Guest blogger Tim Wright is the principal of WrightResults, and blogs at CultureToEngage. Today he has some great information for us about the value and necessity of employee engagement in a startup.

You’d think employee engagement’s meaning would be clear, even if quite a few people don’t know it. It’s probably not that they don’t know it; more likely they don’t have a mental file folder labeled “Employee Engagement.”

That’s why when I answer someone’s what-kind-of-work-do-you-do question with, “I help businesses increase their employment engagement”, I usually get the arched-eyebrow response.

I respond to that facial expression with, “What do you think that means?” And given the moment to think about the phrase employment engagement, almost everyone comes up with a pretty good definition. Here’s what I’ve heard:

• Involvement in your work.
• Job commitment.
• Passion for what you do.
• Loving your job.

You can mix and match parts of those answers and come up with dozens of definitions…that all say about the same thing.

Proof that those are good definitions.

Here’s mine. It’s not any better but it is longer. That’s because I spend more time thinking about employee engagement than most people because it’s my work.

• Investment of one’s body, mind, and spirit in one’s work.
• Exceptional degree of emotional commitment that fuels the doing, thinking, and believing in one’s work.
• Willingness to exceed expectations and fulfill one’s self-satisfaction quota.

A phrase’s meaning may not mean much until we see it in action. Remember the 6th grade spelling bee whiz always asked for their word to be used in a sentence?

Last week I witnessed this good example of employee engagement.

Previously, Gabe worked in facilities management in my apartment complex. Recently promoted to assistant office manager, Gabe took his personal engagement with him. He even ramped it up a level.

Last week I called the office to get minor work done. Gabe answered the phone and told me he would “top of the list” my request. In an hour, Gabe called me back to tell me the process was in motion and a maintenance man would be by soon.

Gabe called me back in 2 hours to verify what he already knew: the maintenance man had shown up, repaired the problem, and reported such to Gabe. And he wanted to know if I was pleased with the service. Next day Gabe even called me. “Mr. Wright, I just want to check that everything is still OK and you’re still satisfied that we took care of it in a timely, professional manner.”

You’re probably thinking, “Gabe’s new to the job. Let’s see how he does in 3 months.”

And you may be right. If you are, that proves that managers cannot assume employee engagement lives forever without attention, motivation, support, and recognition.