Just for kicks, I recently Googled the term “employee engagement” to see what would happen. Know how many results I got?
Brace yourself.
50,600,000. Approximately.
That’s FIFTY MILLION websites, blog posts, news articles, etc., many of which claim to tell you how to reach a higher level of engagement at work.
I’m going to save you fifty million hours of reading and just tell you the #1 success factor of the world’s most engaged employees.
So, whether you are an employee or a leader/manager/boss you should probably listen up because this affects both of you.
The #1 success factor of highly engaged employees has nothing to do with reward trips to Hawaii, bonuses in the paycheck, spiffy new offices, or a sand volleyball tournament every Thursday.
Don’t get me wrong, if you can afford to do those things in your company, do them. All things being equal, I’d rather work for a company with a sand volleyball court, wouldn’t you?
However, if you want a team full of engaged employees, you can offer trips to the moon and back and that won’t do any good if you have the wrong people in place to begin with.
Worse yet, if you dangle golden carrots in front of mediocre performers they might just rise to the occasion to grab the carrot, in which case you’ve got well-rewarded, carrot-eating mediocre performers. Once the carrot it gone, so is the performance. And then it takes an even bigger carrot next time to get them off the bench.
So if it’s not incentives and rewards that fills our companies with highly engaged employees, what’s the secret?
Here it is:
The world’s most engaged employees come with “batteries included.” 
I recently heard this brilliant term from The Strategic Coach a phenomenal coaching program for entrepreneurs that I belong to. The moment I heard it, I knew it was true.
The best employees are the ones who arrive with a solid set of skills and ability, a high level of interest in their role or position, a great attitude and work ethic, and a burning desire to get better every single day.
They show up already fired up. And it doesn’t have a darn thing to do with Hawaii.
I see this first hand in my work with teams all across America. When I present a keynote speech or workshop, I can pick out the high performers AND the ones who are just punching the clock. It becomes painfully evident by their level of participation. Heck, it’s evident just by the expression on their faces! In most cases you can tell just by looking at them who has batteries included and who doesn’t!
So if you think you can hide it, you can’t.
The number one thing you can do as an employee to perform at your best, to contribute the most, and to become nearly indispensable is to come to work with batteries included.
The number one thing you can do as a leader/manager/boss to create a high-performing team is to make “batteries included” your #1 hiring criteria.
Today, ask yourself:
1. What does “batteries included” mean to our team/company.
2. Do I come with “batteries included”?
3. If not, why not? And what do I need to do to charge my batteries back up?
4. Who on my team has batteries included and who doesn’t?
Here’s the tough part: if somebody doesn’t have batteries included, you can’t charge their batteries…no matter how much juice you offer them. Believe me, I’ve tried. It just doesn’t work.
But when you can build a team of people with batteries included, you can achieve some pretty amazing things…and have a ton of fun doing it.
I want to hear from you!
What is YOUR definition of batteries included? Leave a reply below and let me know!