Many organizations focus huge blocks of time trying to strengthen employee engagement.
One of the earliest proponents of the employee engagement concept was the Gallup Organization. Gallup has studied the indicators of work satisfaction for more than ninety years. The company’s latest research included more than 1.4 million employees in 192 organizations, 49 industries and 34 countries.
The objective was to identify what effective managers did to create a great place to work. (The four critical dimensions that demonstrated a “successful” organization were employee retention, customer satisfaction, productivity, and profitability.)
The research identified twelve questions used to measure the health of a workplace. Among these, four are integral to the Relationship Ecosystem ™:
1.       “My supervisor, or someone at work, seems to care about me as a person.”

2.       “There is someone at work who encourages my development.”

3.       “In the last seven days, I have received recognition or praise for doing good work.”

4.       “I have a best friend at work.”
When the “Gallup 12” survey was introduced, it was this last question that created vocal pushback:
“Do I have a best friend at work?”
Colleagues readily acknowledged “friends” at work, but the concept of a “best friend” was challenging. This was a business after all; there wasn’t time for socializing and creating a “best friend”!
I must admit, I had a similar reaction. I was just transitioning from a fourteen-year career in a finance environment, where the concept of a best friend at work would have been considered bizarre. This was an organization based on data, numbers, and logic; there was no place for emotions or the concept of friendship.
Thankfully, over time, I have come to realize that you don’t create a successful, sustainable, and scalable organization unless you can engage the people within the organization to work together!
The “best friend at work” from the Gallup survey correlates with the concept of Ally relationships. In subsequent work, Gallup considered removing the word best from the questionnaire, but they found it was no longer a reliable predictor for successful teams.
Gallup [1] also observed that employees who report having a best friend at work were


43 percent more likely to report having received praise or recognition for their work in the last seven days;


37 percent more likely to report that someone at work encourages their development;


35 percent more likely to report coworker commitment to quality;


28 percent more likely to report that, in the last six months, someone at work has talked to them about their progress; and


27 percent more likely to report that the mission of their company makes them feel their job is important.


You can have the best idea, the most sparkly product, or the most innovative widget, but if you cannot get employees aligned and motivated to produce that product or deliver the service, then your long-term success and sustainability is in jeopardy!


[1] “The relationship between engagement at work and organizational outcomes. 2012 Q12™ meta-analysis, Gallup Organization, February 2013.