Unfortunately, according to a Dale Carnegie survey of more than 1,500 employees, fully 71% are not engaged. Employee engagement does not need to be elusive or expensive, but it does require thought and action.
The most engaged employees understand the strategy that is driving the business. They have insight into the immediate and longer term goals and key objectives. They also understand how their work is aligned with the overall strategy.
Employees who feel like they are walled off from senior leadership or other areas of the company are likely to become disengaged. Giving every person a window into the initiatives that are making the company better helps to keep them actively involved.
To truly keep employees engaged over the long term, employee engagement needs a structure. The right tools can help managers measure engagement and recognize both engaged and disengaged team members.
One of the most powerful phrases in English is, “I hope you can help me.” Challenge your employees to solve your biggest problems by asking them to help. Not only might you find creative ideas to resolve seemingly intractable problems, but you’ll also increase employee investment in the outcome.
Perhaps the most powerful of these employee engagement ideas is to empower action by employees. This means removing unnecessary process or policies that prevent employees from solving problems on their own. It also means making necessary resources available to act on the best employee ideas.
Often employees have ideas that can be useful to parts of the business outside their specific role. If you have followed the first and second of these employee engagement ideas, your employees know your corporate goals and what others are working on. Give them the opportunity to provide constructive comments and suggestions even when they aren’t directly working on a particular problem.
Employees crave informative feedback about their performance. In fact, lack of feedback is often listed among the reasons employees leave companies. Be sure to recognize and reward the most engaged employees and provide course corrections to those who are not.
It is important for employees to know exactly how their work has contributed toward reaching a goal or solving a problem. Engagement is increased when there is a clear path between employee action and company success.
Employee engagement is an important responsibility of company leadership at all levels. Using these employee engagement ideas can go a long way toward harnessing your most powerful resource and taking your organization to new heights.