How employee engagement leads high performing organisations
Do you know how emotionally engaged your employees are? Really? I recently attended a two-day professional learning session run by Gallup in Wellington called Engagement Champion Training, which gave me new knowledge in how Gallup’s Q12™ Engagement Matrix can be used to help develop highly engaged workplaces, by measuring the degree to which employees are emotionally engaged in their job, which leads to a healthier organisation. Not only is it the way towards healthier organisations, it is also the way towards developing a more productive and effective team.
Something that has fascinated me ever since becoming a Gallup-certified Strengths Coach over eight years ago is how strengths and engagement work together. Specifically how useful they are to developing more effective workplaces.
The Q12™ engagement survey is a powerful and simple way to measure how engaged people are at work. It comprises 12 questions that have been extensively researched using millions of employees across thousands of organisations for well over 20 years; it is the largest dataset in the world of this type of information. The resulting report is quick to administer and easy to use, providing leaders with actionable tips for how to help their team.
How the Q12 is organised
Each of the Q12™ questions are organised in a hierarchical manner and are grouped into four areas:
- Basic needs – or what do I get as an employee
- Management support – or what do I give as an employee
- Teamwork – or do I belong in my workplace
- Growth – or how can we grow in our workplace
These four areas, with their associated questions and the subsequent answers people provide to the Q12™ survey, have been shown to be the best indicators of how emotionally engaged people are in their workplace. Being emotionally engaged is far more than just ‘satisfied’, it is more about being psychologically committed.
Gallup research shows that both employee engagement and employee satisfaction relate to meaningful outcomes. However, satisfaction is a broad, attitudinal outcome, like organisational loyalty or pride. Measuring employees’ contentment doesn’t improve outcomes. Engagement, on the other hand, predicts satisfaction, as well as many other aspects of what makes an successful organisation.
Being able to identify exactly where the organisation’s leaders and staff need to turn their attention in order to improve next gives very specific and actionable information that can used to improve – this is where the Q12™ provides a powerful tool.
Benefits of being engaged at work
This short video gives you an overview of the Q12™ and its benefits:
In essence, using engagement and the Q12™ will attune you and your leaders to more effectively meet the needs of your team, thus creating a much more effective workplace. It doesn’t ask a lot of questions, it asks the right questions.
More Information…
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