Why Your Engagement Efforts Might Be Wasted
If your engagement efforts aren’t delivering real results, there’s a good chance you’re missing the root cause. This article reveals the hidden driver behind engagement—Unwritten Ground Rules (UGRs)—and why ignoring them can quietly sabotage your culture. It’s a must-read for any leader serious about making change that sticks.
Steve Simpson
3/25/20252 min read
Leaders keep asking: How do we improve engagement?
It’s the right question—but most are looking in the wrong places for the answer.
They roll out surveys. They create action plans. They throw in an offsite or two. Sometimes engagement ticks up. Often, it doesn’t. And when it doesn’t, leaders scratch their heads.
Here’s the uncomfortable truth:
You cannot improve engagement if you don’t address your UGRs.
UGRs—Unwritten Ground Rules—are people’s perceptions of “this is how we do things around here.” These are the real rules that shape behaviour, not the ones in the handbook.
And they have a direct, unfiltered impact on engagement.
What’s Really Going On
You can tell your people they’re empowered. But if the UGR is Around here, if you stuff up, you’re on your own, no one’s taking a risk.
You can promote teamwork all you like. But if the UGR is Around here, leaders say ‘we’re all in it together’—until something goes wrong, you’ll get self-preservation, not collaboration.
You can run pulse surveys until the cows come home. But if people believe nothing really changes, the UGR becomes Around here, feedback is a waste of time.
These hidden rules quietly kill engagement, morale, and trust. Worse, they often do it under the radar—because on the surface, everything looks fine.
The Missed Link
Engagement is not a program. It’s not a policy. It’s not a free breakfast.
It’s the emotional and psychological connection people have to their work.
That connection is built—or broken—by the daily experiences people have. Those experiences are driven by UGRs.
If people feel safe, respected, included, listened to—they’ll engage. If they don’t, they won’t.
It’s that simple.
And here’s the kicker: most leaders are unaware of the UGRs their own behaviour is reinforcing.
You Can’t Change What You Can’t See
The first step is to surface the UGRs. Not the ones you think exist. The ones your people actually experience. That takes courage and honesty.
But once you know the real UGRs, you have the power to shift them—and with them, engagement, performance and trust.
If you’re serious about improving engagement, don’t just tweak your next survey. Go deeper. Uncover the real culture—the one that’s actually driving behaviour.
Because until you deal with your UGRs, your engagement efforts are just window dressing.