Introduction

The first two chapters of this book set the stage for the work that you will do—with our guidance—to take a different look at employee engagement and what you can do to strengthen it among your employees. They are the beginning of our journey with you.

In chapter 1, we invite you to look at your understanding and ideas of what engagement is and what it is not; later, we share with you our definition of what engagement is and encourage you to come up with your own. We further ask you to assess your own engagement. We also discuss the factors that contribute to move engagement in a particular direction (drivers). We close the chapter with some statistics to place engagement in its broader context, emphasizing its importance and impact for you, your employees, and your business.

In chapter 2, we introduce our definition of organizational culture, the relationship between the individual and the culture, and individual differences within a culture. We also begin to explore your role as a manager to promote employee engagement within your organization’s culture.

Let’s begin.