There is a logical connection between engaging employees and performing well, and there is ample scientific support for the relationship between engagement and performance, but that relationship does not show up the same way in every company. It is now more possible than ever to link internal data sources together and analyze the relationships between how people experience work and whether or not people and teams hit their goals (performance, productivity, customer satisfaction, safety, etc.), and yet very few companies are doing so or doing so effectively. We have an opportunity to do more and higher quality linkage analyses to help leaders know where to focus their investments in people and procedures.

Representatives from three different organizations will offer guidelines and examples to help you design, carry out, and make good use of linkage analyses at your organization. You will be able to justify greater investment in developing people and be better informed about the impact your programs are having on your company’s KPIs.

• Start with questions that are important to business leaders AND can be readily answered with the data available
• Involve the owners of the KPI data at every stage
• Set realistic expectations using the home improvement project rule: “twice the time and double the cost”
• Programs often impact engagement in surprising ways (e.g., managers who actively used a recognition tool had the least engaged teams)