Skip to main content

Q12 Implementation Guide for Managers and Supervisors

Introduction

As managers and supervisors, you play an important role in building and supporting employee engagement. You can easily make dramatic shifts in your team’s engagement by doing little things more often.

To help you get started on creating your engagement plan, stay focused on the following five steps:

Step 1: Carefully read and analyze your team’s Gallup Q12 survey results.

Step 2: Meet with your team for a State of the Team conversation.

Step 3: Create visibility for your team’s engagement and performance goals.

Step 4: Make engagement a priority and constantly focus on it.

Step 5: Start to change conversations.

STEP #1: Carefully Read and  Analyze your Team’s Gallup Q12 Survey Results.

  1. Timing
    • Immediately after receiving your Q12 results (you can utilize Gallup Access or this page for more information on leading a State of Team conversation)
    • Shortly after the Q12 survey ends, you will receive notification of when your team’s results are available for review. After receiving your team’s results, analyze them, start to uncover the story behind the numbers, and prepare to provide feedback on them with your team.
  2. Impact
    • The Q12 results report provides a measure of your specific work environment and areas where all employees can make adjustments or enhancements. Remember, you do not own the results alone; the team owns them. While you can do a lot to create a positive and productive environment, each employee needs to contribute to improving engagement within the team. Your engagement results provide important clues about the state of your team.
  3. Tools and Resources
    1. Q12 Results Discovery Tool
  4. Activities
    • Review the team’s Q12 results and analyze the state of the team.
      1. Pay close attention to the first six items, as these form the foundation of a great place to work.
      2. Focus on the high scores. These are areas of strength. Consider what you and your team are doing to contribute to these strengths. Celebrate and take steps to ensure that they remain strengths.
      3. Identify the team’s story in the results. Every Q12 results report tells a story. Each item tells a little bit about the team’s engagement, but not necessarily the whole story. Sometimes the story becomes clear when you look at the interaction of multiple items.
      4. Remember, a “5” represents that this workplace need is consistently met. A “4” suggests that the need is often met, but not consistently so.
      5. Try to see past the numbers to find the story. Think about what the report indicates your team needs to be more successful. The Q12 Results Discovery Tool will help you read and interpret your team’s report.
    • Decide which questions to ask when you have a State of the Team conversation with your team. The Q12 results report provides a snapshot in time of the team’s engagement level. The best way to understand the numbers and know what is really going on in the workgroup is to discuss the results with your team.
    • Set up a meeting in the next few weeks to discuss the Q12 results with your team.

STEP #2: Meet with Your Team for a State of the Team Conversation

  1. Timing
    • Two to three weeks after receiving your Q12 results
    • Simply measuring employee engagement levels is not enough to boost engagement; it just kicks off the process. Taking action on survey results by leading a State of the Team conversation can build employee engagement and improve team performance.
  2. Impact
    • The purpose of the State of the Team conversation is to assess the team’s current state of engagement. Throughout the process, it is your job to:
      • listen to your employees
      • learn about the factors influencing your employees’ engagement
      • guide the team to take the actions necessary to realize its performance goals
    • Employee involvement during the conversation is crucial to building engagement. The State of the Team conversation is a collaborative process during which every employee has an opportunity to contribute.
  3. Tools and Resources
    1. State Of Team Outline
    2. State Of Team Tool
  4. Activities
    • The State of the Team Conversation Outline includes a suggested outline for effectively preparing and leading a State of the Team conversation with your team.
    • Before distributing the Q12 survey results report during the meeting, review the engagement big picture with your team.
      • The goal is to create a highly engaged team that consistently achieves its performance goals.
      • Every person on the team, not just the manager, is responsible for creating an engaging and productive work environment.
    • Build a State of the Team action plan. Use the State of the Team Tool to capture the team’s performance and engagement goals.
      • Identify a team performance goal.
      • Analyze Gallup Q12 survey results.
      • Select the engagement item to focus on and actions to take.
      • Review and recalibrate, scheduling time to follow up on the action items.
      • Create visibility.
    • After completing the State of the Team Tool, put it somewhere visible to serve as a reminder to the team about its goals and commitments.
      Ask employees for their opinions and ideas on how the team should respond to difficulties and challenges.

STEP #3: Create Visibility for Your Team’s Engagement and Performance Goals

  1. Timing
    • One month after the State of the Team conversation
    • Note: Recognize successes periodically throughout the remainder of the year.
    • Recognition should be a prominent part of your team’s journey to higher engagement. Be sure to highlight and celebrate individual and group achievements during team meetings.
  2. Impact
    • Feeling recognized boosts individual engagement. Applauding progress builds momentum that encourages the team to accomplish its goals and provides a real-life example of the benefits of improving engagement.

  3. Tools and Resources

    • Your team's completed State of the Team Tool
  4. Activities
    • Create visibility. Post the completed State of the Team Tool in a central location.
    • Celebrate achievements. When the team meets performance goals or completes key action items, celebrate the milestones with your team.
    • Recognize individuals who helped achieve the goals, and share discoveries, barriers and challenges that the team overcame as well as key lessons learned.
    • Keep focusing on the team’s high scores from the survey results. These are areas of strength. Continue to consider what you and your team are doing to contribute to these strengths. Celebrate these strengths and take steps to make sure that they remain strengths.
    • Maintain the team’s momentum for increasing its engagement.
    • Start to change your conversations. Be deliberative about building a positive work environment.
    • Encourage employees to talk about how they can positively contribute to one another’s successes.
    • Help identify new areas of collaboration among team members.

STEP #4: Make Engagement a Priority and Constantly Focus on It

  1. Timing
    • Shortly after the State of the Team conversation
    • Note: This is an ongoing action to take throughout the engagement process.
  2. Impact
    • After collaborating to create the State of the Team action plan, outline the actions you will take to support the team’s plan. 
  3. Tools and Resources
  4. Activities
    • Learn more about the engagement item the team focused on during its State of the Team conversation.
    • Identify steps you can take to support the team’s engagement plan.
    • Hold regular follow-up conversations with your team about the team’s engagement plan.
    • Identify any barriers that might get in the way of the team accomplishing its goal.
    • Identify additional actions the team can take to support its plan.
    • Identify additional actions the team can take to influence engagement on this item.

STEP #5: Start to Change Conversations

  1. Timing
    • Two months after the State of the Team conversation
    • Note: This is an ongoing action to take throughout the engagement process.
    • One of the greatest challenges managers face is finding ways to improve teams’ and individuals’ performance. It can be difficult to gain and maintain your team’s enthusiasm for and commitment to the engagement process. To keep engagement on everyone’s mind, lead formal and informal conversations with your team members about their work and workplace and what they need to be successful.
  2. Impact
    • Your role as a people manager is to lead your team to deliver results. When your employees are involved in, enthusiastic about and committed to their work, they are more productive and efficient. Leading formal and informal conversations with team members about their work and workplace is one of the best ways to foster an engaging work environment.
  3. Tools and Resources
  4. Activities
    • Use the questions on the Engaging Manager Checklist to gain insights into each employee’s engagement.
    • Integrate the questions into your daily processes in the following ways:
      • Be present. Ask more questions every day. Listen more and talk less. Ask more and tell less.
      • Set aside time to spend with each employee to discuss his or her engagement needs.
      • Select discussion topics and/or questions to use to involve the team.
      • Ask a question on the checklist to each team member over the course of a week. Listen carefully to the answer, and follow up accordingly.
JavaScript errors detected

Please note, these errors can depend on your browser setup.

If this problem persists, please contact our support.

Contact Support Close