Looking to engage your people? Give them something to brag about

While business leaders today look for the latest trends in technology, explore new growth opportunities and rewrite our playbooks to stay ahead of our competition, there’s one stark factor that we seem to have overlooked: the engagement of our employees who are deploying these new strategies, executing transformation initiatives and overseeing technology implementations.

Unfortunately, the global statistics aren’t great. If we look at the latest 2024 data from Gallup (the global authority on all things related to employee engagement), only 23 per cent of our workforce accounts for engaged employees. The disgruntle disenchanted category represents 15 per cent; and the fence-sitting, quietly quitting, disengaged group accounts for a whopping 62 per cent.  And the US is waking up to the fact that their engagement level is at an eleven- year low, back at the 2013 level, of 30 per cent.

It is not just the 2024 number we need to be concerned about – rather, the numbers of the last 15 years. When analysing the trend, the engaged category has gone up and disgruntled category has come down. Which is a good thing.  However, the global percentage of fence-sitters has stayed the same since we started measuring it back in 2009.

Imagine having a team of ten rowers on your boat, with two people rowing their heart out, six just sitting with their arms crossed adding dead weight, and one person rowing in the opposite direction. How fast do you reckon your boat can go?

The impact of the fence-sitters on the global economy is a staggering US$ 8.8 trillion or 9% of the global GDP!

How do we move the needle?

Having worked across multiple countries over the last 25 years, I know for a fact that the fence-sitting employees are only seemingly disengaged. While you might think that they only turn up in body, leaving their brains behind, I’ve found that they are waiting to be discovered and motivated. Involving the fence-sitters in initiatives led by the engaged few is often the neglected secret to boost productivity.

The next key is recognising your workforce at different levels. Whether we take Maslow’s classical Hierarchy of Needs framework, Simon Sinek’s contemporary Start with Why framework, or any other framework that explores human motivational theories, recognition stands out as one of the core components that drives us all—be it internal gratification or external validation.

Therefore, recognition is a fundamental element that should be incorporated into our workplace cultures and leadership attributes to create engaged, productive, and happier workplaces. If you create the right environment, people will start bragging in a positive way.

3 levels of (positive) bragging:

• Individual level – give them something to be proud of. Recognise individuals for their personal contribution and efforts. Whether it is a certificate of appreciation, mentioning their achievements in newsletters or even placing a poster in the canteen helps individuals to feel valued. Give them something to talk about that their contributions have made a difference amongst their peers. This helps them to finally tick off that fourth level of Maslow’s needs.
• Team level – give them something to brag about. I’ve always believed in 10-12-week team initiatives that neatly snugs into a business quarter. Getting those teams to present at quarterly townhalls or any other appropriate forums works great. Publishing team accomplishments in newsletters, intranet site also help teams to be proud. Employees love to hear the success stories from their fellow colleagues, perhaps more than from a leader behind a lectern with PowerPoint slides.
• Organisation level – give them something to be part of. If you consistently share progress and get teams to showcase their achievements on a quarterly basis, your workplace culture will soon start to shift for the better. This would be the time for you to share a bigger picture, the purpose, your plan to take the overall site/company to an exciting destination. Make the workplace such that your employees would feel proud to bring their families and show-off what they do to their loved ones.

This approach will help you to create a positive culture where employees feel encouraged to be more, grow more and do more. A rising tide will lift all boats. Recognition is the rising tide.

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