Engagement: what does it really mean?

Engagement is a word which has a thousand definitions if you speak to Internal Communications professionals. At the moment it seems like the Comms fashion to dislike the word or disapprove of its use.

It’s only when you look at the dictionary definitions of engagement that you get a proper idea of what it means.

In IC where I work, we have a mantra: engage, inform, involve. ‘Inform’ and ‘involve’ are pretty self-explanatory but ‘engage’ needs a little more clarification for most people.

Dictionary.com has the following notes on ‘to engage’:
1. to occupy the attention or efforts of (a person or persons)
2. to secure for aid, employment, use, etc.; hire: to engage a worker; to engage a room.
3. to attract and hold fast: The novel engaged her attention and interest.
4. to attract or please: His good nature engages everyone.
5. to bind, as by pledge, promise, contract, or oath; make liable: He engaged himself to repay his debt within a month.
6. to betroth: They were engaged last week.
7. to bring (troops) into conflict; enter into conflict with: Our army engaged the enemy.

In some communications, I know that the last definition comes into play, but I’m more interested in the explanations around holding fast, grabbing and securing.

For me, engagement is about grabbing employees’ attention, keeping their interest and securing their commitment and confidence when it comes to how the business operates and where it is heading. If you can’t get your people interested in what you’re doing, then you’ve either got the wrong approach to internal comms or you’ve got the wrong employees.

Do people understand and support the reasons for business decisions?  Are they interested in what is going on in the organisation and do they want to get involved and put their opinions across?  Would they stay late, if they could, to get the job done?  If the answers to these questions are ‘yes’, then I believe you have an engaged workforce, or at least the makings of one.

I know some companies have separate functions to Internal Communications dedicated to Employee Engagement, but I believe that engagement is intrinsic to the IC department.  There are numerous studies and countless theses written about employee engagement, which no doubt go into FAR more detail than I have outlined here, but with engagement being a relatively simple term, I believe it shouldn’t be over-complicated.

I’d be interested in hearing your thoughts…