Episode #452: How To Increase Engagement

This week we will look at getting the team members engaged. Now this is a tricky subject in Japan because what is the native Japanese word for engagement? We always have this dilemma when we try to translate “engagement” into Japanese. In the end, we just leave it as “engagement” in the katakana script which reproduces the sound, but which in itself has no meaning, as opposed to kanji pictographs, which have actual meanings.

So, if there is no word for engagement in Japan, how on earth can you get people more engaged? Also, how do you measure it? Gallup have been running engagement surveys around the world on a regular basis for a long time and invariably Japan scores low by comparison with other countries. Usually only around 7% of the working population are “highly engaged”. This always triggers a reaction back at HQ for multi-national companies who run these global surveys.

I have sat in those regional heads’ meetings and seen the world’s scores paraded up on screen, with APAC the lowest region and Japan the lowest country in APAC. Local leaders like me are then chastened to find ways to lift the scores. You try and explain Japan to them, but you may as well talk to a post, for all the good it does you.

Part of the reason for Japan’s low scores is linguistic and the other part is cultural. I strongly recommend you check the translation of the survey questions. Often the translation provided misses the nuance needed for a Japanese audience and therefore the scores are more harsh than they need to be. Questions like “would you recommend to your family of friends to join our company” which is usually one of the key questions around the level of engagement, gets a very low score here. Japanese people do not want to take on that sense of responsibility to their employer or to their family or friends. What if their friend hates the company or the company hates their friend – they don’t want to get blamed by either side.

Also culture of perfectionism here makes it hard for Japanese to give themselves high scores. Luxury brands talk about the Japan 30% factor. This means that Japanese consumers are scoring 30% lower than elsewhere, when it comes to satisfaction rates with the service or product and these luxury companies take this into consideration.

Is there anything we can do then to improve the scores for engagement? Our own research on the emotional drivers of engagement have found there are three key elements and an important emotional trigger to getting the team engaged with their work.

The Key Elements

1. Satisfaction with the immediate manager

This is very obvious and as we say people don’t quit companies, they leave bosses. The manager’s job is to build strong relationships with the team. The leader sets the culture of the organisation and is it “people centered” or not? If people feel they are treated equally and fairly, they will stay engaged.

2. Belief in senior leadership

Often the leaders think they have been doing a good job in their messaging. They believe that everyone understands the vision and are all united behind it. If the communication of the Why we are doing this or Where we are going isn’t done properly, then doubt arises as to whether the senior leaders are setting the right course or not. If the messaging is clear, then everyone feels more confident the organisation will succeed and want to do their job well.

3. Pride in the organization

Often we wonder who the real rivals are. The Marketing Department and the Sales Department seem at war with each other and the IT department seems to be at war with everyone. We need to be focused outside and uniting together against our external competitors. Weak leaders will disparage other leaders within the organisation to unite their own team around them and so lose sight of the true rival – the external competitor in the marketplace. We need to be talking up our organisation and talking up our people, so that we can feel pride in where we work

4. The Emotional Trigger

Feeling valued by the boss is powerful. How do we know we are valued? Because our boss communicates that to us very clearly, that we are valued, so we are in no doubt. Once we feel that what we are doing has meaning and is appreciated, we are engaged to work hard. This opens the door to feeling confident, inspired, enthusiastic and empowered in our work.

These three elements and this key trigger will make a big difference in increasing the levels of engagement in your organisation. By the way, all of these aspects are 100% free, so there is no excuse for not working on them!