How Is Engagement Defined?

• Library: Positive Professionals: Creating High-Performing Profitable Firms Through Engagement (ABA) (2017 Ed.)

How Is Engagement Defined?

With findings like these, it's not surprising that work engagement has been getting so much attention. So what exactly is it? Fundamentally, work engagement means that we're motivated to achieve optimal performance. We're totally present and energized to invest fully in work every day.

But the truth is that there's no single agreed-upon definition or measure of engagement. The two most commonly used engagement surveys are Gallup's Q¹² and the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES), which is used in most academic research. I'll briefly describe each so that you'll be familiar with a few sound surveys in the event you decide to measure engagement at your firm.

To develop its Q¹² survey, Gallup identified high-performing employees and effective managers and investigated what attitudes and conditions appeared to explain their success (Harter et al., 2006). The result was 12 questions (which is why the survey is named "Q¹² "), which...