Keeping your team engaged is one of the most important roles of a leader. Employee engagement is directly linked to productivity, profitability, customer satisfaction and talent retention. Conversely, if there is disengagement, you need to dig deep to find the root causes.
Develop a Baseline Understanding or Employee Engagement
What exactly is causing your employees to be disengaged? Consider an annual engagement survey. Then, use people analytics to truly understand what drives your team members.
What Works – and What Doesn’t
Your survey results and other feedback will enable you to pinpoint specific problem areas and nail down engagement process improvements.
Here are some parameters that work:
- Give employees as much freedom as feasible regarding when, where, and how they work. Consider concepts such as: telecommuting, remote work and flexible hours. Provide a well-designed workplace with input from those who use it.
- Develop the ability for people to perform at their highest levels. Offer the best in training, development and professional growth opportunities. Present aspirational, but achievable goals.
- Help employees to feel connected to one another. This may include after-hours social events, company-sponsored activities or volunteering as a team in the community.
Among the leading factors threatening engagement are:
- Employees feeling they have to pretend they’re someone they’re not. Ouch. Keep a constant eye out for cultural fit and any related changes that need to be made.
- Working for a micromanager. People don’t just quit their jobs. They quit their bosses. Especially the ones who don’t exhibit trust and respect or have the confidence in them to step back and let them soar.
Never Stop Communicating
Communicating regularly with your employees helps ensure that you obtain individual buy-in, ensure clarity of business objectives, and minimize uncertainty and anxiety when changes do occur.
- Don’t assume employees have what they need, whether it’s tools, resources or support. Check in with them personally and regularly. Ongoing management feedback shows up consistently as a leading motivator and contributing factor to retention.
- Present your vision and keep employees in the loop. If there is any question or confusion about key company messages, redesign your media or the way information reaches your workforce.
- Be transparent. People naturally engage with leaders who share and hold themselves accountable. Senior executives and managers are responsible to not only fix problems, but also to take ownership. Then, others will want the same.
The workforce development leaders at Talent Bridge HR Advisory can help you develop your industry-leading strategy for ongoing employee engagement. Read our related posts or contact us today to learn more.