It's all about balancing internal and external focus

The surveys are in; the results are tallied, and you are thrilled:  Compared to last year, your employee engagement numbers are up.  Way up.  You've done presentations on the feedback data, you've set up employee task forces to keep the momentum going, and you know you must be moving in the right direction because everyone says that employee engagement leads to a terrific bottom line.

And yet...

Somehow, the sales force - whose engagement numbers improved the most - still aren't hitting their (very realistic) numbers.  What the heck is going on?

The short answer is that, as important as employee engagement is, it really doesn't help you sell more product.  It's a measure that focuses on the internal, not the external - and therefore will do little to change your sales numbers.

DENISON CULTURE MODEL

According to Dan Denison, success involves a combination of Internal and External focus.  By doing so much work on your employee engagement inititatives, you've successfully transformed your sales force's internal focus.  That's great - you've got a sales force which believes in the organization and has a good team spirit.  But now you need to concentrate on their external focus, because now they have to get out there and spread the word beyond the organization.  

Now that you've got them engaged with the organization, it's time to focus on leveraging that to drive Adaptability (creating change and focusing on customers) and Mission (understanding the goals, objectives and vision).

Employee engagement may be the first step to increased business success - but when it comes to sales, real success happens when you ensure that the internal and external foci are working together.