The most important question you can ask your employees

This is the time of year when many organizations are starting to think about employee-engagement surveys to begin the New Year. Companies want to get a feel for where employees stand in terms of satisfaction.

In other words, it's the time of year to anticipate which of your employees may be looking for work elsewhere.

The problem with most employee-engagement surveys we look at on a regular basis is they ask far too many questions and it's hard to discern what the data is telling you when it's done. In addition, the majority of surveys ask questions the company has no intention of reacting to - things such as are you satisfied with your pay or benefits.

The question I would love to see more organizations ask is this: What percentage of your capabilities are used by this organization?

The power of this question is that it gives you a true measure of satisfaction and engagement. After all, employees want to work in a place where they can do the things they are good at and are interested in.

If you went to school to design things and make a difference in the world and you are stuck looking at someone else's drawings checking for mistakes, then you aren't going to rank high on the satisfaction scale.

The second thing this question does is create a point of departure to have a meaningful conversation with your employee population. If they aren't getting the opportunity to do what they could be doing, what's missing? Are there opportunities to improve the way resources are allocated?

The beauty of this question is that it doesn't require a survey to get this information. It can happen naturally as managers are having one-on-one meetings with their people.

Each manager should have a good handle of two things that are specific to each individual in their group:

-- Talents - What does the employee see as his or her set of unique skills? Whether learned through formal education or on the job training.

Most people have a pretty good handle on this. We've all received feedback about it throughout our careers. Bosses, co-workers, parents and others will have commented on what it is you are really good at.

-- Interests/Passions - This one is a little harder to get a handle on. What is it that really captures the imagination of your employee?

Is there something that they go home at night and do extra research on? Are they working on a side project that fills a need to accomplish something? The things that energize the individual to give extra effort are the things that describe their interests and passions.

The combination of these talents and passions are what make up the unique set of capabilities that each employee brings to the organization. This is what they are reporting on when they answer the question about utilization.

Both need to be present or there is a feeling that something is missing in what they do.

Managers who have a good handle on the capabilities of each of their employees then can be on the lookout for opportunities to engage the individual in meaningful work. This third component, the needs of the organization, provides the opportunity to find a stretch assignment and fully engage your talent.

l Tim Sieck, with more than 25 years of organizational experience with Fortune 500 companies, writes about leadership and career development; @tsieck