Page 303 - How America's Best Places to Work Inspire Extra Effort in Extraordinary Times

290B RE-ENGAGE

initiative that they are absolved of the responsibility for keeping them-
selves engaged with the excuse that it’s the manager who is being held
accountable for it.
While the responsibility is shared, managers have to be highly
motivated to engage each employee, because their own success and
the success of their teams depend on it. So the question becomes,
“How can managers make employees’ self-engagement easier?” Our
answer is to present techniques and tools that managers can use to
challenge employees to take the self-engaging actions that no one else
can take for them.
As we go through the guidelines in this chapter, reflect on your
own level of engagement. As we have said before, if the manager is not
engaged, it is less likely the manager’s direct reports will be engaged.
In fact, a recent Accenture study, based on a survey of job satisfac-
1
tion with middle managers, revealed that they are frustrated about
several issues, including shouldering an increased workload (36 per-
cent), not receiving enough credit for their work (32 percent), having
no clear career path (31 percent), and receiving less support to work
effectively (31 percent). These findings are disturbing and raise the
crucial question, “How can we expect managers to positively influ-
ence others when they have negative feelings about important aspects
of their jobs?”
So whether you are a manager or not, consider this an opportunity
to assess your own level of engagement, and consider what you can
do—independent of your own manager’s actions—to enhance your
commitment, enthusiasm, and performance at work for your own
benefit and for those who report to you.

: DRIVING YOUR OWN ENGAGEMENT

As we have indicated, for the purposes of this chapter, you are the
driver of your own employee engagement “bus.” That doesn’t mean
you can’t benefit from a road map, however. We understand that many