Three employee engagement strategies that every leader must know

 
Three Employee engagement strategies and Employee engagement importance every leader must know.

The business world today is challenging. Global competition, flatter organizations, the fast pace of change, the scarcity and competition for good talent, continuous disruptions, and so on are just some of the challenges. The acronym VUCA nicely describes the current business environment – Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous. A VUCA world creates both opportunities and risks.

 

 

 
Why is employee engagement important?

 
Large companies today have equal access to capital, technology, talent, or other resources. What, then, is the differentiating factor? What makes the difference is whether the company can engage the workforce to put in the discretionary effort. We all have heard the famous phrase – “people are our greatest assets.” While it may have been an excellent slogan for Human Resources or C-suite executives in the past, it is absolutely true in today’s business environment. People will be the greatest assets of any company – as long as they are engaged!

 
We have moved from the factory and mass production of the industrial age to today’s knowledge economy and knowledge work. The 20th-century paradigms of command and control or carrot and stick management approach are becoming outdated and ineffective. Companies realize that they need to develop a new kind of relationship with employees. Employees aren’t merely replaceable cogs in the machinery but valued, respected, and contributing partners. Companies know that to deliver business results, they need engaged employees. Hence business strategy must include ways first to establish a culture of high employee engagement.

 

Read:  Diversity and inclusion at the workplace

 

What is employee engagement?

 
The concept of employee engagement is relatively new. Before the late ’90s, hardly anyone used the term employee engagement. Back in the ’60s or ’70s, organizations thought that people worked only for salary and benefits. Obviously, this line of thinking is now outdated. Employees do care about pay and benefits. But employee engagement takes a lot more than just financial benefits. Today there is a shortage of talent in many specialized fields.

Employees can choose where they want to work for similar pay and benefits. Employees consider the values, culture, growth opportunities, and many other factors before deciding to join a company. Companies have to work hard to create an environment that engages employees. Not doing so can be costly. Companies will not attract and retain the top talent. This has high financial and opportunity costs.

 

 

Employee engagement definition
 

Here are a few employee engagement definitions:
 

“The extent to which the employees thrive at work, are committed to their employer and are motivated to do their best, for the benefit of themselves and their organization.” – Stairs.

 

“Engaged employees are those who are “mentally and emotionally invested in their work and in contributing to their employer’s success” Czarnowsky.

 
Employee engagement is a relationship between the organization and the employee. It involves both the attitude and the behavior of the employees.

 
Employee engagement is not the same as employee satisfaction. A company may be able to raise the employee satisfaction level through financial rewards. But it may be costly, raise expectations, create complacency and instill an entitlement mentality.

 

Companies cannot buy employee engagement with money! They have to earn it through the behaviors and climate those behaviors create.

 

Employee engagement importance

 
Here is a list of attitudes and behaviors exhibited by engaged employees

 
· Are committed to the organization
· Are positive about the job and take pride in working at the company
· Treat other employees with respect
· Put is discretionary efforts
· Stay longer with the company
· Care for the greater good and not just personal benefits
· Look for opportunities to learn, grow and improve their performance

 

What does DIS-engagement look like?
 

On the other hand, take a look at these behaviors of disengaged employees.

 
· Lack of discretionary effort (do enough not to get fired!)
· No initiatives, no sticking their necks out
· Lack of communication and helpful feedback
· Defensive and disruptive behaviors
· Self-interest ahead of the great good of the team or company
· Increased bureaucracy and friction
· Conflicts and silo mentality
· Increased stress and low morale
· High attrition rates

 

Steven M R Coven nicely outlines the consequences of disengagement.

When the bond of trust is broken between the employee and the employer, speed goes down, and cost goes up.

Engaged employees increase the rate at which business gets done and reduce the cost of doing business. On the other hand, disengaged employees reduce speed and increase the cost of doing business.

 
Employee engagement importance – The business case

 

What company would not want their employees to exhibit the behaviors in this list routinely? But these are “soft” measures. Is there any hard evidence that employee engagement really matters?

 
· Highly engaged employees deliver 26 percent higher employee productivity (SHRM, 2011a)
· Companies with top engagement scores are 21% more productive than those with low levels of engagement. (Gallup)
· Companies with top 25% engagement scores delivered 2.6 times earnings per share and 12% higher profitability than those in the bottom half of engagement scores. (Flade, 2006)
· Engaged employees deliver 44% more productivity than workers who merely feel satisfied (Bain & Company)
· Organizations with above-average employee engagement exceed the financial performance of their peers by 73% (Wharton)

 

Higher levels of employee engagement are correlated with a variety of positive business outcomes. Having engaged employees is a significant competitive advantage.

 
 
The current state of employee engagement in organizations

 
Gallup organization conducts annual employee engagement surveys around the world. Their latest State of the Global Workforce Report surveyed employees in 155 countries.

 

Only 15% of the global workforce is engaged. 85% of employees worldwide are not engaged or are actively disengaged in their job. 67% were not engaged, and 18% were actively disengaged. A disengaged workforce is a barrier to performance. An enormous amount of human potential is wasted.

 
The top 25% of the global engagement scores had 17% more productivity and 21% more profits than the companies in the bottom 25%.

 
Employee engagement levels are a deficient level worldwide. Cultivating employee engagement is a strategic advantage in a competitive business environment.

 
Read: Psychological safety at work – Why you need it and how to develop it

 
Three employee engagement strategies that every leader must know

 

Engaging employees takes time, effort, and commitment. But the efforts are worthwhile. Gallup’s State of Global Workforce found these factors common in organizations that maintain a high employee engagement level. These are the three employee engagement strategies that every leader needs to know.

 

 
Employee engagement strategy 1: A clear and straightforward approach to performance management

 

Companies that have high levels of employee engagement use intrinsic motivators routinely. Intrinsic motivators like recognition, praise, valuing the employee’s contribution are part of the performance management process.

They also take the performance conversations approach instead of once-a-year performance management.

They schedule regular coaching conversations between the manager and employees that help the employee stay the course and stay motivated. They do not focus much on vanity metrics and employee engagement scores for the sake of measurement.

They understand that these surveys barely scratch the surface of how engaged the employees are. It is the simple approach to managing performance that drives results and engagement.

 
 
Employee engagement strategy 2: Managers are held accountable for both engagement and performance

 

Gallup found that 70% of the variance in employee engagement scores can be attributed to the manager. In organizations with lower employee engagement scores, managers are held accountable for results only. Often it results at the cost of employee engagement. Short-term focus on outcomes usually costs a lot in the long term due to employee engagement loss.

 
Progressive companies hold managers accountable for both performance and engagement. They put it in black and white as the key performance indicators – based upon which the manager’s performance is evaluated. The company also invests in regular training and coaching of the managers to make them aware and support them in changing their approach and managing them more effectively.

 
 
Employee engagement strategy 3: Engagement starts at the top

 

High levels of engagement are seldom an accident. It is a result of the consistent commitment of the top leaders in the organization. The top leaders clearly understand that high performance is a clear result of highly engaged employees. Employee engagement is a strategic priority for them.

These leaders routinely identify and rectify barriers that stifle employee engagement. They are transparent, communicative, and open-minded in their approach. They work tirelessly to create a culture where the right people get hired and are motivated to do their best work.

 
Progressive leaders do not pass on the responsibility for employee engagement to the Human Resources department. They themselves take ownership and pride in cultivating engaged employees in their organization.

They consistently improve their own behaviors through feedback, self-reflection, and executive coaching. They then role model the right behaviors so they cascade down the line to the front-line employees.

 

Read: How to create and implement an organization-wide leadership development plan

 

Conclusion:

 
Employee engagement is a vast topic. But there are a few simple things that are key driving factors. The first factor is the leadership behaviors at the top. The second major factor is the behaviors of managers and team leaders.

When leaders role model and cascade the right behaviors, and when managers are held accountable for both business performance and employee engagement, they are on the right path to achieving high employee engagement levels.

Supporting the leaders and the managers through training and coaching is key to changing long-ingrained behaviors.

 

Read: Coaching achieves multiple talent development needs. 

 

 

Employee engagement strategies for your company

 

The leaders and managers are the key drivers of employee engagement and employee engagement importance. One of the best employee engagement strategies is to enroll your leaders and managers in our executive coaching and team coaching interventions.

Our NAL triple advantage coaching takes your leaders and managers through the process of awareness of their behaviors, acceptance of the need to improve specific behaviors and take consistent action toward achieving the goal of improved behaviors to increase employee engagement.

 
NAL Triple Advantage Leadership Coaching – your best employee engagement strategy

 

That delivers guaranteed and measurable leadership growth.  It is based on a stakeholder centered coaching process with a 95% effectiveness rate (in a study of 11000 leaders on four continents).  It is used by companies ranging from start-ups to 150 of the Fortune 500 companies to develop their leaders.

 
Here are some of the salient benefits of NAL Triple Advantage Leadership Coaching

 
Time and resource-efficient: The leader does not have to leave work to attend training programs.  We go to the leader and her team.  And it only takes 1.5 hours per month. The rest of the time, the leader is working to implement with her team.

 

Separate and customized improvement areas for each leader: Every leader is different.  One size fits all approach doesn’t work.  Individual development areas for each leader aligned to the business strategy.

 

Involves entire team: Unlike most leadership programs, NAL Triple Advantage Leadership Coaching involves the leader’s entire team, and it has a cascading effect – increasing the team effectiveness and improving organizational culture.

 

The leader becomes the coach: for continuous improvement for leaders themselves and their teams. It is like kaizen for your leadership development.

 

Cost-Effective: Our entire one-year coaching engagement often costs less than sending the leader to a short-duration leadership program at any reputed B school.

 

Guaranteed and measurable leadership growth: as assessed – not by us – but anonymously rated by the leader’s team members.

 

Pay us only after we deliver results! : We work with many of our clients on a pay for results basis.  What does it mean?  If the leaders don’t improve, you don’t have to pay us.
 

References

State of the Global Workplace: Gallup survey and Employee engagement importance

Why is Employee Engagement So Important?

5 reasons about employees engagement importance