In the upcoming book, Becoming TIGERS – Leading Your Team to Success, our protagonist, Derek, struggles to create high employee engagement. Not only does he fail to improve engagement, he is the cause for several employees to quit. The result is a final warning and a weekend to self reflect on how to turn himself around.
Can you relate to Derek? Do you find yourself struggling to create high employee engagement within your company? Here are a few ideas on how to improve your performance.
Change your performance from manager to coach in order to spike high employee engagement.
According to Gallup, the best organizations develop leaders who encourage their teams to solve employee problems at the level they occur rather than using top-down commands and direction. How? They focus their training and development programs on building sincere, frank and forthright conversations among both managers and their team members.
This form of training promotes engagement that helps team members identify their communication strengths and weaknesses. Not only does this build employee performance and skill levels, it also creates stronger bonds between managers and those they lead.
For example, in the TIGERS 6 principles Genuineness micro-training series. leaders and employees learn about their own strengths and weaknesses through a time tested communications assessment. They also learn the following:
- How to confront adverse behavior when they experience it.
- How to transform old communication habits that improve self-esteem in self and others.
- How to say what needs to be said without shame, blame and guilt.
- How to better understand the needs and thinking styles of others to produce respectful outcomes from feedback sessions.
- How to give and receive feedback that builds and improves both self-esteem and performance.
Working together to tailor trainings to employee needs engages employees and positively changes company culture. The manager becomes less of a boss and more of a coach or guide for the team.
Supply your company with the right tools that encourage high employee engagement.
One of the many questions you should ask yourself is if your employees have the tools they need to be successful. While this may not be a problem in smaller companies, larger organizations may struggle to accomplish tasks because the employees are lacking the tools that would simplify and enhance procedures.
With organizations becoming more complex, employees require helpful tools. If your employees are constantly struggling to adapt or operate, it may be a sign that your company tools need to be updated. Perhaps your employees are disengaging due to ongoing work-related frustrations.
Make sure your employees feel seen and heard in order to support high employee engagement.
A challenging, but sure way to boost employee engagement is to match employees with projects they feel most confident and comfortable tackling. For example, sticking a new hire into a project that requires him to frequently speak in front of large groups of people, may not be the best fit if he lacks training and confidence in public speaking.
On the other hand, if you recognize that this new hire feels most comfortable performing a desk job, that’s probably where you will see him most engaged and excited about his work. Then reserve stretch opportunities until the employee is successfully onboarded. You will be able to learn more about the career aspirations of that employee through your one-on-one conversations. Learn first, what the employee desires in their career development before throwing him off the boat to sink or swim.
Especially in large organizations, but also in smaller ones, too, be sure to find out what each of your employees wants. Although simple, taking the time to visit with employees does motivate them to do better work and complete tasks more efficiently. This leads to satisfaction and with satisfaction comes higher engagement.
Give frequent recognition, praise, and trust to boost high employee engagement.
Successful managers are actively engaged with their teams. They hold discussions, meetings, and involve everyone in finding solutions. While this is not a complex ideal, it must be prioritized in order for high employee engagement. Managers who strive to recognize their hard-working, capable employees quickly find themselves surpassing competitors’ engagement rates.
Today’s employees desire regular feedback, constructive criticism, and earned praise. In doing this, you will not only build your trust in your employees, but also encourage it from them. Employees who know they are trusted and valued have a purpose…and with this purpose comes higher engagement.
Giving employees a clear idea of how they fit into your company and mission is a wonderful way to encourage employee engagement. Even small changes can generate a large impact.
Additional resources that spike high employee engagement.
The following articles and training take this conversation further:
- 4 Factors Driving Record-High Employee Engagement in U.S.
- 7 Tips to Increase Employee Engagement Without Spending a Dime
- Proven Methods to Increase Employee Engagement in the Workplace Powerful Steps to Improve Employee Engagement
Training resources:
- Becoming TIGERS – Leading Your Team to Success
- TIGERS Micro-Training
- If you liked what you read here, subscribe here to get our latest ideas on how to lead and build effective teams.
Copyright TIGERS Success Series, Inc. by Dianne Crampton
About TIGERS Success Series, Inc.
About TIGERS Success Series, Inc.Why guess what is needed for workforce development when it is completely unnecessary? Our mission is to improve the world of work for millions of employees while their organizations thrive. We accomplish this with a researched and validated comprehensive, robust system for improving both your work environment and profitability.
We specialize in developing high performance work cultures. Scaled to grow with you, our proprietary Team Behavior Profile, consulting and group facilitation services, and online TIGERS micro training packages are based on the six principles we have found to be the right mix to make this happen. Invite us to present at your next conference or association meeting.
