I recently had the pleasure of hearing Marshall Goldsmith, executive coach and author of “What Got You Here Won’t Get You There,” speak about a number of subjects, including employee engagement.

Lately there’s been lots of discussion and many books written about how to engage employees. It’s pretty obvious that an engaged employee is one who is involved and motivated and therefore more productive. If you have a team of engaged employees, your business will perform better and be more profitable.

But how do you get employees engaged? Goldsmith had a little different take on the subject. It revolved around issues such as the Gallup organization’s 12 questions used to measure engagement. He felt the questions put too much onus on the employer, as if it was the entire responsibility of the employer to foster engagement rather than also expecting employees to think and act.

He said some of the questions should be turned around. Instead of asking “Do you have a best friend at work?” the question should be “What have you done to develop a relationship at work?”

Instead of just asking whether someone has had opportunities to learn and grow, you’d ask them what their goals are and what they have done to reach those goals.

Another survey question: “Is there someone at work who encourages your development?” This is certainly important, but what about also asking “What have you done to develop yourself?”

I think Goldsmith’s whole point was to get employees actively involved in their needs and goals. It’s not the employer’s sole responsibility to get an employee engaged. An employer should also encourage employees to think about what they want and urge them to act upon it.

Makes a lot of sense to me.