Organizations spend hundreds of millions of dollars attempting to solve the engagement problem, but with few exceptions, most of this money continues to be wasted. Indeed, as Jacob Morgan concluded in an article published in the Harvard Business Review last year, “Most [engagement] initiatives amount to an adrenaline shot. A perk is introduced to boost scores, but over time the effect wears off and scores go back down.” So, what is going wrong?

Engagement is generally framed as an employer rather than employee problem. If employees indicate that they are not engaged or actively disengaged at work, the assumption is that the employer is failing to provide the right opportunities, incentives or support to drive their engagement. While this may be true in some cases, it is wrong to assume that the employer is always at fault.

To be clear, I’m not the first person to suggest that employee engagement is a two-way street. In 2015, Gallup researchers Ken Royal and Susan Sorenson published an article that makes precisely this claim: “Unless employees assume some measure of responsibility for their own engagement, the efforts of their organizations, leaders, managers and teams may have a limited effect on improving engagement.” Royal and Sorenson further emphasize that statistically, taking responsibility for one’s own engagement is necessary. After all, Gallup reported that only 10% of individuals show a high level of managing talent — with just 18% of current managers counted among that group. That means roughly 8 out of 10 managers are not likely providing the motivation their teams need.

Are you disengaged or under-engaged at work?

If you’re working hard but not sure why or to what end, you are likely not fully engaged at work. Likewise, if you’re feeling committed but not really seeing any impact, or you’re simply focused on short-term rather than long-term objectives, you are likely part of the workplace engagement problem. Given the dismal odds of finding a truly motivating manager, employees who want a more fulfilling work experience need to take a more active role in fostering their engagement. But if this is the case, how might they get started?

Step 1: Set your own goals.

We know that effective goal setting is integral to promoting employee engagement. When employees have clear goals, they are more committed and inspired. Given that an estimated 80% of managers are not very motivating and therefore unlikely to help set such goals, employees are well-advised to set their own goals when they start a new job and even to set personal goals on a quarterly basis.