This “geek” is glad you asked.  These types of questions come up all the time – and they are good ones.  At Questar, we are always up for a game of devil’s advocate, so here is my reaction to your 7 questions. First a bit about engagement.  Sure, productivity is becoming increasingly important.  But it’s not just about getting employees to work harder.  It’s about retaining the best talent, aligning behind values, and helping employees grow with changing needs of the company.  All things I/O Psychologists strive to help organizations do better.  It’s about the antecedents, the experience, and the outcomes.  I think that is why it has had such great success in practice.  People get it – even if it’s not a neat and tidy construct.

1. If you are not engaged, i.e. not excited about the work you do, can engagement training get you more involved? Conversely, if you are excited about your work, is engagement training a waste of time?

“Engagement training” doesn’t work at an individual level.  You can’t teach someone to be excited about their work.  Knowing what levers to pull to boost engagement (say having the ability to do what you do best), though, can help organizations.

2.  What happens if the company’s and the consulting firm’s definitions of employee engagement do not align, but you go ahead with the consulting firm’s survey anyway?

While the desired outcomes are fairly universal, the drivers of engagement may differ from one company to the next.  Surveys should reflect the values and culture of the organization.

3.  Is it possible to feel engaged by your work and committed to your organization in spite of a negative environment, a stressful job, or a boss you don’t like?

Sure.  Some of it has to do with personality traits.  We can’t change those, so let’s focus on what we can affect to get the biggest bang for our buck.  At Questar, we help employers build an environments that are conducive to engagement – including factors like mitigating stress and developing supervisory skills.

4.  If you happen to feel engaged on the day of the survey, what does it mean if you don’t feel engaged a month or even an hour later?

Let’s talk level of analysis here.  We are measuring at the organizational level.  Yes, any one person might feel a little differently about their job a month from now.  With surveys, we are looking at an overall picture, so these fluctuations become less important.

5.  Is engagement a continuous process, in which employees who receive training ultimately reach some threshold of engagement, or is it a fluid process dependent on changing factors? Is it possible to feel engaged all the time? Should that be the goal?

See the response to the first question.

6.  Can the energy surge generated by engagement lead to burnout?

Not in my book.  In fact, in a sense, it is the antipode.  If we look at it from a JD-R (job demands-resources) model, it would be too much demand on an employee with out the resources that is causing stress and burnout.  Engagement is about providing those resources.

7.  How does engagement relate to the individual employee’s sense of what’s right or wrong about the organization?

Part of fostering engagement is about having values and a mission that employees can get behind.  Our research shows feelings about the organization’s image does impact employee engagement.

How would you have responded?

Michael Durando | Associate Consultant

Well, let me tell you a little more about Questar’s new friend, Clarabridge.

Where to start…how about here: Clarabridge is the leading provider of text analytics solutions to track and improve the customer experience.  Period.  They provide Global 1000 companies with the ability to automatically collect, classify and apply sentiment analysis on text-based verbatims found in voice of the customer feedback channels.

And Questar is embedding the Clarabridge solution into the suite of survey research solutions as part of our goal to provide the most comprehensive solution for monitoring and managing the customer experience and, in turn, building customer loyalty.

What this means is that our current and future clients will now have access to an enterprise-class solution that turns all of these types of customer comments into business intelligence:

• Web-based feedback forms
• Call center notes
• Emails
• Receipt-based surveys
• Social media sites
• And more

So that they can more efficiently and effectively accomplish the following:

• Discover emerging trends
• Uncover customer pain points and potential solutions
• Identify issues on social media sites that require immediate attention
• Monitor and track brand sentiment
• And more

In the press release that came out yesterday, Sid Banerjee, chief executive officer, Clarabridge, Inc., said it best: “With our text and sentiment analytics technologies embedded into Questar’s offerings, their clients will gain insight for organizational action and change, leading inevitably to higher ROI and increased customer loyalty.”

Cheers to that!

– Joseph Stanton | Vice President CEM Division

It reminded me of similar discussions heard in the mid 1990s about whether employees should have access to the Internet at work. Today, of course, most businesses cannot imagine operating without the internet. Yet what I remember most about that debate was a comment from a Senior Leader with whom I worked at the time. He said, “I remember when they decided to put telephones on the clerks’ desks. It was the same discussion then. ‘If we put phones on the clerks’ desks, they’ll be on the phone all day instead of working.’”

It would be easy to say “the more things change, the more they stay the same” and “we don’t want to be stuck selling buggy whips.” But I was still skeptical about the value that social networking brings to the workplace. So I reached out to talk to organizations that have implemented social media platforms.

My first stop was Doug Molitor, I/O psychologist and a Manager in HR Measurement for global conglomerate 3M. Long known for their focus on innovation, 3M is pushing their culture forward and using social media as a medium to get people thinking differently. 3M has replaced their corporate employee directory with a social media platform. Now when you search for a coworker, you’ll find a page with their profile populated with the usual (i.e., phone number, e-mail and mailing address, job title, department) plus any additional information that they’ve chosen to add. Employees can include descriptions of key projects, photos, work history, work updates and timelines. They can even add a blog or upload a video if they choose. In addition, online public communities allow employees to connect to others who have similar interests, needs or work projects. Being a user of social media myself, I was beginning to see the ways in which a platform like this may help its more than 74,000 employees across 35 business units working in 65 countries to connect, share information, and communicate.

I soon learned that leveraging social media to facilitate work is not confined to large, global organizations. Small companies are using it as well. I talked with Susan Jambor, Human Resources Director for Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Burnsville, Minnesota. Prince of Peace uses a social media platform to facilitate information sharing – not just among the staff, but also between church members. Members can upload photos, share recipes, learn about events, and communicate with others about topics of interest. But more than that, the church uses existing social media sites like Facebook to help staff connect, not just with members but with the community at large.

Assuming social networking is the wave of the future, what can we expect its impact to be? For that I talked to Richard Landers, Assistant Professor of I/O psychology at Old Dominion University. Beginning this summer, more than 500 students and faculty will have access to an online social networking system called socialPsych. The platform includes many of the features familiar to Facebook users such as user profiles, status updates, and messaging. It also includes class specific discussion areas and opportunities for virtual mentoring. A few weeks into the pilot, feedback has been very positive. By the end of the summer, Dr. Landers and his colleagues will be testing the impact of social networking on key outcomes such as student commitment/loyalty measures and course satisfaction.

Personally, I am eager to learn the results of their research. In the meantime, we’d love to hear what your organization is doing with social media. Leave your comments here or take our poll on the Questar website.

Anna Erickson, Ph.D. | Director, Consulting Services

Feel free to follow us: http://twitter.com/QuestarResearch

One of my stories related to this is from a client I worked with years ago.  The main character in this story is an up and coming young executive – we’ll call her Sarah (not her real name).  Sarah was a go getter, recognized by corporate leadership for her achievements, her performance and her potential.  She was just 33 years old when she got her first chance to truly lead.  She was named president of a small division within the large global corporation for which she worked.  And boy was she ready – this was her chance to really prove herself.

This part of the business was new to her.  But Sarah was a quick study and knew just what to do.  She wasted no time evaluating the competitive landscape and identified some “quick hits” to gain market share.  She worked hard developing plans, securing resources, contacting clients, and informing key stakeholders.  She found places to cut costs, introduced efficiencies, and pushed ahead with some innovative product development.

There was just one problem.  Morale on her team was very low.  Sarah could sense it, but she couldn’t name it.  Something was amiss in the work environment.  Silos were strong.  Conflict was high.  She had lost one of her most experienced managers.  She knew she had to get people working as a team or all her hard work was for naught.

The news – and the solution – was not at all what Sarah expected.  You see Sarah had forgotten to lead.  She worked hard – early in the morning, late into the evening, weekends – she was always at work.  Her strategies were sound.  Her solutions were practical.  But she wasn’t leveraging her team.  Her team could see how hard she worked – alone – which left them feeling less than valued.

It was then that Sarah learned to let go.  She had been promoted for being a doer, but that wasn’t going to cut it anymore.  She had to learn to trust, to delegate, to empower.  Were her team’s ideas as good as hers?  Often no.  But Sarah learned to take some risks.  At times there were failures.  There’s learning in that as well.  And now her leadership team was learning together.  They would dust themselves off.  They would try again.  And they would accomplish much more as a team than Sarah ever could have imagined.

Today Sarah is a much better leader.  She’s still a brilliant, innovative, and hard working.  But she’s learned to forget how smart she is, let go, and let her team carry the torch.  As every good leader does, she learned the story was never really about her.

Anna Erickson, Ph.D. | Director, Consulting Services

The Psychologically Healthy Workplace Conference is taking place this weekend in Washington D.C. (if you are interested in attending there is still time to register).  The conference will be a great place to network, learn and celebrate healthy, high-performing organizations.

Some of the key note speakers include:

• Nico Pronk, PhD, FACSM – Vice-President and Health Science Officer, JourneyWell, HealthPartners, an expert on worksite health promotion and multi-component interventions
• Benjamin Schneider, PhD – Senior Research Fellow, VALTERA, an expert on employee engagement
• Cali Williams Yost – CEO and Founder of Work+Life Fit, Inc. and author of Work+Life: Finding the Fit That’s Right for You, an expert in work flexibility and work-life issues
• Rich Cober, PhD – Senior Director of Talent Management Analytics & Solutions, Marriott International, an expert on employee assessment and selection, performance management and hiring effectiveness
• Fran Melmed – Owner, context communication consulting llc, an HR communication consultant and blogger at free-range communication and Fistful of Talent.
• Roy Saunderson, MA, CRP – President, Recognition Management Institute, an authority on employee recognition
• Judy Martin – Emmy-award winning broadcast journalist, speaker and founder of WorkLifeNation.com
• Howard Ross – Founder and Chief Learning Officer, Cook Ross, Inc., an internationally recognized speaker on diversity, leadership and organizational change
• Tonya Vyhlidal, M.Ed., CHPD – Director of Wellness, Safety, and Life Enhancement, Lincoln Industries, an experienced health and wellness professional with a track record of success
• David C. Munz, PhD – Professor of Psychology, Saint Louis University, a recognized expert on organizationally-based stress management training
• Michelle James, MBA – Health Communication Manager, Intel Corporation, an experienced communications professional with expertise in wellness program development and health promotion
• Matthew J. Grawitch, PhD – Chair of the Organizational Studies Program in the School for Professional Studies at Saint Louis University, an expert on healthy workplace practices

For more information please visit: http://www.phwa.org/conference

In fact, we often find ourselves “looking up” for guidance…especially to the most highly respected companies that seem to outperform all others, year-after-year.  Yes, we want to know who’s on top but we REALLY want to know why.  We want to know what companies that are succeeding in today’s new economy have done in the recent past to maintain their top position.  We also want to know what they are planning to do in the near future.

Questar took a look at what their clients did over the last several years.  We found that those clients that fit into the category of top companies (market leaders, or runner up position in their industry), had not abandoned their leadership and talent development efforts in favor of short-term pressures.  While spending in 2009 was down 20% across the board, at no point did the discussion of organizational development ever fall off the table.  What we saw was that top companies remained steadfast in their focus of developing talent, in part to retain them but mostly because it was simply a part of their organizational DNA.

Of course, we also saw some top companies postpone their spending on talent development over the past year and a half.  But based on what we are hearing today, this delay was only temporary.  The pent up demand for talent development or/and employee engagement programs is surging ahead now more than we have seen in the last five years.  There is clear a sense of urgency.  Top companies are anxious to regain their position of support for their workforce and moving forward with talent development and employee engagement programs this year.

At Questar we are looking up.  We are watching what the top companies are doing to remain on top.  And we are hopeful of better days ahead, soon.

John Steinlicht | V.P.  Global  Sales  Manager

At Questar, we measure the customer experience.  We help our clients deliver a consistent, superior experience for their customers, because consistent, superior experiences breed customer loyalty.  And loyalty equates to sales growth.

It’s what we do.

In our industry, customers are typically invited to provide feedback through transaction-based invitations, meaning that you purchase a good or service and then the invitation is printed on your receipt or emailed to you as a follow up.  When customers participate in the survey they’re asked to rate the recent experience across all critical touch points, such as: greeting at the door, friendliness of cashier, wait time in line, etc.

The two critical bits of information here are: transaction-based and critical touch points.

So…let’s get to my recent experiences.  One is an experience I actually had and one is the experience of a good friend—let’s call him Mike.  Mike recently purchased a Blu-ray player and some necessary components from a large retailer.  And he received a survey invitation on his receipt as part of the transaction.  But after he set up the player, he realized that one of components was the wrong part.  When he went to exchange the component the retailer would only provide him store credit because the box had been opened, even though they didn’t carry the right component.  Even after he got the manager involved.

And the component cost $80!

When I asked Mike if he’d shop again at the retailer, he simply answered: no way in…(insert your own expletive).  Needless to say, he didn’t get a survey invitation as part of his return experience.

Now, contrast that with my recent experience at a national retailer.  I went to return a mechanical stuffed animal that didn’t work properly.  It was raining out—yes, it was raining in Minnesota in January!  On the way into the retailer I fumbled the animal and it fell into a small puddle.  My first thought: I’m stuck now with this $25 defunct mechanical animal.  But guess what?  The retailer took it back.

And they gave me cash.

Would I shop again at the retailer?  My answer: a resounding yes!  But…I still didn’t get a survey invitation as part of my return experience.  I didn’t get to tell them how impressed I was with the service.

Remember those two critical bits of information I mentioned earlier?  As I was thinking about these two experiences, I was reminded that every customer interaction, every customer touch point, matters.  And if, for some reason, you’re only measuring the customer experience through transaction-based invitations you’re missing important pieces to the customer experience puzzle.

The moral of the story as I see it: Mike’s purchase went well.  It was a superior customer experience.  But he isn’t coming back.  So if you’re not measuring every customer touch point, then how can you be certain you’re delivering a consistent, superior experience?  How can you be certain you’re maximizing customer loyalty and, in turn, sales growth?

You can’t.

As you might have noticed—and maybe not—we have our very first poll live on the Questar home page.  We’re interested in what you think.  Click here to tell us if return policies impact your shopping decisions: www.questarweb.com

– Joseph Stanton, VP Business and Product Development

The Babies At Work program at Clockwork Active Media Systems is a formal policy allowing parents to keep their babies with them – in their workspace – while they work. Clockwork has implemented the policy with resounding success and if you believe it’s a program just for working moms, think again. Click on the link below to read the full article.

http://www.phwa.org/resources/goodcompany/newsletter/article/150

Anna Erickson Ph. D. | Director, Consulting Services

As innocuous as they may seem, research has shown us that these toxic behaviors can leave employees hurting mentally – and even physically – and can leave organizations hurting in their pocket books.  They have been linked to depression, anxiety, and medical conditions such as cardiovascular disease.  They have also been linked to absenteeism, higher turnover, decreased job satisfaction, and lower productivity.  Questar’s own research has shown that employees who don’t feel respected by their managers are 5 times less likely to be satisfied with their jobs!

In the interest of creating healthier workplaces, Massachusetts is introducing a law that would allow targets to take legal action against bullies.  Sounds like a great idea, right?  I am a huge proponent of healthy workplaces and completely buy into the importance of stopping workplace incivility and bullying. But I am skeptical that such a bill could work.

So why wouldn’t legislation solve the problem?  The problem that I see is this:  It is hard enough to clearly define these behaviors in research settings let alone in the real world.  They are subjective by nature.  And legalese would certainly be vague at best.

Let’s look at an example.  A manager is intentionally not including a direct report in important meetings which is affecting that employee’s ability to do their job.  The employee is becoming increasingly stressed out, is missing more and more work, and eventually quits.  Is this bad management or a criminal offense?

In my opinion, ‘psychological violence’ is serious – and has negative consequences for the workforce and for the organization – but nearly impossible to criminalize.  How far is too far in so called ‘nanny state’ legislation?  Consider France’s proposed legislation to criminalize insulting your spouse.

Should organizations care?  Legal or not, bullying and uncivil behavior have an impact on an organization’s bottom-line.  It is certainly in an organization’s best interest, not only as the socially responsible thing to do, but as a smart strategic decision to have policies and procedures for dealing with this type of behavior.

Maybe this is an issue best handled in the workplace – not in the courtroom.  What do you think?

Michael Durando | Associate Consultant