Making the Connection Between Developmental Relationships and Employee Engagement

The developmental and relational context of engagement has been an overlooked yet critical aspect of the employee engagement experience (Kahn & Heaphy, 2010). So much of the research on employee engagement has focused on the outcomes of engagement—how much and how fast someone can perform a task (Shuck in Employee Engagement: The Research and Practice. Routledge Taylor Francis Group, 2019a). Yet, very little research has considered how engagement manifests and under what conditions and contexts it thrives. Relational contexts provide cues that employees belong, add value, and that work has meaning. Even when working alone on a project or presentation, relationships shape the approach and how an employee might think others could respond. Individual expressions of engagement cannot be separated from the relationships that give the experience context. Being engaged becomes an authentic expression of the working experience—an experience that cannot be demanded, only freely given and is transformational in every moment it is experienced. Vulnerability of this kind requires trust and relationships, especially those that are authentically developmental which give foundation to that trust (Holland et al. in Human Resource Management 56:915–929, 2017). Therefore, developmental relationships provide an important currency to fostering employee engagement (Gilley et al., 2011). In this chapter, we explore how developmental relationships foster higher levels of employee engagement. Specifically, a conceptual model is unveiled to detail how developmental relationships are the fulcrum catalyst of employee engagement. Lastly, potential outcomes of this conceptual model across the individual, group, and organizational levels are highlighted.