We hear about employee engagement a lot these days. But what is it really and why does it matter? Searching on the internet provides a variety of explanations. Wikipedia, for example, explains that employee engagement is a business management concept and that:
“An “engaged employee” is one who is fully involved in, and enthusiastic about their work, and thus will act in a way that furthers their organization's interests.”
Scarlett Surveys offers the following definition:
“Employee Engagement is a measurable degree of an employee's positive or negative emotional attachment to their job, colleagues and organization that profoundly influences their willingness to learn and perform at work”.
Perhaps a more straightforward explanation is that Employee Engagement is simply a company's attempt to “metricize” culture. The long-standing belief that you improve what you measure comes into play to here. By focusing culture down to a measurable metric management believes that it can impact culture. The truth of the matter is that the only people who can truly impact culture are the same people who administer the “test”; management.
In order to improve your company's culture, I offer you three ways that are within your immediate control. If followed, they will begin to improve your company's culture in ways the engagement survey won't begin to touch because when it comes to culture actions truly do speak louder than words.
3 WAYS TO GET YOUR EMPLOYEES ENGAGED
Treat your employees the way you want to be treated
The golden rule comes to play here and yes it is that simple. While this rule should be simple to implement I believe that at times it is not easy to do. Even someone managing in the middle is held accountable to metrics and it is easy to forget that there are people in your organization who can and do impact those metrics.
At a senior leadership level, the discussion of metrics is commonplace.
Senior leadership by virtue of their positions talk metrics versus people. Because of this, it is easy to disassociate themselves from the “people side” of business. It is important to remember that while metrics may tell external people about the performance of your business, it is the people within the business that make it successful.
Here is a good test to determine your own level of engagement with your employees. How much time do you spend discussing employee development and succession plans versus the metrics to which they are held accountable? Taking care of your employees is paramount to the success of your business. What do you spend most of your time talking or thinking about?
Communication
This one should be as self-explanatory as the first method but yet seems to be the most often overlooked. Most senior leaders when they see “communication” as an area of low scores on the employee engagement survey immediately correlate this with standing in front of a podium every quarter and explaining company performance.
While this is a worthwhile endeavor and should be done to help show progress to your Vision it is not the type of communication that your employees want and in fact need.
The type of communication your employees crave is more personal than prepared speeches and podiums. They want to feel important, empowered and most of all they want to feel like they are contributing in a meaningful way.
This is where culture starts in a company and it comes from personal interaction not from behind a podium. Helping your employees draw a clear link between their daily activities and the overall goals of the company is the type of communication they want and need to hear.
Recognition
All employees go to work to do the best job they can and when they do they should be recognized for their actions. I'm not talking about a plaque or an award. A simple “nice job” will do. As a senior leader, you have the ability to motivate employees far more than you can imagine.
Employees want to know where they stand in the organization. Are they well thought of by their peers, their supervisor, and upper management? If you are a senior leader and want your employees engaged go talk to them.
An “atta boy” by a senior leader to someone two or three steps below them in an organization can inspire and empower your employees to a far greater degree than the results of any survey. When was the last time you told someone who did not report to you that they did a good job?
That they are valuable to the organization in some specific way? Try it. You'll be surprised at what begins to happen inside your company.
Do you doubt that any of this will make a difference? If so, take a minute and put yourself in your employee's shoes. Do you believe that the folks on the lower rungs of your organization understand how their activities relate to your vision?
Do you think you communicate enough to them personally not from behind a podium? When you see them in the hallway on the way to the next meeting, do you seize the opportunity to deliver an Atta Boy?
Imagine for a minute, that you are two or three rungs down on the org chart. How would feel about the president or senior vice president of your organization stopped by your desk to tell you “nice work on project X”. Imagine what would happen to your metrics if all of your employees felt that way.
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