A critical component of running a successful organization is knowing how to engage your team members. Unfortunately, about one-third of U.S. employees aren’t engaged, according to Gallup. Further, actively disengaged workers cost the U.S. economy $483 billion to $605 billion in lost productivity.
Engaged employees are committed to your company and their work, are productive, and have a positive attitude. Your workplace runs much more smoothly when your staff is comprised of these types of workers. Here are some strategies to help you increase employee engagement in your workplace:
1. Provide your team members with the tools and training they need for success. When your employees have everything they need to do their jobs successfully, they are more confident and produce higher-quality work. Making sure staff members have tools and training also ensures less errors and prevents small issues from becoming larger problems.
2. Get to know your employees. Take the time to interact with your team members and get to know them on beyond their work. You don’t have to know everything about their personal life, but ask them how their weekend was, or where they plan to go on vacation this year. When you show workers that you care about them as a person, they become more committed to your organization and producing their best work.
3. Be transparent about the company’s progress. Your employees are the backbone of your company, and its successes and failures depend on them. When you articulate issues, challenges, and achievements, it helps your staff members stay on top of their work and provides them with the opportunity to devise new ideas that your leadership team might not have thought of to help turn failures around.
4. Recognize your employees for their hard work and accomplishments. Acknowledge your workers when they do a good job or complete a project successfully. An employee who’s recognized for their effort at work is much more likely to be dedicated to their job and continue to be motivated and productive in the workplace.
5. Ask your staff for feedback and act on it. Take the time to talk with your employees about what they need to do their jobs better, their concerns, and their suggestions for improvement. This signals that you care about their input and opinions. Go even further by taking the feedback they provide you and implementing it to help drive your company forward.
6. Encourage teamwork among staff. When employees work together, it motivates them to see the bigger picture for your company and gives them a sense of purpose. Assigning team projects to help staff members work toward a big organizational goal allows employees to collaborate and bounce ideas off each other.
7. Give employees the freedom to work independently. Give your staff members the freedom to organize and manage projects to success. Avoid micromanaging and provide them the space they need to work on the project, lead team members, and interact with clients.
When you take the time to implement these strategies, you’ll cultivate engaged employees who are motivated, productive, and feel a sense of purpose in their work. Managers who fail to take the time to use these practices are much more likely to have disengaged staff members who don’t feel committed to put in the extra effort at work, low morale among their team, and increased turnover.
Resources:
How to Engage Employees – A Complete Guide for Managers, Nutcache, Nutcache.com.
How to Help Your Managers Build Out, Not Burn Out, Adam Hickman, Gallup.