Increase performance through employee engagement
An old gent who was sweeping a hangar the size of a football field was asked what his job was and replied “I help put men into space”
With the current economic condition, many organizations have been forced to cut costs and reduce staffing levels. These kinds of business decisions can affect the remaining employee’s ability to stay positive and not focus on the negative.
The purpose of employee engagement
When employees are engaged they are emotionally attached to the vision of the organization. They believe in what they do, the organization’s vision and the direction the organization is going. Employees who are engaged put their heart and soul into their job and have the energy and excitement to give more than is required of the job. Engaged employees are committed and loyal to the organization.
But it is apparently still a topic that employers and employees alike think they understand, yet can’t articulate very easily:
Source: Dilbert
How to foster employee engagement?
Here are some tips:
Mission, vision and strategy
Have a well defined mission, vision and strategy that all employees buy into. Organizational leadership is responsible for communicating the vision and keeping it in front of the employees. Employees should be able to recite these statement and why the organization does what it does
Communication
Good communication within the organization can be one of the most important things an organization can do to foster employee engagement.
Employees have an interest in what is going on within the organization. They desire to know how the organization is doing financially, how corporate objectives are being accomplished and how what they do contributes to achieving corporate objectives
Team environment
Create a strong team environment. Strong employee engagement is dependent on how well employees get along, interact with each other and participate in a team environment
Culture of trust
Create a culture of trust. Employees need to trust each other as well as their leadership. Employees are constantly watching leadership to see how their decisions affect the strategic direction of the organization and if their behaviors reflect what they say
Valued part of the organization
Employees need to feel validated and that they are a valued part of the organization. Leadership needs to show how much they care for their employees and show recognition for efforts: “If you want something to grow, pour champagne on it”
Part of the process
Employees need to feel like they are part of the process, that their thoughts and ideas matter and that they have a voice in how their work is performed
What is expected
Employees need to know what is expected of them and need to be given the training, tools and resources to accomplish their goals. They need to be held accountable for achieving their goals.
How to ensure successful performance measurement?
Top-performing organizations understand that employee engagement is a force that drives performance outcomes. But successful measurement systems – systems that energize and actually do what they’re supposed to do, which is boost performance – is often hard to find. Do a little performance measurement of your own: Assess it against this checklist.
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I appreciate your post on employee engagement and can find relation to this through both my work and current studies. I understand that people don’t care what you think until they think that you care and this is the cornerstone of engagement. I am currently studying about the communicative actions that are necessary for progress and this is what is defined as the “Unity of Contraries” (Buber, 1948). For this to exist in business there must be a clear sense of direction while being able to adjust or change when the environment necessitates this. As a manager I have found over the years that employees are much more likely to execute on the goals of the business if they can first understand the why. Further, if they are able to be part of the action plan for change then the chance of success increases ten-fold. I have always been in an organization which states clear goals and consistently dissects the results and when changes need to be made, they are. The most difficult times of my career have been the brief periods of time where there was a transition of leadership and a sense of direction was missing. This lack of engagement not only affected the results of the company, I noted a decrease sense of job satisfaction. This is a code which exists in an organization that is use to success and in turn this breads more success. Thanks for your post!
John Miller
Graduate Student
Drury University
Reference
Buber, M. (1948). Israel and the world. New York: Schocken.