In this episode of The Talent Sherpa Podcast, hosts Jackson Lynch and Scott Morris take a sledgehammer to one of HR’s sacred cows: the employee engagement survey.

They challenge the value of traditional engagement scores, highlighting the disconnect between measuring satisfaction and actually driving performance.

Scott and Jackson argue that real engagement is about emotional commitment tied to business outcomes—not how happy someone feels about their office snacks. They discuss the flaws in bloated survey designs and advocate for fewer, sharper questions that leaders can act on immediately.

The conversation dives deep into Gallup's Q12, role clarity, and why understanding expectations is the ultimate diagnostic. They also tackle the trust deficit that bloated surveys create and explain how simpler, more frequent feedback loops can spark real change.

For leaders who want to rethink how they measure and manage engagement, this episode is both a wake-up call and a how-to guide.