The Engagement Advantage: How Engaged Team Members Fuel Growth
Growth doesn't start with products, technology, or marketing campaigns. It starts with people.
Financial institutions invest heavily in member experience, customer service, and growth initiatives, yet one of the strongest drivers of business performance often receives less attention: employee engagement.
The connection is straightforward. Engaged team members provide better service. Better service creates stronger member and customer relationships. Stronger relationships drive loyalty, wallet share, loan growth, and retention.
But engagement can feel difficult to measure and even harder to influence.
In a recent Navari webinar, Paul Marston, SHRM-CP, Chief of Sales at Navari, shared practical insights from working with hundreds of financial institutions on employee engagement, performance, and organizational growth.
"Ultimately, employee engagement is the way someone feels, reacts, and is incorporated into their work," says Marston. "And by work, I mean more than just the tasks they're accomplishing."
Engagement Is Observed, Not Just Surveyed
Organizations often rely on engagement surveys, participation rates, turnover metrics, and employee Net Promoter Scores to gauge engagement. While these tools provide valuable information, They only tell the quantitative data side of the story and leaves out a very valuable component which is well defined strategic observation.
"Most team members are primed to beat a survey like it's an exam in school," Marston explains. "They know the 'right' answer, so they give it, all the way up until they hit something that's truly bothering them."
A very useful engagement insight comes from direct observation.
Leaders should pay attention to behaviors such as:
- Openness to change
- Participation in discussions
- Receptiveness to coaching
- Willingness to learn
- Ownership and accountability
- Advocacy for the organization
- Investment in personal development
Professional growth is especially important.
"Another top reason people leave organizations is a lack of professional development or advancement," Marston says. "People are planning for the future of their career. If you aren't engaged in planning that future with them, they have to plan it elsewhere."
Attitude matters as well. Skepticism isn't necessarily a sign of disengagement. In fact, engaged skeptics often become some of an organization's strongest contributors because they identify risks, challenge assumptions, and improve execution.
"Once you link a skeptic to purpose and give them ownership, their skepticism can be a great weapon," Marston notes.
Disengagement Always Has a Source
One of the biggest mistakes leaders make is treating disengagement as a personality trait rather than a symptom.
Disengagement typically originates in one of four areas:
The Work
An employee may value the organization but struggle with specific responsibilities, processes, or daily frustrations.
The People
Workplace relationships and team dynamics have a significant impact on engagement and retention.
Leadership
The relationship between a leader and team member remains one of the strongest influences on employee satisfaction.
The Organization
Limited transparency, unclear direction, or a lack of connection to the bigger picture can leave employees feeling disconnected from purpose.
"We should treat disengagement like an emergency," says Marston. "But we have to know where to send the first responders."
When leaders identify where disengagement lives, they can take meaningful action rather than simply reacting to symptoms.
Why Leaders Matter Most
The good news for organizations is that engagement can often be improved through leadership behavior.
According to Gallup research, managers account for approximately 70% of the variance in team engagement.
That means leaders have tremendous influence over whether team members feel connected, supported, and motivated.
Marston points to several factors leaders can strengthen immediately:
Set Clear Expectations
People can't succeed if success isn't clearly defined.
Leaders must connect individual goals to organizational priorities and ensure team members understand both what is expected and why it matters.
Show Genuine Care
Employee engagement is built through relationships, not annual surveys.
"All leaders say they're busy, so you have to put time on the calendar," Marston explains. "A check-in can't just be about goals. These are opportunities to let someone feel cared for, identify support gaps, and help fill them."
Provide Resources and Support
Employees who consistently lack the tools, information, or support needed to succeed are far more likely to disengage.
Prioritize Development
A team member without a development path often begins to feel stuck.
Even when promotional opportunities aren't immediately available, leaders can help employees prepare for future responsibilities, emerging technologies, and evolving business needs.
"We are in a technology revolution," Marston says. "Most people's roles are going to change in some fundamental way over the next few years. We can identify those changes now and develop people for what's coming next."
From Engaged to Activated
Engagement alone isn't enough.
Employees may feel connected to the organization without actively contributing to strategic priorities. The greatest impact occurs when engagement becomes activation.
Marston describes activation as engaged energy directed toward meaningful outcomes.
His framework is simple:
Align employee goals with strategic priorities.
Target specific outcomes and define success.
Own by giving employees autonomy and accountability.
Develop skills needed to support future business objectives.
Recognize positive behaviors and contributions in real time.
Coach consistently through regular one-on-one conversations.
"I get the vision. I'm on board. Now what do I own?" Marston says. "That's where engagement becomes activation."
When employees understand how their individual contributions support organizational goals, engagement becomes measurable business impact.
Activation in Action
One financial institution facing ambitious growth goals chose an unconventional place to start: listening.
Rather than immediately investing in new programs or systems, leadership focused on understanding member experiences throughout key journeys, including account opening and lending.
Using MemberXP, the institution gathered direct member feedback and evaluated key experiences to identify opportunities for improvement. Insights from members informed coaching, employee development, training, and recognition efforts.
Rather than treating engagement as a standalone HR initiative, leaders connected employee development directly to member experience outcomes.
The results were significant:
- 9.3% total loan growth
- 11.5% net worth growth
- 16.17% new account growth
"They poured into their team members, those team members took care of their members, and that allowed the organization to achieve its growth goals," Marston says.
The lesson is simple: employee engagement becomes far more valuable when it is connected to measurable business outcomes.
Recognition Reinforces What Matters
One of the most overlooked drivers of engagement is recognition.
Many leaders focus heavily on correcting problems but spend far less time reinforcing positive behaviors.
Recognition provides clarity about what success looks like while strengthening employee confidence and connection.
"The last thing you want is for someone to associate an unexpected call from you with a problem," Marston explains. "You should be reaching out to tell people they handled something well just as often as you reach out for course correction."
Effective recognition isn't reserved for major accomplishments.
Leaders can reinforce:
- Exceptional service
- Collaboration
- Innovation
- Learning and development
- Accountability
- Progress toward goals
"Recognition is a behavior reinforcement tactic," says Marston. "When you see something positive and recognize it, you're making sure that behavior continues."
Human Intelligence Remains the Competitive Advantage
Artificial intelligence is reshaping financial services. New technologies are improving efficiency, automating processes, and creating new opportunities for growth.
Yet the organizations that thrive won't be defined solely by the technology they adopt.
They'll be defined by the people who use it.
"Those of us who serve clients, members, and customers are in the relationship business," Marston says. "AI can make hard processes easier. But engaging and activating our team members is a human element."
Technology can support performance. It cannot replace trust, empathy, coaching, leadership, or meaningful relationships.
Those remain distinctly human advantages.
Three Takeaways for Leaders
Observe, don't just survey. Daily behaviors often reveal more about engagement than employee surveys alone.
Address disengagement early. Identify whether the issue lies with the work, relationships, leadership, or the organization before it spreads.
Connect engagement to outcomes. Align goals, development, recognition, and coaching with strategic priorities so engagement translates into measurable results.
Put It Into Practice
Employee engagement is not simply an HR initiative. It's a business strategy.
When organizations invest in their people, employees become more engaged. Engaged employees create better experiences for members and customers. Those experiences strengthen relationships, improve loyalty, and ultimately fuel growth.
The organizations that win tomorrow will be the ones that recognize a simple truth today:
Growth starts with people.
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