A recent report from Gallup found that only 21% of Canadian employees consider themselves engaged at work. 66% say they’re not engaged, and 13% say they’re actively disengaged. The numbers might seem grim, but they’re actually only slightly below the global average. We’ve all heard how higher engagement leads to better retention, higher productivity, lower absenteeism, and higher wellbeing, but as anyone who has led a large team knows, increasing engagement scores is a really hard thing to do. Often direct managers score pretty well with employees for their direct leadership, but the disconnect in engagement is found at the broader company level. Is there a better way for the broader organization to engage the team and build trust with senior leadership? A couple of things to consider: 🔶 How are we currently communicating? Is most of it in written form? How is that working for us? 🔶 Is there an opportunity to explore other ways to communicate to make our senior leaders seem more “real”? With video and audio, you’re looking into their eyes and hearing their voices creating a connection that’s harder to do in print. 🔶 If we were to explore other ways to communicate, how could we tell our stories in a different way that would build trust and motivate engagement? Is there a less formal, more natural way we could communicate? Often organizations tell their external stories through compelling video and audio – the opposite of an internal email to staff or a scripted townhall. Perhaps it’s time to try approaching internal stakeholders in a similar way as external ones? With the importance of engagement, the scores being so low, and the challenges of getting the needle to move, it might just be worth a shot.