I’ve been reading a lot of information about employee engagement and some of the stats, according to Blessing & White, are down-right scary. Only 1 in 3 people are truly engaged in their work. That means 66% of the people are not.

Fully engaged is measured by contributions on two levels – Organizational and Individual success. The organization has values, goals and strategies in place for success. These are factors they are looking to maximize. You and I, as individuals also have our own version of this. Together, great organizations can maximize these and create the apex of true engagement – one where the organization and individual reap the benefits.

Organizations must not be doing a good job at this, if they were, surely there would be more engagement. Or, might it be, we as individuals aren’t doing a good enough of this area for ourselves? Probably a deadly combination of the two.

Well, let’s first focus on what we control—OURSELVES.

To increase your own level of engagement at work (or in life for that matter!) ask yourself these three questions:

• How does the work you contribute roll up to the overall mission of the organization?
• What really excites you, or brings you joy, about the work that you are doing?
• How might you go about creating “more of” this to connect fully to this organization’s mission?

In these answers lie the success – or lack thereof – towards becoming more fully engaged.  One of the things I’ve enjoyed recently is working with individuals and teams to help sort out the number of answers to these questions.  The goal – becoming more engaged myself and creating organizations that foster engagement.

The true benefit is when you wake each day and know how and why you contribute we can improve not only our satisfaction, but our performance. Up for the challenge?