Positive Divergence Analysis

Positive Divergence Analysis is the Perceptyx approach to identifying drivers of engagement - listening event items that should be the focus of action planning to drive engagement. 

This article walks through:

• The Engagement Engine 
• Positive Divergence Analysis

The Engagement Engine 

An engaged employee is one who “lives,” not just “does” the job. Engaged employees go above and beyond in their roles applying discretionary effort, and when this extra effort is put forth, employees perform at a higher level. Increased performance yields success, for both the individual and the organization. Experiencing this success inspires further engagement. We refer to this positive cycle of engagement, performance, and success as the “engagement engine.” 

The key to a successful engagement program is identifying and addressing the barriers that stand in the way of the engagement engine process. We help identify these barriers through Positive Divergence Analysis.

Positive Divergence Analysis

Engagement is often an outcome of a particular work experience. By studying this work experience, the perceptions of the most highly engaged employees can be compared to those of the less engaged employees, allowing leaders to pinpoint the critical barriers to engagement that need to be addressed. Positive Divergence Analysis provides these specific insights in a quick and scalable way. This analysis can be done for any group with at least 25 complete listening event responses. It is done by:

1. Identifying the most highly engaged employees within an organization or team and comparing them to everyone else. High engagement is defined as those who responded favorably (Strongly Agree or Agree) to all of the items within the Engagement Index.  

2. Calculating percent favorable scores for each of the actionable event items for both the highly engaged and remainder groups. 

3. Calculating the difference in percent favorable between the two groups. The items that show the largest gap between the two groups represent the drivers of (or barriers to) engagement.  

These drivers are the differentiators for engaging employees and the focus areas that leaders should use for action planning to have the greatest impact on engagement. Addressing these key barriers can help create a more consistent and engaging work experience for all employees. 

In the following example, highly engaged employees see far greater opportunities for development and have a greater understanding of how they contribute to the company’s goals. Almost all the highly engaged employees see the opportunity to improve their skills, compared to less than half of the remainder group. These opportunities represent a difference in work experiences that can be addressed through action planning. 

For an example of engagement drivers in reporting, see the Drivers Tab topic in the Favorability Report article.