Satisfied and engaged sound as if they are related, but they are not. A satisfied employee thinks things are fine as they are: a decent salary, nice colleagues, work that goes well. An engaged employee has energy, is dedicated and is completely absorbed in their work. They want to go further. According to Prof. Dr. Bas Kodden, that is exactly where the difference lies between an organisation that gets by and an organisation that really performs. Or as he puts it himself: "Satisfaction leads to results, engagement leads to ultimate results."
Prof. Dr. Bas Kodden is Professor of Leadership & Management Development at Nyenrode Business University and academic director of several leadership programmes there. Before moving into academia, he was CEO of the company he founded himself for more than twelve years. His books Word een HELD (Become a HERO), The Devil Inside and Rebelleren moet je faciliteren (Rebellion needs facilitating) together form a trilogy on sustainable performance. For Leiders.nl, he developed the Employee Engagement Survey (MBO). Nyenrode
Satisfied at the top of your own mountain
In Word een HELD, Kodden uses the image of a mountain. The satisfied employee sits at the top of their own mountain. The view is fine, but from the top it feels as if you can only go one way: down. So you hold on to what you have. The engaged employee believes that things can be better, higher and more beautiful, and actually enjoys the climb.
In a satisfaction survey, they both score nicely. In your results, you do see the difference. That is why Kodden is so critical of the classic employee satisfaction survey: "If satisfaction says anything at all, it says something about the past. Involvement already says something about the future, and engagement also shows how activated people are." Managementboek
So if you want to know who in your organisation is climbing and who stays sitting at the top, you need to measure something other than satisfaction. That is the idea behind the Employee Engagement Survey, the successor to the satisfaction survey. You can read more about that shift in our article on the employee satisfaction survey.
Many people do a bit of everything
According to the research, work engagement consists of three elements: vigor (energy and resilience), dedication (finding your work meaningful and being proud of it) and absorption (being so engrossed in your work that time flies). Kodden links that absorption to an attitude: continuously wanting to develop and improve yourself.
"If you do what you have always done, there is no improvement. Marshall Goldsmith, one of the best leadership coaches in the world, wrote a book about it: What got you here, won't get you there. Goldsmith is one of my heroes. Among other things, the book encourages people to gain knowledge outside their own field. I do that too. To improve my presentations, for example, I watch comedians and musicians. How do they come on stage? How do they work the audience? But I also learn from top coaches such as Toon Gerbrands and Robert Eenhoorn. Or I immerse myself in movement science and nutrition."
What is your higher purpose?
"It is important that you know what your higher purpose is: your never-ending task. If that isn't clear, you are shooting in the dark. The how can suddenly be different tomorrow, but the why remains. If you work on that purpose every day, you keep getting better at it. Then you eventually achieve something you thought would never happen.
That also means you have to let things go in other areas. Sven Kramer doesn't excel as a footballer either. Few people seek out that depth. Many people do a bit of everything."
What is your higher purpose? Kodden's is clear: turning talents into heroes. HELD, the Dutch word for hero, stands for Hoog Energieke Leidingnemende Doeners: high-energy doers who take the lead. Professionals who, full of vitality and dedication, shape their own future.
Vitality to perform
"When you do something without dedication and act on willpower, you are surviving instead of living. Willpower costs energy. Dedication comes from intrinsic motivation and actually gives you energy. People who are dedicated feel more vital and more comfortable in their own skin.
Nature has a wonderful metaphor for this. Look at a leopard lazing in the sun most of the time. The animal knows it only gets a few chances to catch its prey. To excel at those moments, it has to be in top form and rested. Elite sport is no different, and neither is business. As a manager, you ask far too much of yourself far too often. Be self-effective. Only then can you perform sustainably."
If I can't feel my calves, I haven't prepared properly
"I see a lot of CEOs and professionals who work too hard and are always present. When it really counts, at a presentation or an important conversation, they then score a 6 or a 7 out of 10. If you want to score that 9 or 10, don't keep rushing on. Plan time for recovery instead. Exercise, rest or practise mindfulness instead of sitting behind your desk all day. Perform, recover, improve.
When I have to give a presentation, I know exactly how many minutes I need to run beforehand. That gives me more energy and makes me come across as more energetic to my audience. The people in the room notice that immediately. If I can't feel my calves during a presentation, I haven't prepared well enough!"
Lead as a wolf
"The wrong leader is the kiss of death for a company. Three things ultimately determine sustainable team performance: energy, ownership and connection. As a leader, give your professionals the room to develop their talents. Don't keep stepping into their space to do it for them or to help them. I call that helping an excess of empathy. If, as a manager, you do everything yourself, people are no longer proud of the result. Their energy drops, and so does their sense of connection.
I also don't believe that as a leader you always have to be on the stage. That is ego. Lead as a wolf. At the back of the pack you can keep an eye on everything. Observe, sense the undercurrent and drive your people on when necessary. Inspire and confront. But often, as a leader, you don't need to be there at all. Step out as soon as you can!"
Kodden sums up this style as asking for results, giving direction and offering room. "The highest form of leadership is letting employees take the lead." Gallup's research also shows how decisive the manager is: according to Gallup, managers account for 70% of the variance in engagement between teams. Gallup
Oh well, I'm satisfied enough
The figures show how large the middle group is. In the Netherlands, according to Gallup, 14% of employees are engaged at work. 74% are not engaged: they do their work, but nothing more. Satisfied at the top of their own mountain, Kodden would say. Gallup
At the same time, many people burn out. In 2025, 20.7% of Dutch employees had burnout symptoms, roughly one in five. Among younger employees aged 25 to 34 it is even higher. VZinfo, NEA According to Kodden, this arises from having to do things you can't handle because you lack the knowledge and skills, but above all from a lack of energy sources.
At least as often, especially among young people, he sees bore-out. "Young, talented people who get too many standardised and repetitive tasks and are only rewarded for quantitative output. That is how you break people." You can read more about the difference between burning out and being engaged in burnout vs work engagement.
"We all have unique talents. It is wonderful when all those talents are fully used. You can't make a tortoise do the same as a leopard. A job in which that does happen leads at most to a feeling of: oh well, I'm satisfied enough, I have a decent income and a decent life. But what most people really want is an engaged life instead of a satisfied one!"
