Why Your Employee Engagement is Just the Tip of the Iceberg

People always ask us for ways to improve employee engagement, and it’s a little bit like looking at the part of the iceberg that’s above the waterline.

You could go out to the iceberg and take a photo and in reality, it’s only about 10% of the iceberg. The true majesty of the iceberg is at the base.

It doesn’t matter how strong or in what direction the wind is blowing on the top of the iceberg, the iceberg will always move in the direction of the base, even if it’s in the opposite direction to the direction of the wind at the top.employee engagement iceberg tip

And that’s true when it comes to employee engagement

In fact, the conversation about employee engagement is really quite a shallow conversation.

The more meaningful and important conversation is what’s going on below the waterline. What does the real foundation of value look like at the base of the iceberg?

Below the waterline

Immediately below the waterline is a sometimes less tangible part of the conversation, which is about results.

From the perspective of organizational culture, the real results that matter are culture clarity, passionate productivity, and financial impact. Aren’t these the results that you’re really looking for when you say you want to improve employee engagement?culture results iceberg

Getting the culture you really need

Getting clarity about your culture is key. Otherwise, your employee engagement initiatives will just be tweaks and the application of a Band-Aid. One of the levers to getting clarity is a framework. When you have a framework, you can move your culture efforts from nebulous to measurable.

Passive Passenger or Energized Employee?

The second result is passionate productivity and this happens when the workplace environment allows your employees to do their very best work. The lever you want to engage here is one of alignment. You need to move your policies, processes, systems, and physical workspaces from discrete acts to a united network in order to provide a holistic and congruent experience for your people.

Removing the cost of poor culture

In order to deliver our products and services successfully, we have to have financial support. By removing the pent-up friction and dysfunction that comes with poor culture, you can free up the dollars to do more. The research has shown us that those organizations with strong positive cultures are outperforming the competition.

 Let’s just think about those three results. Think about what it would mean for you, or look like for you, if you had clarity around the culture you actually have and the culture that would make you most successful, your employees had their maximum productivity potential enabled, and as a result, your financial performance improved? What would that feel like and look like?

 So, if we think about culture clarity, passionate productivity, and financial impact they are all critically important, right?

 Below the waterline

Yet, as important as these results are, it isn’t really just about those three things, is it?

For us, at the Culture Connection, we believe organizations like yours deserve purpose-powered performance. Isn’t that what you really want?purpose-powered performance iceberg

At this level, your organization is not just profit focussed, or even profit and people focussed.  Here, you’ve made a conscious decision about how your organization is going to be of societal significance. Everyone in your organization has an unwavering commitment to the contribution you’re making. And your culture is the enabler that allows you to be the best for the world you serve.

If you’d like to learn more, connect with us and we’ll happily share the 9 accelerators needed to achieve purpose-powered performance.

Did you find this article helpful? Here are three more you might enjoy

Transforming Workplace Culture: 3 Difficult Decisions Successful Leaders Make
The Key Characteristics of an Incredible Workplace Culture
Why Motivating Your Employees Only Gets You Half Way There

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