I’ve had a chance to read through Gallup’s 2025 State of the Global Workplace report and, let me tell you, the results aren’t very encouraging. If you’re not aware, Gallup is one of the most renowned research organizations in the world and has been studying workplace engagement and performance for over 80 years. They know what they’re doing.
There are too many interesting takeaways from the report to touch on all of them. However, there are a few that I want to mention and react to because the implications for your credit union are too big to ignore. From the report:
“In 2024, the global percentage of engaged employees fell from 23% to 21%. Engagement has only fallen twice in the past 12 years, in 2020 and 2024. Last year’s two-point drop in engagement was equal to the decline during the year of COVID-19.”
“This decrease in engagement cost the global economy US$438 billion in lost productivity. When employees are engaged, they are more productive at work. They are absent less and produce more. They deliver better service and close more sales.”
“The decline in engagement is because engagement amongst managers fell from 30% to 27%. And do you know what engages work teams the most? Their manager. If manager engagement continues to decline, it won’t stop with managers and it won’t stop with engagement.”
You can see the direct connection between employee engagement and profitability. So, it makes sense that companies measure and invest in employee engagement.
However, you may be surprised to see engagement has gone down given the amount of time and money companies have spent over the past decade trying to improve employee engagement. But the fact is, most of the time and money has been spent on things that don’t have a significant impact on employee engagement: free coffee from the office barista, a relaxed dress code, hybrid work arrangements, employee wellness programs, etc.
These things may have some impact on employee engagement, but clearly not enough to move the needle in a positive direction. And that’s because an employee’s engagement is highly linked to the engagement of their direct supervisor. So, companies are making big investments in things that have small impacts on employee engagement and are ignoring the things that would have a big impact.
So, what solutions does Gallup propose? Let’s review what they call “the path to productivity boom” and react to it:
Ensure all managers receive training to cut extreme manager disengagement in half.
This is especially true for credit unions where employees tend to get promoted to leadership positions based on their operational prowess. Then they find themselves navigating problems that leaders have to solve without the tools to solve them. This can easily eat away at their engagement and leave them feeling like they’ve been set up for failure.
Ideally, you identify your future leaders based on their high potential and you begin to develop their leadership skills before they take on a leadership position. This way, they’re confident and engaged from day one as a leader. But it’s never too late to invest in management training.
Teach managers effective coaching techniques to boost performance.
I cannot overstate how important it is to equip your leaders with the tools they need to be effective performance coaches. Coaching is about improving people to meet their highest potential so you can reach the team’s goals. Effective coaches do this by teaching, communicating, maximizing each person’s talent, creating a team and motivating them and by holding people accountable for their performance.
Management is about processes and outcomes, while coaching is about people and behaviors. Your managers may be very good at managing to processes and outcomes. But this doesn’t drive employee engagement. Your managers must develop the coaching techniques necessary to set high standards and coach to those standards. This will lead to higher employee engagement.
Increase manager wellbeing through ongoing manager development.
When you have engaged managers who are well-trained in their jobs and have effective coaching skills, you must continue to maintain a culture of high engagement by investing in ongoing development. Think about “what’s next?” for your managers and be sure they receive training to tackle the problems they’ll face in the future. This may look very different for an Assistant Manager that will be promoted to Manager versus a Manager that will be promoted to Director. It may also be different for someone making a lateral move from managing a branch to managing a support area. But you must be deliberate about their development plan to ensure they receive the proper ongoing manager development.
Contact ServiStar Consulting to Transform Your Credit Union’s Culture
If your credit union is looking to reshape the role of your managers, ServiStar Consulting can help. For over 27 years, we have worked side-by-side with credit unions to build and sustain a culture of high-performance. To learn more about how we can partner with you to create a culture of high-performance, fill out our digital contact form or schedule a call today.