees. Having this context and perspective may energize you and provide the inspiration you need to find meaning in what you do and your own purpose. When was the last time you visited your own companys website or read its annual report?
4. Find avenues where your opinions matter and see how they translate into outcomes that are visible to you. Seeing how you move the needle makes a big difference in how you see your work impacting those around you.
5. Find someone to mentor you and who can encourage your ongoing development. Find someone to mentor, regardless of how long you have worked.
6. If your supervisor does not care about you as a person, do not let that stop you from caring for someone around you. Listen to their story and see how you can empower yourself by helping them as their thought partner. See #5.
7. If your boss is ignoring you and not providing you the deserved recognition, write an email or a memo to those around you, including your boss and her boss about your achievement and how it has helped change things for the better. This may shame them into providing you the deserved recognition!
8. If you do not have the required resources (materials, equipment, ecosystem) for you to succeed find creative ways to get them and share your success getting such resources despite managements indifference without criticizing your management.
9. Manage expectations of those around you. Under promise and over deliver. This philosophy will result in your being seen as a trustworthy person who always comes through in a clutch.
10. Keep looking for opportunities both inside and outside the company so that you stay marketable no matter what happens to your work group.

Employee engagement is a dance that both sides need to play, if you do your part well youd be surprised how things will change around you and quickly, too!

Good luck!

About Author

Dilip has distinguished himself as LinkedIn’s #1 career coach from among a global pool of over 1,000 peers ever since LinkedIn started ranking them professionally (LinkedIn selected 23 categories of professionals for this ranking and published this ranking from 2006 until 2012). Having worked with over 6,000 clients from all walks of professions and having worked with nearly the entire spectrum of age groups—from high-school graduates about to enter college to those in their 70s, not knowing what to do with their retirement—Dilip has developed a unique approach to bringing meaning to their professional and personal lives. Dilip’s professional success lies in his ability to codify what he has learned in his own varied life (he has changed careers four times and is currently in his fifth) and from those of his clients, and to apply the essence of that learning to each coaching situation. After getting his B.Tech. (Honors) from IIT-Bombay and Master’s in electrical engineering(MSEE) from Stanford University, Dilip worked at various organizations, starting as an individual contributor and then progressing to head an engineering organization of a division of a high-tech company, with $2B in sales, in California’s Silicon Valley. His current interest in coaching resulted from his career experiences spanning nearly four decades, at four very diverse organizations–and industries, including a major conglomerate in India, and from what it takes to re-invent oneself time and again, especially after a lay-off and with constraints that are beyond your control. During the 45-plus years since his graduation, Dilip has reinvented himself time and again to explore new career horizons. When he left the corporate world, as head of engineering of a technology company, he started his own technology consulting business, helping high-tech and biotech companies streamline their product development processes. Dilip’s third career was working as a marketing consultant helping Fortune-500 companies dramatically improve their sales, based on a novel concept. It is during this work that Dilip realized that the greatest challenge most corporations face is available leadership resources and effectiveness; too many followers looking up to rudderless leadership. Dilip then decided to work with corporations helping them understand the leadership process and how to increase leadership effectiveness at every level. Soon afterwards, when the job-market tanked in Silicon Valley in 2001, Dilip changed his career track yet again and decided to work initially with many high-tech refugees, who wanted expert guidance in their reinvention and reemployment. Quickly, Dilip expanded his practice to help professionals from all walks of life. Now in his fifth career, Dilip works with professionals in the Silicon Valley and around the world helping with reinvention to get their dream jobs or vocations. As a career counselor and life coach, Dilip’s focus has been career transitions for professionals at all levels and engaging them in a purposeful pursuit. Working with them, he has developed many groundbreaking approaches to career transition that are now published in five books, his weekly blogs, and hundreds of articles. He has worked with those looking for a change in their careers–re-invention–and jobs at levels ranging from CEOs to hospital orderlies. He has developed numerous seminars and workshops to complement his individual coaching for helping others with making career and life transitions. Dilip’s central theme in his practice is to help clients discover their latent genius and then build a value proposition around it to articulate a strong verbal brand. Throughout this journey, Dilip has come up with many groundbreaking practices such as an Inductive Résumé and the Genius Extraction Tool. Dilip owns two patents, has two publications in the Harvard Business Review and has led a CEO roundtable for Chief Executive on Customer Loyalty. Both Amazon and B&N list numerous reviews on his five books. Dilip is also listed in Who’s Who, has appeared several times on CNN Headline News/Comcast Local Edition, as well as in the San Francisco Chronicle in its career columns. Dilip is a contributing writer to several publications. Dilip is a sought-after speaker at public and private forums on jobs, careers, leadership challenges, and how to be an effective leader.

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