How engaged is your leader?

Disengagement in teams is at an all-time high. Whenever I am conducting a session, or talking to managers, we are focusing on how to make the teams more engaged. We talk about how to enhance involvement, empowerment and recognition to create engagement. Companies carry out engagement surveys to find out how engaged their staff is. Rightly so. Engagement level is an indicator of productivity and profitability.

According to a Gallup International study, engaged teams are 18% to 22% more productive than disengaged teams. Engaged teams outperform competitors by 23% in profitability. In my coaching sessions, we describe the various levels of engagement, starting from the lowest to the highest. Then the leaders are asked to place each of their team members on the relevant level. This exercise gets a very quick and open response. The next question is: Please place yourself on the engagement ladder. This question many a times gets a very sheepish and apologetic response.

The response is reluctant because they would like to blame their team and other factors for the lack of engagement. That may be true too. However, one of the biggest factors that can result in a change in the Engage-o-meter is the leader himself. That is the problem. While most surveys focus on team engagement, leadership engagement is rarely examined. The Global Leadership Survey gives a shocking picture. Only 9% leaders are fully engaged while 50% leaders are in the lukewarm middle. Another interesting reading is that as you go up the somewhat engaged level goes down. Frontline leaders are the most likely to be somewhat engaged, at 54%. That compares to 46% of mid-level leaders, 33% of senior leaders, and 27% of the C-suite. Let us now examine what are these engagement levels.

Level 1 – Highly engaged leaders have high energy, they are proactive, passionate, they deliver and they go the extra mile. Such leaders are at their best when crisis strikes. They rally the team, energise them by motivating them and inject team spirit by their personal energy and commitment. As the numbers indicate, only 9% leaders fall in this category.

Level 2 – Somewhat engaged, more routine work, reactive, variable performance, conditional participation. Most leaders lie in the mid-level engagement bracket. They are good managers in times of certainty, but in times of uncertainty, their fingers point towards everybody but themselves. They go passive/ aggressive in meetings. Either they are completely quiet or overly talkative in their defensive response.

Level 3 – Disengaged level, low energy, reactive, blame game, defaults on performance, negative talk. These leaders are the ones who know their game is over. They have already given up mentally. Their presence and absence does not make a difference. They are full of problems and excuses. Their ability to handle their own temperament is negligible, leave aside managing a team that maybe in disarray.

The question that each company needs to ask is: “What is the engagement level of their team leadership?” Most leaders would say, “We are very engaged. It is the mediocre level of our teams that is the bottleneck.” However, in my coaching assessments when we visit teams they talk about the “moods” of their leaders. Some typical phrases are “He is such a stress ball.” “He hardly listens.” “He lacks energy.” These imply that when they look up, they do not get inspired. This serious disengagement at the top is serious loss of opportunity to the company. Highly engaged leaders are twice as likely to collaborate beyond their immediate team to get work done. These leaders are eight times more likely to say they consistently bring out the best in their team members. That is a big departure from blaming it on the team. The issue is that while everybody is bothered about team engagement, few are bothered about the leader engagement. Leaders are human and under huge pressure. They need to be given a special enablement on sustainable engagement. Some key strategies for the engagement of the top leadership teams:

Engagement No.1 – The board is the boss – It has to start with the board. They are the ones to choose and hold the top leader accountable. It is therefore necessary that the board needs to take leadership engagement as a key strategic element. While selecting and onboarding people they should look at what Jack Welch called the 4E leadership framework – Energy, Energise, Execution, and Edge. Is the person passionate about the job and is the passion sustainable? The second E, i.e., energise, is related to the first E. Does the leader inspire people with his drive, character and behaviour? Does he just talk well or is he a doer too? Does he have the capability of understanding the needs of multiple stakeholders? What is different about him that adds extra weight to his selection? Once chosen, the leader needs to be briefed on all these criteria that will be part of his accountability by the board.

Engagement No.2 – Coach the leader. The board briefing is the beginning. To keep the leader engaged, an external coach is important. In our country coaching is normally treated as “when things really go bad” remedy. That is a reactive approach. Every top leader needs a coach who can help the top leader keep on track, get real feedback and help him realise his potential.

Engagement No.3 – Engagement surveys. Regular engagement surveys are necessary. However, it is also necessary to get a tracker survey going for the C-suite and their successors. This survey should see the engagement level at the top. This level is the most important level for gauging how the energy and vibe will be transferred at lower levels.

Engagement No.4 – Rewards and Recognition. Since engagement levels are one of the biggest indicators of productivity and profitability of a company, rewards need to be based on them to reinforce this behaviour. For top leaders these can include a seat on the board of advisors. For C-suite leaders an inclusion in the top level meetings or an eligibility to an Ivy League program etc.

As they say leadership is infectious. If the man at the top has his head down, shoulders slumped, voice monotone, then that is the mood in the company. Real power of the leader does not come from his C-suite status. It comes from his engaged resilience that energises and galvanises the team in the dullest of the moments and the darkest of the hour.