In Time, Talent, Energy, Michael Mankins and Eric Garton point out that the more employees in a company can be effectively engaged and inspired, the higher the organization’s productive power becomes. “People who devote more of their individual discretionary energy to the company’s success are more productive and make those around them more productive. But employee engagement requires more than colorful posters in the headquarters lobby, free gourmet coffee in the cafeteria, and volleyball over lunch. It requires careful management – from the top – and dedication to creating an environment where people will bring more of their whole selves to work.

“The best-performing companies manage to inspire a large percentage of their workforce. They expect their leaders to deliver both performance and inspiration. All this enables these companies to make the utmost of their human capital.”

By far the best definition of employee engagement I have as yet encountered has been articulated by David Zinger, founder and Chief Engagement Officer of the Employee Engagement Network (with a current international membership of 7,280): “Employee engagement is good work done well with others every day.”

Mankins and Garton recommend four ways to build inspiration and engagement:

1. Help employees build greater connection between their daily work and the company’s customer or social mission. Ask whether you are running a company where employees “back in or head in” in the morning.

2. Develop a humane philosophy and implement it. Translate it into an employee value proposition, operating model, working environment, and working that address the entire set of engagement drivers. Determine the right degree of emphasis for each element based on your strategy, business model, and culture.

3. Create a high-autonomy organization without losing benefits of scalability and repeatability. Strike the optimal balance between autonomy and organizational needs. Ask whether you have actively eliminated needless bureaucracy, micromanaging, and overly prescriptive rule books.

4. Invest in inspirational leadership development. That’s how you create leaders who are skilled both at delivering exceptional results and inspiring employees.

Mankins and Garton explain HOW to do all this in Chapter 6.

Time, Talent, Energy: Overcome Organizational Drag & Unleash Your Team’s Productive Power, will be published by Harvard Business Review Press (March 2017).