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action oriented are other essential elements, according to McLeod.

Another key part to understanding employees is recognizing a large gap can exist between those people, within an organization, who are highly engaged and those people who are actively disengaged.

McLeod noted that Gallup, Inc., an American analytics and advisory company, has been studying engagement for approximately 50 years.

“I recently listened to an interview with (Gallup Chairman) Jim Clifton, who explained managers account for approximately 70 percent of the variance in employee engagement,” McLeod said.

Such variation is thought to be responsible for low employee engagement.

“Now, make no mistake, we are not saying that managers are bad, or there is something wrong with them. However, it shows there are a few things some managers do to contribute to the variance,” McLeod said.

To help move that “needle” in a positive direction, McLeod stressed there is power in one meaningful conversation per week, between a company leader and a person who reports to that leader.

“Many employees are usually onboard with that type of interaction with their leaders,” she said. “However, what we find, when working with leaders, is that there can be up to four main challenges to having such conversations.”

They are:

No. 1 — Leadership Fatigue: In the current state of the world, leaders are tired;

No. 2 — Time Scarcity Mental Map: With all the time spent finding the right employees, retaining them, developing young leaders and helping older leaders shift their mindset about leadership, there is often little time to “do one more initiative,” when it comes to moving the needle to greater engagement, and thus, company growth;

No. 3 — Know-How Scarcity Mental Map: “Many times, we find leaders who just don’t feel equipped to have those one-on-one conversations in a way that leads to engagement and fulfillment,” McLeod said; and,

No. 4 — If We Are Honest, Fear.

THE 1:1 CONVERSATION

There is help for leaders trying to achieve one-onone meaningful interaction with employees, in an effort to better create an future environment of development and engagement.

“Gallup found five areas that can move the needle among employees — from actively disengaged to highly engaged,” McLeod said.

Generally speaking, employees want to know, “someone cares about my development,” and that they will have an opportunity to do what they are good at.

“Data shows that if there is no outlet for an individual to do what he/she is good at, that person will begin to burn out after just 20 hours of work per week,” McLeod said. “If that is the case, it must be asked, ‘What is the employee doing during the remaining work week?’ They are showing up, and maybe performing pretty well, but what is the impact of that burnout for not only the person, but the organization?”

She added that “performance does not always equal fulfillment.” That is why an employer may be surprised when an employee hands in his/her resignation.

The good news is, if leaders are having meaningful oneon-one conversations with employees, and using data to better understand employee concerns and needs, greater fulfillment is possible.

Employees also want to make sure their opinion counts, and that “leadership cares about my well being at work.” It also helps if employees have a best friend at work.

It’s been proven, according to McLeod, that working with employees to improve all five areas can help companies move the needle to greater employee engagement.