First things, first: what is employee engagement?
Employee engagement is a workplace approach to give employee members the motivation to do their best everyday. This can be achieved through shared goals and values, an enhanced sense of belonging and through team bonding activities in the workplace. Here we share three tips on improving engagement.
1) Take on the role as a coach position
Many businesses will have annual surveys asking about employee satisfaction. Managers and leaders then use those forms to evaluate how they’re running their business. Maria says that while some good quality surveys might be helpful, a lot of them don’t address the behavioural elements that the leaders in the business are exhibiting. Change always starts from the top, especially in employee engagement.
Maria says: “For me, one of the most powerful ways to drive employee engagement is to take a leader coach position. We sometimes have this superhero complex where we think as leaders, need to provide all the answers when, in actuality, we need people to get more engaged.”
That means asking them the questions and allowing them the space and opportunity to come up with solutions themselves. As a leader, you should be assimilating all that information and simply setting the direction.
She continues: “One of the things I struggle with is that I’m a high energy person and always want to talk too much, rather than posing a question at a team meeting and letting others start the conversation and being comfortable with the silence. There needs to be that piece about drawing in that engagement and giving people permission to openly share their truth. Sometimes as a leader, we haven’t given people permission to share with us some kind of unsavoury ideas. Sometimes, they’ll just mirror what we want to hear, so you need to challenge them.”
This type of self-awareness will allow you to act as a coach rather than a director. You’ll need to ask people for opinions, get feedback consistently and develop a sense of self awareness of your own leadership style.
Maria recalls one of her old bosses who would come into the office with his coffee and go straight into his office. He would often tell people he was always too busy and under pressure to speak with them.
She says: “What he didn’t realise is that he was giving off that vibe. He was creating a ripple for people in the room. That’s what I mean about self-awareness.”
2) Don’t play the blame game
In psychologically safe teams, employees feel accepted and respected in the workplace. Studies have shown that psychologically safe teams perform better because they feel like they’re in a space where they can make mistakes. This allows for more risk-taking, speaking your mind, and sharing your authentic ideas without fear of it being criticised. This is why it’s essential to watch the language you’re using with your employees. On top of frequent catch-ups, you should also be addressing how you’re speaking to your employees. Do they appear nervous or anxious at all?
Maria says: “I think that companies that aren’t adopting that feel safe mentality will really struggle because who would want to take a risk and make improvement? In agile, we have a retrospective at the end of the project, and it’s a very non-judgemental way of looking at what went well and what didn’t go well.”
Maria found that when they were doing regular learning reviews, it focused on what they’ve done as a whole and how they can improve moving forward. It wasn’t about attributing blame.
Three questions she’s used before include:
- What went well during the last sprint?
- What didn’t go well during the last sprint in terms of processes, tools, practicalities and outcomes?
- What should we do differently in the next sprint?
She points out: “It’s important to start on a positive note with the first question. The second question should focus on examining what went wrong in terms of processes and tools without finger pointing at individuals.”
3) Create a shared purpose
Giving tasks out on a daily basis is fine, but make sure you’re giving your employees the long-term goals that you’re all working towards. Let them know where you see the business a year from now and don’t be afraid to lay down the mission.
When you are assigning tasks out, regardless of how miniscule they might be, make sure you’re discussing the ‘why’ element. Why are they completing these tasks and how is it contributing to the bigger picture? Creating a shared purpose will allow your team to feel more united and engaged.
Equally important, be sure to engage with your employees about their own personal goals. Playing to their strengths will allow them to feel valued and respected as an employee. Maybe they want to grow within the company, and maybe they don’t, but provide the space for them to share their aspirations as well. You’ll be able to create a roadmap of how they can continue to grow regardless of where that might be.
Maria says: “When you create that space, you’ll also be attracting the right people in. At the end of the day, you want people to feel invigorated when they come into work.”
