According to 2016 Gallup research, there’s a worldwide employee engagement crisis. Engagement levels are at 13%, which, in 2015, cost the U.S. economy between $319 billion to $398 billion in lost business. Yet in spite of companies spending hundreds of millions of dollars on leadership development, the numbers remain consistent. Now there are good reasons why companies keep spending this money. Engaged employees generate 20% more in sales, 21% more in profitability and are 50% less likely to leave than their disengaged colleagues. So it’s win-win-win.

And yet so much of it is wasted.

Having worked for over 25 years in operational performance improvement, creating engaged teams has been crucial to our initiatives’ success. During those years, I have learned that if you take care of these five things, it will help you to create highly engaged teams that will exceed expectations.

Create A Sense Of Purpose

It’s good to earn a paycheck, but it’s great to go home thinking that you did something worthwhile and that you made a difference. When you’re setting your companies goals and visions, try to make it more than just about profit and loss or shareholder value. Most employees, and especially millennials, are looking for more than that in a job. They want to make an impact. During my time on one of the best projects I ever worked on, we were looking to improve on-time delivery. The business leader told us that the project was important because there was no Santa Claus and it was our job to make sure that kids got their Christmas and birthday presents on time. She gave us a sense of purpose. She made the job more than about money. She aligned it with our aspirations which automatically fired up our engagement.

When you set the goals and targets, try to give them a higher purpose — the more meaningful you can make it, the more engaged your team will be.

No Involvement No Commitment

You’d think that most managers with any leadership training would know the phrase, “no involvement no commitment.” Yet, when I work with companies this is one of the first things that we need to address. Senior management often spends months working on a strategy only to issue instructions, often with little communication (let alone involvement) and then they wonder why their initiatives failed.

You don’t need to involve your teams in the goal-setting process, but you can definitely look to have them involved in how those goals will be met. Ask for their input. You don’t need to act on it all. But, just by asking, you increase involvement, which in turn increases commitment. And you might just learn something valuable.