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The Four C's of Employee Engagement
February 17, 2009
En•gage•ment (in-'gaj-ment): The extent to which people value, enjoy and believe in what they do
By Lisa Massiello
Dr. Bob Nelson stated, "You get the best effort from others, not by lighting a fire beneath them, but building a fire within." As leaders during a time of change and chaos, this is more important than ever. Many companies today are changing, merging and even failing, which is impacting our employed talent.
A recent study by BlessingWhite shows that a mere 29 percent of employees in the workforce are truly engaged and 19 percent are actively disengaged. It is imperative that leaders take the necessary steps to engage their employees, as studies confirm the correlation of employee engagement to corporate performance (productivity, retention, customer service and loyalty).
On top of everything else, one of the biggest challenges that leaders face today is how to effectively motivate and engage their employees. Here are four ways leaders can build an engaged and motivated team:
Connect. Employee engagement is about the relationship between a team member and his or her boss. Leaders, supervisors and managers need to listen to and take an interest in their employees. Listen to what is on their minds. Leaders who make themselves available to employees, allowing them an opportunity to share their concerns, are developing a culture of trust.
Encourage your employees to talk openly about what is on their mind, as this will lessen the anxiety that grows when rumors are spreading from individual to individual. Clarifying inaccurate information will help employees feel more secure. It is also vital to pay attention to and understand your own actions. During these difficult times, employees look to their leadership for stability and assurance. If they see their leadership is worried or checked out, they will follow suit.
Challenge. Help your employees tackle new challenges and learn to handle change. As a leader, provide challenging or new projects to your teammates, or have them shadow other employees to learn other positions within the organization. Lunch-n-Learn meetings are another way to hold training sessions for employees that are interested in learning new tools or improving their knowledge base. Ask an employee who excels in a specific business tool to share his or her knowledge during one of these sessions. This would recognize the employee's talent and increase the knowledge base of other employees. The willingness of teammates to grow and learn also promotes innovation and creativity in the workforce.
Communicate. Ensure that the organization's vision and goals are clearly communicated to your employees. Employees need to understand how their role is linked to the organization's overall goals. Developing a way to help align the employee’s goals to the organizations, as well as a way to provide feedback, helps the employee feel valued. Understanding the many different tools for communicating will help ensure your employees are receiving vital and accurate information in a timely manner.
Townhall meetings are a great way to spread the same message to many different teammates. Many leaders in our organization host "Coffee Chats," where they host hour-long meetings with 15 to 20 team members in attendance. During these informal "chats" the individuals are provided an opportunity to discuss issues, share concerns or escalate problems, as well as receiving an update on the organization and/or division. These meetings allow employees to spend time with leadership and know they are a part of the bigger organization.
Celebrate. Take every opportunity to reward and recognize your employees. Low budget, informal programs are just as important as larger, formal ones. One team wanted to acknowledge the work of their teammates, so note cards were distributed to all managers and supervisors, and the request was made to have each of them to write a personal "With Appreciation" message to their direct reports. Overall, nearly 7,000 hand-written notes were distributed in a two-week period. Many employees posted their notes in their cubicles and some even took them home to share.
Establishing a peer-to-peer recognition program enables teammates to recognize one another by reinforcing behaviors reflecting your organization’s vision and culture. Leaders can share recognition at staff meetings or directly with the employee. Recognition reinforces the employee's understanding that what they do matters. Recognition Professionals International's (RPI) research findings show that formal, informal and day-to-day recognition programs, when linked to the organization's values and goals, can create a culture of recognition that enhances employee engagement, performance and retention.
In December, Wachovia's peer-to-peer program, Shared Success®, saw an increase of approximately 10,000 awards generated by teammates. This increase occurred while Wachovia was going through its own challenges with the pending acquisition by Wells Fargo and reinforces the organization’s culture of recognition and engagement.
"C" Is for Commitment
Ultimately the leadership team within an organization holds the key to engaging and motivating their teammates. Keeping employees engaged and committed during these difficult times is now more important than ever. The "seat warmers" are the employees that are doing only what they need to each day to get their job done, but they are not engaged. This is the real challenge managers face daily.
The goal of a successful organization is to have their employees productive, focused on customer service, advocates for the company and to be more committed to their work. This in turn becomes a win-win for both the organization and employee. To ensure and maintain employee engagement, leaders must know what factors influence an employee's sense of involvement, motivation and commitment to their job and to the organization. This doesn't happen by chance, it takes great leaders to develop engaged employees.
Editor's Note: Read all of the strategies and best practices from Incentive's Survival Guide at www.incentivemag.com/survivalguide. New articles daily!
Lisa Massiello is vice president of employee engagement & recognition at Wachovia Corporation and executive vice president for Recognition Professionals International (RPI).
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