You as a leader are in a process.
This is the long haul. You want success, not some dream factory where you can make boatloads of dough on some overnight, hair brained scheme.
You want individuals who will bring all their talent, their A-game every day.
They will come wit’ it. They will grind for you. Nothing more, nothing less.
So how do you achieve great engagement?
First off, let’s define what this looks like.
Gallup says engaged employees are “…involved in, enthusiastic about and committed to their work and workplace.”
Look at that core word: E-N-G-A-G-E.
When two mates are engaged, what do they do? They relate to one another. They are passionate about their relationship. They have each other’s best interests in mind. They care more for the other person than about themselves. They are looking fervently toward the future.
People enter into a relationship with you and your company for a paycheck, yes, however, their A-game—their commitment comes only when you have satisfied their highest need, the need for them to actualize their potential.
Abraham Maslow called it, self-actualization.
Maslow developed an influential model called the Hierarchy of Needs. They are starting with the most basic: physiological (air, food, water, shelter), security (from danger), social/emotional (friendships and familial love), esteem (sense of being productive) and the final—self-actualization.
Engaged couples fawn over each other because they each have something the other person wants, and its past sexual.
Each person sees that “it”: in the other person.
Call it falling in love. Again, you see your future with this person.
Well, the workplace scenario may not be romantic or sound so dramatic, but, there is a special connection both you and your employee can achieve in each other—and it comes right back to relationship.
Trust the process.
And the process is nurturing your relationship with your people.
You see something in your employee or, better, associates.
You see something in them that makes you want to pay them every two weeks.
They see in you not just dollar signs, but somewhere in there a way to actualize their talents.
The employee wants to bring to bear his/her talent they’ve thought about often at one time or other.
This talent is burning inside.
It’s up to you to provide the atmosphere in which it comes out of them.
Your employee greatly desires this. You maybe want just someone to do the work. But you can have SO MUCH MORE!
A man and his family were on a weeklong cruise. They enjoyed the view from their cabin. Every night they would look out their window while eating cheese and crackers. They loved the cheese and crackers, and were just happy to be along for the ride.
Then, on the final night the captain went to their quarters, asking why he hadn’t seen them all week. They explained how much they enjoyed the view from down below as well as their cheese and crackers.
The captain was aghast.
“Why, didn’t you know we have a full buffet on the deck with a much better view?”
“Well no,” the man said, shocked.
“Yes,” the captain said. “It was all included in the price of your ticket.”
You see, your employees may not realize they have the potential in your organization to do far more than the bare minimum.
They may be nibbling on the cheese and crackers of the bare expectations, when inside is a banquet to abundantly satisfy all not only the needs, but also the desires of your company.
So give them permission to crush it.
Maybe you don’t even know those desires. Maybe they’ve not even come to the surface yet, but for you to reach this place of transcendent self-actualization in your associates, you have to see it in them first.
Put it this way: for your company to actualize itself, and all its untapped talent, you must commit to actualizing the unique talents in each of your employees.
And if you’re not committed to seeing them walk in their purpose, don’t even go in it for the dollars.
There are enough companies coming and going every day crashing and burning because their ambition was only as thin as a Benjamin anyway.
Let’s talk more about the process.
Dale Carnegie wrote that every person has eight wants common to all mankind and virtually every one of them can be satisfied by us except one.
In How To Win Friends And Influence People, he wrote, “But there is one longing—almost as deep, almost as imperious, as the desire for food or sleep—which is seldom gratified. It is what Freud calls ‘the desire to be great.’ It is what Dewey calls the ‘desire to be important.’
“Lincoln once began a letter saying: ‘Everybody likes a compliment.’
William James said: ‘The deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated.’
He didn’t speak, mind you, of the ‘wish’ or the ‘desire’ or the ‘longing’ to be appreciated. He said the ‘craving’ to be appreciated (p.19).”
When you first commit to knowing your people well, it will be clear the more you listen what their latent talents are, almost by osmosis.
They will be clear to you the more time you listen, investing your energy into their growth.
NFL coach Pete Carrol calls it, “Learning your learners.”
Making someone feel important is part of that relationship, or, process, we’ve been addressing here.
Saying words of appreciation like, “thank you,” “job well done,” “You did better than I could have done myself,” “You make the call, I trust you, you know this better than anyone,” are all ways to make those deposits of trust and appreciation. This person starts to feel that importance.
When she actualizes herself, you watch while you’re paying her—watch—she’ll break her back for you.
Perspective 