Employee Engagement And Feedback: Why They’re Related

Getting There With On-The-Job Training Activities

Employee engagement directly influences a company’s success. Engaged employees are more likely to go above and beyond in their roles, show loyalty to the company, and contribute innovative ideas. Recent Gallup research found that businesses with highly engaged workforces outperform their competitors (18% higher revenue per employee), report better productivity (17%), higher profitability (21%), lower absenteeism (42%), and lower turnover (24%).

However, Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace found that 62% of employees worldwide are not engaged at work [1]. If Gallup’s results are accurate, it means your company has a huge opportunity to reduce turnover and increase productivity and revenue by engaging your employees.

Disengagement stems from factors like: lack of feedback from managers [2]; lack of clarity on goals [3]; or managers who don’t push their team to use their strengths [4]. One of the most effective and proven antidotes to this employee malaise is better feedback and recognition [5]. When done right, feedback not only helps employees grow, but also creates a culture of trust and growth–key drivers of engagement.

Why Feedback Matters

Feedback is one of the most powerful tools for improving employee engagement. It uses the personal, direct line of communication between managers and employees, helping them understand their performance, identify areas for improvement, and gain clarity on expectations. When employees receive meaningful, constructive feedback, they know they’re valued and supported, which increases their commitment to their roles and the organization. For feedback to have this positive impact, it needs to be more than an occasional performance review. Ongoing, specific, and actionable feedback is what truly drives engagement, especially when it is personal and direct, says Kim Scott in Radical Candor.

Employee Engagement And Feedback: Behavior Change On-The-Job

Improving feedback skill isn’t just about implementing a new process or tool. It requires behavior change, especially from leaders and managers who may not yet be comfortable with personal and direct feedback. James Clear in Atomic Habits, Charles Duhigg in The Power of Habit, and so many others have clearly shown that developing new habits and behaviors takes time, effort, and repetition.

Just like feedback needs to be continuous to drive change, so does the training that teaches how to give better feedback. To drive behavior change among leaders, formal, in-the-chair training (where 10% of learning happens) needs to be complemented with ongoing coaching (20%) and learning on-the-job, in the daily workflow, where 70% of all learning happens. It’s only when the behavior of leaders and managers change that a new culture of feedback and recognition develops.

How On-The-Job Activities Can Help Improve Feedback And Engagement

Companies successfully driving change right now are focused on developing feedback skills and habits through real world practice. On-the-job activities are proving an effective way to develop a culture of open feedback. They’re also a less disruptive way for employees to learn. Rather than taking employees out of their work to learn, on-the-job activities allow them to solidify skills through real world practice directly in the flow of their work.

When people want to get into shape, they hire a personal trainer. Why? Because most people need ongoing coaching and mentoring to develop and reinforce new skills over time. The coaching and feedback happen as you’re working out. It is specific, bite-sized and can be applied immediately: “Hands wider on the bar. Elbows tight. Keep your back straight. Breathe!”

By embedding feedback training into the flow of work, where learning happens–where it can be immediately practiced–behavior change solidifies. A training activity could be as simple as: “This week, when you provide feedback to a colleague, ask them to repeat it back to you so you’re sure they understand.” Trying activities like this in the real world, hearing immediate feedback on how well you’ve communicated, is how people learn. Practice is how behavior changes. Then the cultural transformation can begin, where open feedback becomes the expectation, and employees are drawn into deeper engagement in their work.

Conclusion

Feedback is a critical driver of employee engagement. But for feedback to be truly effective, companies must prioritize behavior change among managers and employees alike. Through targeted on-the-job activities, organizations can create a culture of open feedback, leading to improved employee engagement and, consequently, better business outcomes.

On-the-job activity training with initiatives focused on developing behaviors of feedback and recognition is where all of this begins. If you are interested in reshaping employee engagement by creating a culture of feedback and recognition we would love to talk about how we can help.

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