8 Signals of Low Product Team Purpose | No Engagement Surveys Needed
Managers: Address these gaps to nurture purpose.
A team’s engagement level will make or break it, yet many managers struggle to gain a pulse on it.
The majority latch onto a yearly engagement survey to do so. These surveys are too infrequent to matter and rarely make a dent in improving team morale. They become yet another measurement in a sea of imposed metrics. And these surveys are often the only touchpoint a manager has with the teams.
So, an engagement survey can easily become an ironic, neon sign of low engagement.
I’ve found something much better.
Let me start by explaining how I assess team engagement.
I take cues from Daniel Pink to define a team’s engagement — by its level of autonomy, mastery, and purpose. In my experience, of the three, purpose is the strongest driver of intrinsic motivation. Even so, purpose is highly tied to the other two aspects of engagement — autonomy and mastery. Ensuring these are high will drive purpose.
And after working with 156 teams in my career, I know well the signs of the conditions that erode team purpose.
