What should an organisation consider if it wants to improve its engagement with its employees?
Happy and productive people make a significant contribution towards the success of a business and the achievement of its goals. Every organisation requires the best from its employees and the more motivated and productive their workforce is, the more likely a business is to grow.
It is important to remember that employee engagement is not something that you can decide to introduce or impose from senior management downwards. Employee engagement is very much about creating a cultural shirt and potentially changing or improving the way in which an organisation behaves.
There are several essential ingredients that companies will need to consider if they are to improve employee engagement within their organisations:
Creating exceptional leaders.
Whilst engagement cannot be dictated from above, it is the responsibility of the business leaders to set out the framework for the future of the company and communicate this on an on-going basis to the teams in a way which is motivational, inspirational and relevant to ensure that they understand and buy into the vision they are looking to create.
Two-way communication.
As well as sharing the management’s vision and objectives for the company, it is vital that employees have a means by which they can provide feedback to their line manager. Involving staff in certain decision making is a useful motivational tool and giving staff a voice to share their views and suggestions can help identify where improvements can be made to processes, procedures or productivity.
Effective line management.
Being able to motivate a team to ensure that objectives are met is an essential skill for any manager, but the method and means by which they approach this is fundamental. People respond in very different ways and it is the responsibility of the manager to recognise, understand and adapt their behaviour accordingly. It is important that a business also places importance on skills such as listening and the ability to empower individuals if it is to achieve longer term success.
Trust.
It is imperative that senior managers only make promises to their employees that they can or intend to keep. Staff will quickly become dissatisfied if they feel their boss is not being genuine or is unlikely to keep to their word. Rewards must be clarified at the outset by what must be achieved for them to be received and the goals need to be attainable with the right training and support put in place.
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