Second, we know that if you do happen to work on a team you are twice as likely to score high on the eight engagement items, and that this trend linking engagement to teams extends to multiple teams—in fact, the most engaged group of workers across the working world are those who work on five distinct teams.

Third, just like Lisa, those team members who said they trusted their team leader were twelve times more likely to be fully engaged at work.

The more frequently and predictably you check in with your people or meet with your team—the more you offer your real-time attention to the reality of their work—the more performance and engagement you will get.

The more frequent sense-making rituals you establish on your team, the more information you will liberate, the more intelligence you will generate, and the more trust you will engender. Trust can never emerge from secrecy. Frequency creates safety.

Two questions in the survey showed the strongest relationship to a worker’s feeling of trust in his team leader:

• Do I know clearly what is expected of me at work?

• Do I have the chance to use my strengths every day?

This data suggests that these two conditions—knowing what is expected, and being able to play to one’s strengths—are the foundations of trust. When a team leader, despite the ambiguities and the fluid and fast pace of the world of work, can help team members feel clarity about expectations and a sense that their best is recognized and utilized frequently, then trust is built, and a Fully Engaged team becomes more likely.

...we discovered that (at least at Cisco) there are two factors of engagement within the Engagement Pulse. The first factor comprises all four “me” items together with the two “we” items that ask about team environment, and so consisted of:

• At work, I clearly understand what is expected of me. (Me)

• I have the chance to use my strengths every day at work. (Me)

• I know I will be recognized for excellent work. (Me)

• In my work, I am always challenged to grow. (Me)

• In my team, I am surrounded by people who share my values. (We)

• My teammates have my back. (We)

We chose to call this factor team engagement. The other factor comprised the remaining two “we” items:

• I am really enthusiastic about the mission of my company. (We)

• I have great confidence in my company’s future. (We)

We chose to call this factor company engagement.