Engagement Planning Guide for Managers & Supervisors

• Access your Engagement Survey results in the Gallup Access platform.
• Login to Gallup Access at https://uci.my.gallup.com/ with your UCInetID & password.
• Go to your latest survey results report:
  1. Expand the drop-down menu in the upper left corner of the screen.
  2. Select ‘Reports’.
  3. Select your most recent report by year (UCI 2023 Q12).

For further assistance with accessing data, contact your HR professional or view the ‘Reading Your Results’ and ‘Manager Guide to Q12’ in the Resources section below.

Note: Work with your local HR professional if you don’t have results.

Mean

• The Mean measures the overall workgroup engagement, which is an average of 12 engagement items. The higher the score, with a maximum score of 5, the more engaged your team is.
  • What do you think your Mean score says about your team’s engagement?

Strengths & Opportunities

• Look at your team’s strengths (highest-scoring Q12 item relative to Gallup’s global database).
  • How does this item help your team be successful?
  • What are you and the team consciously doing to make this item strong?
• Look at your team’s opportunities (lowest-scoring Q12 items relative to Gallup’s global database).
  • How might this information be relevant to the team?
  • How do these items limit the team’s effectiveness?
  • What should the team do more of to improve in this area?
• Review the indices to determine how those results contribute to your team engagement story; paying close attention to questions that you have control over, such as the supervisor and change management indices.

Additional Considerations

• What do the results say about how your team works together to get things done?
• What do the results say about your team’s relationships, communication style, and problem solving?

Key Points to Remember When Interpreting Engagement Results

• Focus on the high scores – these are areas of strength. It is important to take steps to ensure that these items remain strengths. You should consider what your team is doing to continue to contribute to these strengths.
• Pay close attention to the first six elements of engagement (Q1-Q6), as they represent the foundation of the engagement hierarchy.
• Consider your team’s performance goals or challenges – determine which element of engagement you should focus on to achieve the greatest impact.
• The Q12 survey results report provides a snapshot in time of the team’s engagement level. The best way to understand the numbers and know what’s really going on in the workgroup is to discuss the results with the team.

• Familiarize yourself with the facilitator’s script (referenced in Step 2) prior to the meeting.
• Engagement does not have to be a complex or complicated process. The purpose of this team conversation is to assess the team’s current state of engagement. Your role is to listen to your team members, learn about the factors influencing their engagement, and lead them in taking the actions necessary to realize their performance goals.

• Determine if you want your meeting to be in-person or virtual.
  • If the meeting is in-person, find and schedule a location for your meeting. Ensure that it has a white board and/or flip chart paper and markers are available and that there is ample seating.
  • If the meeting is virtual, ensure you know how to use the software to create an open and participatory environment.

• Invite your team to a meeting titled Team Engagement Meeting.
• Ensure your invitation includes the date, time, and location of the meeting (for virtual meetings, include login information). Let team members know that they don’t need to prepare anything prior to the meeting.

• Refer to one of the following decks to customize the meeting materials for your team. The decks include talking points in the notes section that can be referenced in your meeting.
  • Engagement Conversations With Results (PPT)
  • Engagement Conversations Without Results (PPT)
• Consider how you want to share your results with your team (you may need to obtain a rollup report from your HR professional, if you do not have results from your team). Transparency is recommended, which would include sharing your overall mean, results summary for each Q12 question, and summary of the indices.
• If you do have data, the easiest way to prepare your results for sharing is to use the ‘export options’ feature in the top right of your Gallup dashboard.
  • Click on ‘single report’ and select ‘all questions PowerPoint.’
  • To view the report, go to ‘past reports’ and it will automatically download.
  • Select the slides you want to add to your presentation and share with your team. The report will go to your past reports section.
• As an alternative to sharing all of your results, you could just discuss the overall mean and the two areas of strength and opportunity from the Q12 questions.

• As you know, all eligible UCI co-workers (represented and policy covered career, partial year career, and contract eligible staff) were invited to take the Engagement Survey administered by Gallup.
• Academic, casual restricted, student and campus temporary employees were not eligible.
• The confidential survey provided co-workers an opportunity for their voices and opinions to be heard, and I want to thank each of you who took the time to complete the survey.
• Today we are going to: (1) learn about engagement, (2) review our team’s results, (3) talk about areas of strengths & opportunities on our team, and (4) brainstorm and identify one goal we can work on as a team to increase our engagement.

• Before we get started, let us take a moment to think of why you chose to come to work for UCI. What resonated with you and connected you to our organization?
• Who is ready to share?
• You can start if group is quiet – such as “I came because of the reputation of the mission of the organization and work-life balance.” Go around with everyone sharing.
• Everyone has shared some great reasons why they came – and many of the reasons surround engagement. So, let’s talk more about this.

• What exactly are we talking about? Engagement is a measurement of a co-worker’s emotional commitment to an organization. Engaged co-workers are highly involved in and enthusiastic about their work and workplace. They drive performance and innovation, and move the organization forward.
• Think about how you feel when it’s Sunday evening and you are getting ready for the work week. Are you looking forward to the week or are you indifferent? Those who are looking forward to the week are engaged, while those who are not may be less engaged.
• And, according to Gallup, the level of a co-worker’s engagement affects their reported levels of stress, anxiety, depression, and cholesterol.
• This makes a good case for increasing engagement, both at an individual and team level.
• So, now that we understand what engagement is, let’s talk about the survey results.

• Engagement survey results are a good starting point for us to work on our engagement as a team.
• First, let’s give some background and insight into Gallup’s Q12 questions and the different levels of engagement.
• Gallup research has identified 12 elements that exist in every high-performing work environment. Behind each of these elements is a fundamental truth about human nature on the job. These 12 elements are the factors most powerful in explaining co-workers’ productive motivations at work.
• Now think of a pyramid with four layers, with basic needs being at the foundation or base. Gallup’s Q12 questions from the engagement survey were built around this pyramid to help teams know where they need to focus their efforts.
  • The base of the pyramid is BASIC NEEDS: To reach this level of engagement, co-workers need to have a clear understanding of what success in their role looks like. They must be also be equipped with the right resources for their work.
  • INDIVIDUAL: At this level of engagement, co-workers need to understand how to optimize their contributions. They also need to develop trusting relationships and know that others value their best efforts.
  • TEAMWORK: For this level of engagement to be attained, co-workers need to feel that they are part of a team.
  • GROWTH: And lastly, this level of engagement is attained when co-workers feel they are being challenged to learn something new and that they are able to find better ways to do their jobs.
• Together, these four levels we just reviewed are linked to greater performance outcomes and give us a framework to have motivating conversations with our co-workers. Why is this important? Because now that we understand what matters for engagement, we can then look at our OWN team’s engagement story by reviewing results and taking action.
• Now that we’ve discussed the four levels of engagement, let’s look at our data. On the screen you will see our overall score (mean) and our two top 2 strengths and top 2 opportunities.
• Optional: Next you will see our scores for all the Q12 questions. Additionally, here is a breakdown of the indices for our team.

• Now that you’ve seen the data, let me ask you a few questions. Do our overall scores resonate with you? Why or why not? Were there any ‘ah-ha’ moments that you had when looking at the data?
• Now let’s focus on areas of strength.
  • How does this item help your team be successful?
  • What are you and the team consciously doing to make this item strong?
• Now let’s move on to the areas of opportunity.
  • How do these items limit the team’s effectiveness?
  • What should the team do more of to increase these scores?


• Supervisor/facilitator note:
  • When team members do share their thoughts, thank them for sharing and let them know that you take what they have to say seriously.
  • If the group is quiet, consider breaking the team into small groups to discuss the questions. This can be done in person or using the breakout room feature if conducting a virtual meeting.
  • If time is an issue, just focus on the questions that you feel are most relevant to getting to a team goal.

• Now that we have had some conversation about our data and what it means to all of you, we will work together to select the most relevant engagement item to focus on, and then brainstorm the actions necessary for improvement.

• BRAINSTORMING
  • Which engagement item do you think we should focus on to help our team improve?
  • What goals could we set to help us impact that area of engagement?
  • How can we all contribute?
  
  Supervisor/facilitator note: To brainstorm goals, (1) use white board or flip chart if desired, or (2) whiteboard feature in Zoom, (3) chat, or (4) just have everyone come off mute to openly discuss, if running the meeting virtually. There are sample goals in the Resources section that you may refer to, if needed.

• Now we will look at our possible goals and determine which one resonates with the team most and will help us improve in that area of engagement.
  
  Supervisor/facilitator note: Try not to leave the meeting without deciding on a goal. If you run out of time, schedule a follow-up meeting to finalize the goal.

• We know that engagement is everyone’s responsibility – so moving forward, we will be talking about this goal in every team meeting. During these meetings, we will dedicate a portion of time to discussing our team goal.
  • Did we do what we said we were going to do?
  • Did it have the desired outcome and/or make a positive difference?
• If the answers to both questions are “yes,” then we are making progress. However, if the answer to one (or both) questions is “no,” then we need to recalibrate and look to adjust our plan.
• I’m going to hold each of you accountable for participating in these team discussions.
• And I’m going to be held accountable for sharing updates to leadership, so that they can, in turn, provide the organization with routine updates in town halls and/or all-hands meetings.
• As you leave today’s discussion, and before our next team meeting, I want each of you to think about the goal we identified today and how you can take action towards that goal.
• As a reminder, each one of you will be asked in future meetings what you’ve done, and if it made an impact on the desired outcome.
• Thank you for helping UCI (or UCI Health) create a culture of engagement where each and every co-worker can thrive!

• As you know, all eligible UCI co-workers (represented and policy covered career, partial year career, and contract staff), were invited to take the Engagement Survey administered by Gallup.
• Academic, casual restricted, student and campus temporary employees were not eligible.
• The confidential survey provided co-workers an opportunity for their voices and opinions to be heard, and I want to thank each of you who took the time to complete the survey.
• Due to the size of our team, your feedback has been incorporated into the report for our larger unit, so today we will be focusing our conversation on: (1) learning about engagement (2) talking about areas of strengths & opportunities on our team, and (3) brainstorming and identifying one goal we can work on as a team to increase our engagement.

• Before we get started, let’s take a moment to think of why you chose to come work for UCI. What drew you in and connected you to our organization?
• Who is ready to share?
• You can start if group is quiet – such as “I came because of the reputation of the mission of the organization and work-life balance.” Go around with everyone sharing.
• Everyone has shared some great reasons why they came – and many of the reasons surround engagement. So, let’s talk more about this.

• What exactly are we talking about? Engagement is a measurement of a co-worker's emotional commitment to an organization. Engaged co-workers are highly involved in and enthusiastic about their work and workplace. They drive performance and innovation and move the organization forward.
• Think about how you feel when it’s Sunday evening and you are getting ready for the work week. Are you looking forward to the week or are you indifferent? Those who are looking forward to the week are engaged, while those who are not may be less engaged.
• And, according to Gallup, the level of a co-worker’s engagement affects their reported levels of stress, anxiety, depression, and cholesterol.
• This makes a good case for increasing engagement, both at an individual and team level.
• So now that we understand what engagement is, let’s talk about the survey results.

• Let’s give some background and insight into Gallup’s Q12 questions and the different levels of engagement.
• Gallup research has identified 12 elements that exist in every high-performing work environment. Behind each of these elements is a fundamental truth about human nature on the job. These 12 elements of engagement are the factors most powerful in explaining co-workers’ productive motivations at work.
• Now think of a pyramid with four layers, with basic needs being at the foundation or base. Gallup’s Q12 questions from the engagement survey were built around this pyramid to help teams know where they need to focus their efforts.
  • The base of the pyramid is BASIC NEEDS: To reach this level of engagement, co-workers need to have a clear understanding of what success in their role looks like. They must be also be equipped with the right resources for their work.
  • INDIVIDUAL: At this level of engagement, co-workers need to understand how to optimize their contributions. They also need to develop trusting relationships and know that others value their best efforts.
  • TEAMWORK: For this level of engagement to be attained, co-workers need to feel that they are part of a team.
  • GROWTH: And lastly, this level of engagement is attained when co-workers feel they are being challenged to learn something new and that they are able to find better ways to do their jobs.
• Together, these four levels we just reviewed are linked to greater performance outcomes and give us a framework to have motivating conversations with our co-workers. Why is this important? Because now that we understand what matters for engagement, we can then look at our OWN team’s engagement story by reviewing results and taking action.

• Now that we’ve discussed the four levels of engagement, let’s discuss the areas that we are doing well in, and where we might want to improve.
• Let’s start with looking at the positive things we are doing as a team.
• Areas of Strength
  • What are some areas you feel we are excelling as a team?
  • What are you and/or the team consciously doing to make us strong in these areas?

Now let’s focus on some areas the team might be able to improve.

• Areas of Opportunity
  • Where could we do better?
  • What gets in the way of doing our best work?
  • What can you and/or the team do to help remove these barriers?
  
  Supervisor/facilitator note: If the group is quiet, consider breaking the team into small groups to discuss the questions. This can be done in person or using the breakout room feature if conducting a virtual meeting. As a last resort, be prepared to share your ideas of where you feel the team is excelling and we it could do better. Ask the team if what you said resonates with them and why or why not.

• Now that we have had some conversation about our strengths and opportunities as team, we will work together to select the most relevant engagement item to focus on, and then brainstorm the actions necessary to move forward.
  • What are goals that we can create that would get at these issues? Remember, we need to focus on what’s within our control. Some things we just can’t change, but there are a lot of things we can.
  • What actions do we need to take?
  • How can we all contribute?
  
  Supervisor/facilitator note: To brainstorm goals, (1) use white board or flip chart if desired, or (2) whiteboard feature in Zoom, (3) chat, or (4) just have everyone come off mute to openly discuss, if running the meeting virtually. There are sample goals in the Resources section of the Engagement Planning Guide that you may refer to, if needed.

• Now we will look at our possible goals and determine which one resonates the most with the team.

• We know that engagement is everyone’s responsibility – so moving forward, we will be talking about this goal in every team meeting. During these meetings, we will dedicate a portion of time to discussing our team goal.
  • Did we do what we said we were going to do?
  • Did it make the desired difference?
• If the answers to both questions are “yes,” then we are making progress. However, if the answer to one (or both) questions is “no,” then we need to recalibrate and look to adjust our plan.
• I’m going to hold each of you accountable by participating in these team discussions.
• And I’m going to be held accountable by sharing our team progress with my supervisor.
• As you leave today’s discussion, and before our next team meeting, I want each of you to think about the goal we identified today and how you can take action to address that goal.
• As a reminder, each one of you will be asked in future meetings what you’ve done and if it made an impact on the desired outcome.
• Thank you for helping UCI create a culture of engagement where each and every teammate can thrive.

Keep engagement top of mind by adding team goal progress to your monthly (or regular) team meeting agenda. This process will help you evaluate the progress on the team’s goal and recalibrate, as necessary. Simply ask your team these two questions:

• Did we do what we said we were going to do to accomplish our goal?
• Did it make the desired difference?

If the answers to both questions are yes, you are on the right track! If the answers to one or both questions are no, consider adjusting your action plan.

Share your team’s engagement updates with your supervisor as another form of accountability.

Consider adding engagement to your one-on-one meetings with your team members. Refer to the resources section for more information.

Note: Your HR professional will hold you accountable and ensure you are following the steps listed above.