Month: June 2021

Leave a comment Posted on Communication, decision making, Ownership, Professionalism, Success

Employee Engagement

How engaged are the employees at your organization?  In a Gallup survey for 2020, this is what they discovered:

Source:  https://www.gallup.com/workplace/313313/historic-drop-employee-engagement-follows-record-rise.aspx

This article makes great points.  From my experience and from talking with other leaders, employee engagement can be improved in multiple ways. 

Communication

Many surveys point to effective communication within organizations is lacking.  Top level leaders make decisions.  The expectation is that the next level down leaders will receive this communication and then share it down the line.  But that assumption is just that – an assumption.  Many times, the message is not shared with all employees.  Then a change takes place (that was to have been communicated) and the team at large ends up confused and frustrated.

Employees want to be in the know.  Communication helps connect employees to the mission.  And when that happens, engagement is more likely to happen. 

Training

Employees desire to be competent in their jobs.  Training and ongoing refresher training will help engage employees by giving them what they need – tools to do their jobs professionally and effectively.  Training should produce results to the company’s bottom line.

Training needs to be relevant.  Trainers, especially those outside of your department, need to know the current issues your team faces enabling training to become meaningful.  Trainers can and should partner with management to ensure job performance goals are in line with the training provided. Training is not an isolated event.  Training must lead to improved results.  Trainers train.  Managers measure the effectiveness of that training by observing their team executing what they learned.  Feedback should be sought out by the trainers and the managers should be providing relevant observations to make sure that the proper results are happening. 

Voice of the Employee

Employee engagement can rise when the team is given an opportunity to provide their voice within projects and company-wide initiatives. Ask for this.  Expect it.  Set the expectations on how their voices will be used.  The team can have a voice in a process even though the “vote” will be made by organization higher level leaders. 

Is a new vendor being vetted?  Involve key stakeholders in the process.  Allow them to “kick the tires”, ask questions, reach out to get references, sit in on RFP presentations.  Allow them to submit their feedback.  Then the C-suite execs can make a more informed decision.  And the team will know their voice was heard creating more engagement.

It is not realistic to think your organization will see 100% in employee engagement.  But how would your company function if you moved the engagement level from 30% to closer to 50%?   That exponential engagement will see new ideas, project involvement, diverse points of view all come to fruition.  Is there a downside to that? 

Leave a comment Posted on Coaching, Communication, Development, Ownership, Passion

Taking a Moment to Connect

I am working near one of my groups this week. About 30 minutes ago, one of our newest team members walked up and asked if he could chat. He wanted to tell me what he was learning from a book I bought for him a month ago. He also asked what activities I had been involved with recently. I shared with him my experiences with our local Chamber of Commerce annual meeting as well as the leadership networking group I co-founded with my brother (www.firstfridaysfw.org). We talked of attending events together to get some networking experience under his belt.

Just a few moments, I was reminded of the power of staying close to your teams. I currently work in another building or at home most of the time. But this brief encounter reminded me how much touch points such as this one charges my batteries. Question: what do you do to connect with your teams?

1 Comment Posted on Coaching, Communication, Development, Leadership, Ownership

Where Ideas Come From

Back in February, I challenged one of my teams with an initiative. I required each of them to share 1 idea or 1 area of improvement within our department and/or company. I created a OneNote folder where they would share these things every week. They had to include their name for accountability purposes.

Some took to the challenge immediately and some really great things are in motion today to bring their ideas to life. Some thought they really didn’t have any ideas. But through our 1-on-1 sessions when I got them thinking and talking, ideas flowed.

“But that’s a pretty small thing,” one team member told me after sharing an idea. And I reminded them I wasn’t looking for a cure for cancer. Just simple ideas that would help create less friction or would help others understand a necessary process better or that would create a better customer experience is what we were looking for. Small steps in the right direction compound to have a significant impact in the long run.

Do you know that your team has more to contribute? Do you know they have experiences that are extremely valuable and can be leveraged? Do you believe that ideas should come from all areas of your organization, not just the executive levels?

Give your team a challenge, encourage their participation, and watch them grow. You will see collaboration. You will see people stretching beyond their comfort zone. You will hear some pretty great ideas that you’ve never considered before.

And your team member, you, and your organization will become better as a result.

How to help a New Team Member | Team quotes, Business quotes, Leadership quote

Leave a comment Posted on Character, Communication, Passion

Trust & Vulnerability

So a manager you lead approaches you to say they need time off to deal with significant family issues. You can hear the tension in their voice. What do you do?

  1. Listen to them. Hear their emotion. Accept that emotion.
  2. Ask appropriate questions. “Are you worried about work?” “What can I do to help you and your family during this time?” Connect with your team member.
  3. Feel. Feel what they are feeling. If you are not an emotional person, that’s ok. Work hard to empathize with them. They need to know you understand (even in part) what they are going through.
  4. Think. Think of actionable things YOU can do to make them feel less guilty about work, take the load off of their shoulders and place the work load on you and their team members. It’s not a forever thing, but you can communicate and demonstrate “we are here for you” during this difficult time.
  5. Act. Set up a time to meet prior to their leave of absence to plan the course of action.
  6. Follow-up/Follow-through. Keep the communication going for the entire team. Touch base with this team member.

This is a crucial time to communicate how much you value your team member. Difficult times come – that’s life. But with some intention, care and concern, as well as humanity, you help your team member navigate through their current stormy waters.

If you have built trust within your team, this is a critical time to put that to the test. Allow vulnerability. Allow tears. Encourage communication and promise it. Be human.

VULNERABILITY QUOTES [PAGE - 22] | A-Z Quotes