I’ve seen countless definitions of employee engagement during the recent years, generally centered on engaged employees willingly giving additional discretionary effort. I recently read another definition I like very much from two sources:

From AsiaOne:

Quotation

“Employee engagement is a combination of both commitment (that is, willing to contribute to the organisation's success) and line of sight (that is, know what to do to make the organisation successful).”

From MotivationConnect:

Quotation

“Creating a line of sight across the business for all stakeholders is stopped if managers can't interpret and translate the strategy at the team and individual level. Managers then become a "cork" in the execution of strategy. To engage people in the game plan, managers need to interpret and translate new strategic actions.”

In both of the above, line of sight is used to mean an individual’s understanding of their role in the organization. We all need to know that we matter. In the workplace, we need to know that what we do contributes to the company achieving its objectives -- succeeding.

Strategic recognition is a powerful tool to create line of sight in the most positive way possible – with simple recognition of effort and a sincere thank you linked to precisely what it is you need your employees to accomplish.

What’s your line of site in your organization? What are you doing to create that line of site for your employees?