Satisfaction vs Engagement vs Alignment
I am about to age myself…When I first began my career, we measured employee satisfaction…perhaps you may remember the old employee satisfaction surveys. These surveys helped us understand that we could have a whole army of satisfied team members, but they might not be engaged, meaning, performance was low.
Fast forward a decade.
Employee engagement became the buzz. In came pizza Fridays, ping pong tables, bottomless snack buffets and so much more. This would surely drive the performance we were looking for. And perhaps it did drive engagement…but was that engagement in the desired direction?
Fast forward another decade.
We are now buzzing about alignment. Farewell pizza parties and ping pong! Hello purpose, mission, vision, values. Today we understand that performance can be driven by alignment. If team members are fully aligned with the purpose, mission, vision and values, their work will be reflective of the desired organizational direction.
Organizations are creating internal alignment through sophisticated communications strategies and intentional organizational programming. Success is being measured through pulse surveys and yearly employee surveys. And employee performance reviews include alignment measurements- how well employees are living the cultural pillars.
So how can communications build and support alignment to drive performance? Here are a few thought starters:
Performance: Include measurement as part of performance reviews and incorporate into organizational goals and measurement.
Reward: Create reward and recognition programs to highlight desired behaviors and outcomes.
Onboarding: Ensure that team members have understanding from day-one and educate them on ways that alignment is highlighted throughout the organization.
Stories: Bring the cultural framework to life through story-telling. A blog, vlog, or podcast are a great way to do this.
Champions: Create culture champions who are deeply aligned and can help drive the narrative forward.
Dictionary: Create a dictionary that highlights definitions of key cultural words and ensure that words are being incorporated and used correctly in all communications.