Engagement Isn't a Happy Hour Problem: What Actually Drives Performance

Most companies measure engagement once a year and then throw a happy hour at the results. Seth Thomas, HR leader at Claris Health, argues that's exactly backwards — engagement lives in the 364 other days, not the survey or the social event. In this conversation, Kent and Seth dig into the real relationship between engagement and performance, why feedback culture is harder to build than it looks, and what leading a fully remote workforce of 30+ states has taught Seth about making connection feel less optional.Guest: Seth Thomas is an HR leader at Claris Health with a background in industrial-organizational psychology, focused on engagement, performance, and building feedback cultures inside software organizations.In this episode:01:49 — Seth's background: I/O psychology, MTSU grad school, and why he chose in-house HR over consulting06:32 — Why Seth sees engagement as a measure of culture, not just a survey score07:51 — Buffalo Wild Wings case study: tying engagement data directly to beer and wing sales10:29 — The biggest gap Seth sees: expectations and the cost of delayed feedback14:14 — Why managers know feedback matters and still don't give enough of it22:58 — Happy hours as attraction tools, not retention tools — and what actually moves the needle30:16 — Cross-functional tension in software teams and why your direct manager often isn't the person most affecting your engagement39:27 — Leading a fully virtual, 30-state workforce: cameras, recognition rhythms, and recreating the hallway bump44:58 — Advice for leaders looking to get promoted: your team's performance is your performance46:22 — Advice for newly promoted leaders: document, share expectations, and build real-time feedback loopsResources mentioned:Getting Things Done by David Allen — the two-minute rule and task capture system Seth referencesGallup engagement research — stat referenced: 75%+ of employees want feedbackCrucial Conversations / Crucial Feedback training (referenced by Claris Health's internal training team)Links for today's show:Seth Thomas on LinkedInKent Kniebel on LinkedInThe Promoted Leader ToolkitMusic for this podcast comes from a live recording of the song Needle & Thread and is provided with permission by Pert' Near Sandstone. Check them out on pertnearsandstone.com and on all major streaming platforms.Enjoyed the episode? Leave a rating and review wherever you listen — it helps more leaders find the show.