Employee engagement can make or break a business. Are you using effective internal communication techniques to improve this area?
Engaging employees seems like an ambiguous phrase. What does it really mean?
Pretend you are the CEO of a big company with thousands of employees. And just imagine that every single employee is fully engaged with their work, enthusiastic about their tasks, and does everything they can (because they are so happy) to further the company’s interests.
This situation is what every manager dreams about but often never experiences, which is why the words “pretend” and “imagine” are most often used to describe scenarios like the one pictured above.
According to a recent article by the Gallup Business Journal, only 30% of American employees are engaged in their jobs.
“Given the proven links between employee engagement and financial outcomes, this low level of engagement is a drag on an already sluggish U.S. economy. Imagine the positive— even dramatic — impact on the country's economic prospects if companies could double the number of their engaged employees.” Gallup Business Journal
The good news is that Gallup studied a number of companies with higher engagement percentages (from 47% to 63%) and found four key areas where these companies deeply integrate way to engage their employees.
If you want to graduate from the imaginary realm of ideal work environments and make them real, here are four areas you need to focus on:
#1: Strategy and Leadership Philosophy
There’s still a big disconnect between knowing that engaged employees increase profits and growth and implementing that knowledge into your mission and growth strategy. Knowledge without action accomplishes nothing. Making employee engagement part of a survey or human resources initiative won’t cut it either. “[The best leaders],” says Gallup, “take a strategic top-down approach to engaging leadership teams and then make sure engagement cascades through the ranks of managers to employees on the front lines.”
#2: Accountability and Performance
Companies with the highest percentage of employee involvement make managers accountable for both team engagement AND overall performance. Part of the “performance evaluation criteria” for managers is engagement. And are you getting tired of hearing about the importance of company culture? Too bad. Gallup says that companies with the highest engagement, “infuse engagement into their culture through the tone their leadership sets and through the way employees and managers do their work. Engagement permeates every conversation, whether it's a one-on-one meeting, a team huddle, or a regional assessment.”
#3: Communication and Knowledge Management
Engaging employees is not a one-time event (like a holiday party or field trip) that you execute and then return to your usual hands-off management habits. Leaders must create a strategy that aligns employee communication efforts and then fully integrate that strategy into the company culture and communicate its impact throughout the year. “Leaders use every opportunity, touchpoint, and communication channel,” says Gallup, “to reinforce and recognize the organization's commitment to employee engagement.”
#4: Development and Ongoing Learning Opportunities
Too many organizations have onboarding procedures that basically cease after the employee’s first day on the job. Employees need much more than just an orientation to the office and directions to the restrooms.
Gallup says that top-performing companies start engaging employees the minute they arrive at the office on their first day: “These businesses have well-defined and comprehensive leader and manager development programs, but they go one step further—they fully integrate engagement into these programs.”
The best companies take the professional development of their leaders and managers seriously and are committed to the growth of individuals, not just the “team.” One of the foundational principles of their “people strategy” is engagement.
(This practice is exceptionally important if a company is serious about its succession-planning efforts. Companies need to focus on the professional development and mentoring of their current managers to be prepared for the future retirement/exit of CEOs and top leadership. For more about succession planning, check out this blog post.)
Baby Steps: Start with Good Communication
Feel overwhelmed by analyzing and implementing each of these areas all at once? Just take them one step at a time. The common thread in each of these four areas is effective communication, and if you are already committed to positive, two-way internal communication and feedback between you and your employees, you are well on your way to turning your dream of effective employee engagement into reality.
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