The Greek philosopher Heraclitus is often attributed to the statement ‘change is the only constant’. I think there’s one more: the role of the CEO. Despite the global challenges rising from geopolitical issues, inflation, supply chain issues, weather issues and availability talent name a few, the role of the CEO remains constant – deliver a stable and strong performing company that is future proof.
While we look for the latest trends in technology and re-write our leadership playbooks to stay ahead of our competition, there’s one stark factor that we seem to have overlooked: the engagement of our employees who are deploying these new strategies, executing transformation initiatives and overseeing technology deployments.
Unfortunately, the global statistics aren’t great. If we look at the latest 2024 data from Gallup, only 23% of our workforce accounts for engaged employees. The disgruntled, disenchanted category represents 15%, and the fence-sitting, quietly quitting, disengaged group accounts for a whopping 62%. And the US is waking up to the fact that their engagement level is back at a 11-year low of 30%, the 2013 level.
Having worked across multiple countries over the last 25 years, I know for a fact that the fence-sitting employees are only seemingly disengaged. Tapping into latent resource pool and improving both productivity and engagement is easier than you think. This is what I showcase in my latest book UNLOCK: Engage the Seemingly Disengaged.
