Your teams are working. But are they engaged?

Targets are met. Procedures are followed. Nobody asks questions. Here is a team that runs smoothly… or a team that has learnt to keep quiet.

In the American science-fiction series Severance, Lumon Industries takes this ambiguity to the point of absurdity. Its employees have undergone a procedure that separates their work memories from their personal lives. At the office, they know nothing of their existence outside. Once they leave, they have no recollection of their working day.

The series, whose second season was released in 2025, turns the codes of corporate life into a thriller. Behind the immaculate corridors and dutiful smiles, it raises a very practical question: what is left of engagement when employees are expected to carry out tasks without understanding them?

A few scenes from the series offer a fresh angle on our management habits. No need to install a Lumon lift in your offices.

Hitting targets without knowing what they are for

Mark Scout leads a small team at Lumon. The work is clearly defined, instructions exist and results are monitored. Yet the purpose of what they do escapes them. They know what they have to do; understanding why is another matter.

This situation echoes teams that receive one objective after another without knowing the logic behind them. Speed up turnaround this week, improve quality the next, cut costs after that. Each request may be justified. How they fit together is not always clear.

For a manager, explaining the purpose of the work means making trade-offs understandable. What takes priority when an urgent case lands? Why does this project come before another? What impact will the team’s work have on a client or another department?

Try this: at your next team meeting, pick one objective and ask each person to explain what it contributes to. If the answers differ, clarify the direction before adding a new indicator.

A smile does not make control more acceptable

Seth Milchick embodies an unsettling form of authority: studied politeness, measured enthusiasm and constant supervision. At Lumon, courtesy can sit perfectly well alongside control.

In the workplace, the gap shows when a manager invites employees to take the initiative, then insists on approving every detail. Or when they encourage honest feedback but become defensive as soon as a comment bothers them.

Teams end up working out how much room for manoeuvre they really have. They may keep taking part in meetings while saving their ideas and objections for corridor conversations.

Try this: choose a decision your team can make without your approval. Set out the limits, the resources available and the point at which a flag needs to be raised. Then let them decide, even if they choose a different method from yours.

Rewards: are you missing the point when motivating your teams?

At Lumon, recognition comes partly through carefully organised rewards and celebrations. The series makes these small privileges as comical as they are disquieting.

The parallel is easy to spot: a social event offered to a team that mainly wants stable priorities; public praise for someone hoping for career progression; an extra challenge for employees who are already overstretched.

A kind gesture can be welcome and still leave the problem untouched. And two people in the same role may expect different things from their manager: autonomy, specific feedback on their work, a chance to learn, greater clarity about their future.

Try this: in your next one-to-one, ask: ‘What would make you want to invest more of yourself in your work right now?’ Ask them to illustrate their answer with a recent situation. You will come away with a more useful lead than a catalogue of rewards chosen on their behalf.

Does a strong culture leave room for disagreement?

Lumon has its rituals, its rules and its founding story. Everything seems designed to remind employees that they belong to something larger than themselves. The cohesion it expects leaves little room for questioning.

For managers, this is an invitation to examine what the word ‘buy-in’ really covers. Is an employee who questions a method lacking commitment? Or are they trying to prevent a mistake that nobody wants to see?

A team can share a goal while debating how to reach it. That only works if the manager visibly acts on objections. Thanking someone for their candour, then routinely ignoring their comments, quickly teaches the limits of the exercise.

Try this: before signing off on an important decision, ask: ‘What could make us fail?’ Then come back to the risks raised and explain what you are taking from them. Disagreement becomes a contribution to the team’s work.

Your team is meeting its targets. How does it see what comes next?

An employee may hit their targets while feeling they are standing still. Another may enjoy working with their team but want to change roles. Results give a reading of their contribution; they say less about what makes them want to keep going.

As annual appraisals approach, these aspirations deserve as much attention as a look back at the year. What would the person like to discover? Which skills would they like to make more use of? What is holding back their development today?

These conversations can bring to light options that had gone largely unnoticed: a cross-functional assignment, a development path or internal mobility. The next step is to match the aspirations expressed with competencies, potential and the real opportunities within the organisation.

Key Predict assessment tools can enrich this process by providing insight into the motivations, competencies and development paths to explore with each employee.

The annual appraisal then takes on a broader scope: after looking back at what has been achieved, it becomes a way to build a future that everyone wants to contribute to.