There are three possible categories that have been identified to describe employee engagement level; Engaged, Not Engaged, and Actively Disengaged. The natural process in your career would be to move between Engaged and Not Engaged. This happens as you outgrow your position and usually indicates that it is time to move on to the next phase of your career. Being “Not Engaged” is seen as more of a warning signal, that tells us you maybe at risk if you aren’t challenged more, or if you don’t get the materials you needed, if you are not acknowledged for your work, etc. We will work with you manager to address your situation individually.
Actively Disengaged is when you find yourself not caring about your work or, often, your co-workers. If you find yourself without a good thing to say about your company, you are not just Not Engaged, you are Actively Disengaged and can create a toxic environment for yourself and those around you. This often happens when an employee is allowed, or forced, to stay in the “Not Engaged” place for too long.
Our job is to help both you and your managers to understand that Not Engaged isn’t necessarily bad, but it is no where to live and work. You can do it for a while, but the chances of moving to Actively Disengaged increases as you are forced to stay where you are no longer developing, no longer learning and are perhaps not appreciated for what you contribute.
Actively Disengaged is a stage where you live in your stress behavior. Stress Behavior is not your true self, it is the self that emerges when you have been pushed past your endurance. It is not pretty and you may have become someone you don’t like very much, and chances are, others won’t like you either. A key aspect of Stress Behavior is that it is usually the exact behavior that is guaranteed not to get you what you want.
If you find yourself in this place, whether you company offers to help or not, contact us and we will help you understand what you need to move to your next step. It is not free, but it is a very needed investment.