Want to Be an Asset at Work? Become an Engaged Employee

October 30, 2015

What do you do at work? Do you know how what you do—every day—impacts your company’s business and success?

Most of us view our work only through our own lens. We know what we do. We may even know who will be impacted if we don’t do our job well. But beyond that? An engaged employee knows the answer to that question.

In business, this is referred to as “line of sight.” Watson Wyatt, an international consulting firm, discovered that when employees have line of sight—an understanding of how their job fits in with the company’s strategic direction—financial returns are four times higher than otherwise.

If you know how you fit into the whole company picture, your company will make more money. This also makes you an engaged employee, in business lingo. Employers value engaged employees.

Are you an S or a C?

Usually, though, each employee only knows his or her small piece of the business. They don’t understand that doing business is a long process, and they are one little point in the process.

Let’s use the alphabet as a simple example. As everyone knows, there are 26 letters that go from A to Z. Say your name begins with S. Then for you, S is the focus of your alphabet. As S, you don’t focus on the other 25 letters. If your name begins with C, C is your focus. As C, you don’t pay much attention to the other 25 letters.

Staff in any business only understand their individual role in the business cycle. Business development (BD) folks don’t focus on the fact that project managers need to deliver on the promises the BD people make. The project managers don’t focus on the BD folks’ need to get repeat business with their clients, even if that means taking clients to ball games or playing golf.

Knowing the big picture creates engaged employees

What does a company need to do to create engaged employees? The leaders need to educate all employees on the entire business process, from the cold calls to get business, to getting the work done on time, to getting paid on time, to doing repeat work for each client. It doesn’t have to be in great detail, just an overview. It needs to cover the 26 letters of the alphabet.

One firm put together a timeline of the entire process and added names to key points in the process to give staff a better understanding of who the players were and where they functioned in the process. This helped those people become engaged employees.

If you don’t know where you fit into your company’s whole picture, talk to your boss about it.

Schedule time with your boss to have this discussion. Don’t just pop in and spring this on him/her. Here is an example email to set up this conversation.

Hi, [boss’s name],

I have been reading some interesting articles on engaged employees. Are you aware that studies have found that companies whose employees are engaged make X times more money than their competition? I’ve included links to two articles below.

Can we schedule time for you and I to talk about where I fit in with the company and how I can become an engaged employee? I really enjoy working here and would like to do all I can to help the company succeed.

[Your name]
Employee Engagement: What It Is and Why You Need It

Majority of U.S. Employees Not Engaged Despite Gains in 2014
Ask how you can help your company get more employees engaged. Is there an employee committee you can join that puts on staff events? Could you mentor a younger staff member? How can you contribute to your company’s effort to get employees engaged?

The more employees know, the more profitable the company will be. Employee engagement is good for everybody.

Learn more

Employee Engagement: What It Is and Why You Need It

Majority of U.S. Employees Not Engaged Despite Gains in 2014