How Engagement and Culture Fit Together

Culture eats strategy for lunch.

Peter Drucker

One of the burning questions organizations face—what can organizations do to make their company’s culture one of engagement?

Of course, organizations are made up of people and so a twist on the typical discussion around creating an engaging culture is to answer the question, "What can individual leaders do to create a culture of engagement?"

Individual leaders can create a Supportive Culture

A supportive culture is vital to employee engagement. It can create enthusiasm for employees to take initiative in their work and a personal interest in the people they work with, combined with the organization setting a tone that lets employees know management trusts their judgment.

Five actions that help create a supportive culture:

1. Bring fun, enjoyment, energy, passion and play to work. It doesn’t feel like work when it’s enjoyed.
2. Turn everyday encounters into pleasant experiences through kindness, patience, and thoughtfulness.
3. Develop a team that is, "world-class." When a culture of being world-class exists, being, "good enough," is not good enough. Nick Sabin, the legendary retired head coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide, said, "Mediocre people don’t like high achievers and high achievers don’t like mediocre people…Get the right guys on the bus, get them in the right seats, and get the wrong guys off the bus."
4. Choose your attitude. Most of us occasionally have a rough day, and while we can’t always control what happens to us, we can control how we respond to it. As a leader, you set the tone. If you are moping around, or angry at the world, your team members see that and will reflect that. No one wants to be around that, they want to work somewhere that feels good and is enjoyable.
5. Support failure by helping people learn from it, not harping on it. If we want people to take initiative, they will make mistakes. How leaders handle mistakes determines what kind of culture they have. When someone goofs up and it’s treated as a failure, the next time the leader asks that person to take some initiative, there’s a good chance it’s not going to happen.

Engagement is about discretionary effort. Engaged employees willingly give more because they want to give more, it’s a choice that they make. But we know engagement can’t be forced. Managers need to create an employee experience and culture that supports their people and that’s one of the best ways to create employee engagement.