Workplaces where people are engaged do significantly better in productivity & performance. If we want to build better staff engagement, we need more conversations, not "engagement campaigns". Too often, leaders who want to improve staff engagement build “campaign-style” interventions: analysing levels of engagement, having listening sessions, broadcasting messages & creating dashboards. Yet engagement isn’t a tool or a project - something you can "install" top down. It’s a daily, ongoing practice, rooted in the rhythms of conversation. The single force that shapes day-to-day engagement more than any other is line managers. (In the NHS, it is the frontline leaders, around band 7 level, who line manage >60% of the NHS workforce & who have an outsized influence on NHS productivity & performance). Consistent, authentic dialogue between managers & teams creates the psychological safety people need to speak up, take risks & challenge the status quo. If we want better engagement, we need to support front line leaders to develop skills for conversation-based leadership & build in routines that enable regular conversations to happen: medium.com/@kylejones_47003/…. By Kyle Jones on @Medium, via @LauraJYearsley.