5 elements of the engagement model

Breaking down each element of the mushroom chair employee engagement model and comparing it to Deloitte’s.

The mushroom chair model for employee engagement is rooted in research used by employee engagement companies like Deloitte—and highlights that we all share five main needs at work.

In this post, I share the five pillars of the employee engagement model, and compare it pillar-for-pillar to Deloitte’s simply irresistible model.

What’s different about this model is that it puts all of the control in the hands of employees. And interestingly enough—the main cause of burnout is lack of control over where, when, how, and why you work.

5 Pillars of the mushroom chair employee engagement model:

1. Freedom and Autonomy—the freedom to work when and where you want. Period. Your time is 100% yours and you have no job description. You choose what you do, when, who you work with, and how. Have you heard about the power of Hidden Teams? It’s the same idea—that your most-engaged employees are already working together in ways you don’t even realize. They are working without a structure, without a boss, or a job description, or status reports—and they are doing their best work. Our model takes something that’s already going on, and makes it the official way we work.

   DELOITTE’S MODEL: Meaningful Work (shown below)

2. Partnership and Guidance—there are no bosses here. Period. There are also no structures or systems of power to oppress or exploit humans or the planet. Instead of a leader, or a boss, or a manager—we are all partners to each other. We guide and support and partner, and each of us chooses who fills this role in our life within the community—or outside of it.

   DELOITTE’S MODEL: Hands-on management (shown below)

3. Psychological Safety and Authenticity—the opposite of psychological safety at work means that your boundaries are not respected. It’s when you don’t control your life—or how, when, and where you work, how much free time you have—and the feeling that you can’t be yourself without negative consequences (to your career, reputation, financial security, etc.). It’s terrible. And most of it comes from feeling powerless—the feeling so many of us share—because at work someone else is in a position of power or authority over us. Our model for employee engagement gets rid of all systems of power and control at work. You are finally free to discover your own purpose, in an environment with like-minded people on a quest to change work for good. People working to prove that we are most engaged in our work when we determine what work means to us.

   DELOITTE’S MODEL: Positive Work Environment (shown below)

4. Contribute and Share with Others—when you want to change the world, the most powerful thing that can happen is for someone to believe in you. To believe that you can change the world. In my career I’ve seen so many talented people held back from sharing their amazing gifts with the world—because somebody didn’t believe in them. They “weren’t ready for the next step” or "you’re not ready to be a leader” or any other number of silly reasons that only serve to dim people’s light. This one is a simple idea—contribute and share with others means that you have the freedom, resources, and support to share your unique gifts with the world, in whatever way lights you on fire to be alive. And we believe that the world needs your unique gifts.

   DELOITTE’S MODEL: Growth Opportunity (shown below)

5. Shared philosophy and being stoked about your work—we all want to be a part of something meaningful. It’s in our DNA as humans to work and find our purpose. The key is bringing people together because they have a shared core belief in something, and that they be excited about what they are doing. But the key to this one—is that each of us be allowed to find our own purpose, with wild abandon. Imagine a job, a company that believed so much in your potential, that it gave you the freedom to find your unique way to contribute to the mission.

   DELOITTE’S MODEL: Trust in Leadership (shown below)

Here are the five pillars of Deloitte’s model for employee engagement:

And here is a visual of the mushroom chair’s model for employee engagement (that stacks up to the Deloitte model pillar-for-pillar):

I dream that this new model will become the new standard for employee engagement.

I believe this model has the potential to usher in a new era of work. An era where the way we work could actually make us happy.