You Probably Don’t Need Another Engagement Initiative
You need to see what’s actually getting in the way
Over three decades, across 20 different brands and eight industries, I’ve worked on my share of employee engagement plans. And I’ve seen the frustration of both the People, Culture & HR teams and the Internal Communications teams when they quietly fall apart.
The Pulse surveys come back with verbatims that are less than complimentary. The annual survey shows numbers that didn’t move.
Your peers toss around solutions:
“We just need better communication,” or
“Managers need more training,” or even
“We need a stronger culture.”
While all of that can be true, it doesn’t really get to the root of what is going on for employees.
Regardless of the measurement methodology, what is often underneath the Likert scale options is a cry for stronger operational workflow.
Teams are telling you they can’t:
get what they need to do their job,
reach the right people to do their job,
feel connected to leadership or purpose.
Source: The Achievers Workforce Institute
All of these are clear signs of friction, not disengagement. And the key issue is that friction doesn’t get solved with more programs or slide decks.
You’re accountable for engagement scores, your performance is evaluated on moving them, and acting on the survey data.
This underlying friction matters more to you than it might seem: what shows up in surveys as “communication,” “connection,” or “trust” are often clues to where work is breaking down operationally.
And when those breakdowns aren’t addressed, your engagement efforts layer on top of friction instead of removing it — which is why scores stall, even when your effort increases.
Shift the thinking:
Before you add anything new, ask: Where is the breakdown happening right now?
Because once you see it, you cease guessing, share ownership for the solutions across the organization, and start fixing the real issues that are stalling results and keeping people from achieving their greatest possibilities.
That’s when engagement scores start to move.
In my work with HR leaders, this diagnosis is always step one.Map the breakdowns. Then act with intent.
I built a short Friction Diagnostic to help you see where work is breaking down before you decide what to fix.
You can download that diagnostic here, and if you find it useful, please, share the link with a friend or colleague.
I hope it will give you some initial insight and inspire you to get more curious about what is underneath the engagement feedback.