Employee engagement is significantly down world-wide. In 2022, Gallup reported only 21% of employees felt engaged at work with 19% of employees reporting they were actively disengaged. (Gallup. State of the Global Workplace, 2022.) These statistics should be setting off alarm bells for employers and leaders alike.
Low engagement alone costs the global economy $7.8 trillion annually. There is a direct correlation between employee engagement, customer ratings, productivity, employee turnover and profitability.
Ignoring employee engagement is like turning a blind eye to bad customer reviews on Google. Your employees should be your #1 brand ambassadors, but disengaged employees can negatively impact both the customer and employee experience. Customers engaging with your company or organization will immediately pick up on low engagement. It shows up in how employees greet your clients or stakeholders, how they offer help and how much they show they care.
Employees who go the extra mile to create a positive customer experience, because they are committed to the company's success, are your most engaged employees. They will give that magical discretionary effort that employers love. These employees routinely go over and above, because they are motivated and engaged. These are the same employees who bring creativity, innovation and positive energy to your workplace.
How do you create more highly-engaged employees? In this post, I'm going share with you my leadership roadmap to build a highly-engaged team.
Engagement Roadmap for Leaders
These are 7 core actions leaders with engaged teams put into regular practice. There are probably more, but for simplicity I am going to focus your attention on these actions. They aren't steps, rather they all work together as a system to positively influence employee engagement.
You may be thinking, I already do these things but my employees are still disengaged! That may be true. Some employees, no matter how much effort you put into their experience, are inherently negative or unsatisfied. These people likely have other things going on -- they could be in the wrong career, perhaps the team isn't a fit for them, or maybe they have something difficult going on in their personal life. Humans are complex beings.
Before we jump to that conclusion though, I'm going to challenge you to ask yourself some questions. Be honest in your answers.
How consistent have you been with practicing all 7 of these core actions?
Have you been fully present and engaged as a leader, or have you showed up distracted and preoccupied with other thoughts?
Have you taken an active interest in every team member or just the few that you 'connect' with easily?
Have you been genuine in your efforts to connect with people on a human level or a surface level?
Key Attributes for Engaging Leaders
Here's the secret to employee engagement: you can't be disingenuous. Employees have a 'BS detector' and will see through any attempts to win them over with money and gifts, or empty shout-outs at staff meetings. However, if you give individuals your time (and I mean being fully present) and show your team genuine gratitude, kindness and compassion, you will earn their trust.
If you remember only one thing about this post, let it be this: trust is the single most important determining factor in building employee engagement. Without trust, you have no basis to build rapport or connection and you will not be able to move the needle on engagement.
The next time you identify an employee who may have low engagement, have a conversation with them to understand what's going on in their life. Then ask yourself which of the 7 core actions you could turn up to increase that employee's engagement. These are very simple actions, but that doesn't make them easy. Great leaders know that the people side of the business is often the most challenging and the most rewarding.
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