Como superar o ceticismo em relação ao engajamento dos funcionários?

What's in it for the employee?! If they see engagement as a tool to increase productivity, they may see engagement campaigns as the company opportunity to squeeze them a little bit more. When they can see it will improve their happiness, better relationships, and support their personal goals, it becomes more compelling to become engaged with the mission/vision of the company.

Overcome skepticism about Employee Engagement by: Demonstrating Value: Share data and case studies showing the positive impact of engagement on performance. Involving Leaders: Get leadership buy-in and visible support for engagement initiatives. Communicating Results: Regularly share successes and improvements driven by engagement efforts. Addressing Concerns: Listen to and address specific doubts or issues raised by employees. Showing Quick Wins: Implement small, visible changes that deliver immediate benefits. These steps build trust and highlight the tangible benefits of engagement.

Based on my experience, the only true tool to overcome employee skepticism regarding engagement surveys is the authentic interest of the executives. I've actually never seen a successful engagement enhancement plan, including a survey, without the personal devotion of the exec board. At times, there are executives who merely want this topic to be "checked off" without much attention or energy. Before investing in any engagement initiatives, whether it's a standardized benchmarked survey or a custom-made initiative driven from within, top management should be made aware that engagement work is incredibly time and energy-consuming for the top team and can by no means be delegated, let alone outsourced.

The missing question in this step is why does employee engagement matter to the employee? What does proper "engagement" mean to them? If you don't know the answers to these questions, then it's clear that this is the reason why your stakeholders are skeptical. Take the time to have 1:1 conversations with your employees and understand what THEIR goals are and how THEY want to engage within your organization. That way, you'll have a clear foundation from which to tie to your company's overall goals and vision.

The way you explain the "why" should depend on your audience. With top management, you frame the benefits in terms of the stakeholders and metrics they care about, and there are some truly impactful statistics one can pull in from organizations like Qualtrics and Gallup to address the organizational performance implications of employee engagement. If you're speaking with middle managers whose metrics of interest are more immediate than organizational performance, you can speak to the turnover implications, employee injury/sickness rates, and individual performance implications. Finally, if you're speaking to employees, they likely care about well-being and quality of work experience and need to believe you'll follow through.

Data to employees is less important than action. Take action on surveys or data that you gather and show evidence of THAT The more stories of employees engaging with projects, initiatives, socials, your EVP, the more authentic the msg. The data is important, but focus more on the qualitative information for employees who may be skeptical 🧐

While sharing evidence is pivotal in overcoming skepticism about Employee Engagement there is an important differentiation between qualitative and quantitative data's persuasive power. The common mistake lies in over-reliance on metrics and benchmarks, which, though crucial, may not fully capture the emotional and psychological facets of engagement. To bridge this gap, incorporating narrative-driven data—such as employee testimonials and qualitative feedback—into the evidence pool is key. These narratives should complement quantitative data, providing a holistic view of engagement's impact. I love quantitative data and for some people it's key, but relatability matters (not just on productivity metrics but things like quality metrics).

UGH... Again, showing people "here is data behind why I want to make this job clearer to you" is an odd place to start. How about just this: make the job clearer

The essence of overcoming skepticism in Employee Engagement lies not just in involving stakeholders but in genuinely integrating their voices into the engagement strategy. A common oversight is treating stakeholder involvement as a procedural step rather than a cornerstone of engagement. To truly bridge this gap, organizations must prioritize creating mechanisms for continuous, open dialogue that compliments traditional surveys or occasional meetings. Encouraging real-time, transparent communication where employees can see their feedback lead to actionable change is critical.

INVOLVE is the wrong word here. Instead try this: Do it WITH people. Don't just involve them, to then later un-involve them.

If you consider the findings of most published employee engagement survey results, there are four common drivers: the employee-manager relationship, recognition and rewards, learning and development opportunities, and advancement opportunities. Companies should self-assess their progress in each of these areas and begin to address them in partnership with their employees. This will build trust and demonstrate that the company is authentic about enhancing the employee experience.

Engagement initiatives in isolation are likely to be viewed with scepticism. There can be a natural distrust of leadership with the underlying question, "hmmm, what do they want us to do now? Why are they being nice?" This is particularly the case if such initiatives seem at odds to day-to-day behaviour from leadership. Well intentioned initiatives are great, but the biggest impact on engagement levels will be how leaders/managers show up every day, investing in the relationships with their teams, caring more, and being genuinely curious about their needs. This behaviour is also the way to ensure that engagement initiatives are more likely to hit the mark, as they are founded in a deeper understanding of your people.

Tone at the top might sound glib, but it's true; if leadership isn't demonstrably involved, there will be skepticism. But if leadership authentically engage, employees will follow. Create opportunities where engagement across the hierarchy can be levelled up, and perhaps flip the hierarchy for engagement exercises, i.e. teams in charge, not management.

Tieing this to real business impact is very helpful. People will believe leaders care genuinely about things like employee experience if there is a clear connection they champion around growth in the business, sustainability, competitive advantage or more from better employee engagement. On the other side of that I think often overlooked is the impact of micro-actions by leaders on organizational culture. For instance, a leader who openly shares their own challenges and learning moments sets a powerful precedent for transparency and continuous improvement. Prioritizing visibility in these actions is crucial. It's not just about the values behind closed doors but making these visible and acknowledged across all levels of the organization.

This is very good. Demonstrate. Model. Less TALK, and more WALK. Show that you yourself, as a leader or manager, are wanting to improve, become more engaged, etc.

Do's: Share the Process: Openly share how decisions are made regarding engagement initiatives, including the criteria and data used. Communicate Regularly: Provide consistent updates about the status, including both successes and areas for improvement and how it led to action Don'ts: Don't Withhold Challenges: Avoid hiding difficulties or failures in engagement efforts. Don't Over-Promise: Avoid making commitments on engagement initiatives that cannot be realistically achieved or measured. Don't Ignore Concerns: Never overlook or dismiss employee concerns. Don't Create a Facade: Avoid the trap of performing transparency without meaningful action.

Share the results of engagement surveys. One of the surest ways to destroy trust, future willingness to participate, and undervalued people's time is to do an engagement survey and not share the results, what happens next, how they can get involved in action planning, and those action plans!

The most effective way to build trust and rapport is for companies to focus on placing people with exceptional managerial skills into management roles. The employee-manager relationship accounts for 70% of the variance in employee engagement according to Gallup. Trust is the basis of relationships and fosters security, respect, and collaboration. When trust is lacking due to poor communication or unfair treatment, the employee experience suffers. Managers must prioritize transparency, honesty, and support to cultivate trust, enabling employees to voice concerns and ideas freely. Without this trust, productivity, morale, and innovation falter, hindering organizational success.

Trust and rapport is built over time. If employees find their superiors trust their judgement and are willing to assign more responsibilities, rapport gets built. Seeing this, the skeptics will also slowly come around and be part of meaningful engagement. Takes time but worth the effort. This will see greater employee engagement and a more harmonious work place

Authenticity matters a lot. Initiatives related to employee engagement shouldn’t simply come from People leaders or HR heads. Initiatives should come from executives that are most passionate about culture. Employees are hyper-aware of when something feels like it “checks the box” versus feels genuine.

Here's the thing about Employee Engagement. It is not the result of simply increased training or exotic exercises. Employee Engagement is, in essence, an emotional, not an intellectual phenomenon. Since it is a positive emotional/relational phenomenon, it is best created by positive relationships between the manager and his/her employees.

Rather than a push approach, try pull. What matters to the people that you are trying to convince? How is the fallout of disengagement costing them? Does turnover mean they spend time in the weeds in operations versus strategy? Does the hiring process itself add to their already bursting workload? Does the loss of legacy knowledge and lower discretionary effort mean errors are happening and clients are complaining? If you know what the friction point is, you can use that as motivation leverage for an honest conversation about how engagement is not fluffy stuff and is very much a business issue.

Measure your people data, including employee engagement data, with the same rigour as your financials and customer service data. The inevitable insights from triangulating those results are hard to argue with. Rather than just saying, "When employees are disengaged, customers' satisfaction is low, and it impacts our bottom line," Show it! And show it regularly!

Don't run employee engagement initiatives. Just do the work of engaging people, without an initiative. Less TALK, more WALK.