Tip #470: How To Lead In Employee Engagement

It's no secret that engaged employees benefit the companies that employ them. In fact, organizations with engaged employees experience better production, an increase in goal-oriented behavior, lower turnover and higher profits.

Unfortunately, two-thirds of your employees are most likely disengaged. To reduce this percentage, a company needs to provide genuine means of fulfillment.

Click here to see the results of the Dale Carnegie Training Employee Engagement Study.

 

9 Tips For Getting More Of Your Employees Engaged

Tip #1: Provide Social Interaction And Space For Discussion - Feeling engaged means feeling connected. Anything you can do that provides a feeling of connectivity will encourage loyalty and satisfaction in your employees. Additionally, once employees feel like the company cares, they will be more likely to provide you with valuable feedback, suggestions for process improvements and other information only achieved in an environment of mutual trust.

Tip #2: Employ Empathy Instead Of Sympathy - Being sympathetic means recognizing a concern. Displaying empathy means you demonstrate a relational understanding. Most companies employ managers who are sympathetic, but empathetic leaders truly encourage employees to become more engaged. You can do this in a few ways:
* Demonstrated positive reaction to employee concerns and suggestions
* Intranet, LinkedIn or private Facebook group interaction
* Town hall-style meetings

Tip #3: Establish A Corporate Culture And Encourage Participation - Perks like flexible hours or a company gym demonstrate your commitment to the well being of your employees, and that inspires loyalty and engagement in return. Be clear about your corporate culture and ensure that it is reflected in the way you treat your employees.

Tip #4: Recognize Positive Contributions - Instead of simply recognizing your top performers, make sure you recognize your employees' contributions to your corporate culture and community. Additionally, this means ensuring that your employees understand their job beyond its function - they should know exactly why their role is valuable to the corporation, and you should make sure to demonstrate that you value it.

Tip #5: Encourage Mentoring - Most companies have workers and management - but have you considered what would happen if you presented your managers as mentors or encouraged employees to mentor each other? This prompts employees to create career advancement goals and to discover and share their talents.

Tip #6: Provide Community Service Opportunities - Some amount of employee engagement happens outside of the office. Community service opportunities provide new ways for your teams to work together for a greater goal. This reinforces a connection with other employees and the community, and that is proven to increase employee engagement.

Tip #7: Be Consistent - Employee engagement is not an annual initiative driven by only one department. It's a constant, intentional effort that you must support. Everyone experiences a fair share of instability in their lives; by showing that you care, your company can earn genuine commitment from its employees.

Tip #8: Do Not Forget About The Metrics - While it is important for you to measure employee engagement and its benefits, it is even more important for your employees to see how their extra effort produces real results and benefits the company. This encourages pride, support and creates an atmosphere conducive to employee engagement.

Tip #9: Provide Resources - Once you determine your employees' goals, you can engage them by supporting them in their goals. This could mean additional training, educational reimbursement or frank discussions about your employees' futures in the company.

Executive Summary: With consistency, outreach and encouragement, you can provide a corporate culture that attracts and retains engaged employees. Activities and opportunities that provide feelings of connection are among the best ways to create a corporate culture of such values.

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Tip #469: 4 Employee Engagement Survey Mistakes (And How To Avoid Them)

    

   

     

Knowing how many employees are engaged is an important component for any size company.
 

To help you quantify your company's employee engagement issues, many leaders tend to survey their employees; however, if this is survey is done incorrectly, it could cause many issues internally.
 

4 Employee Engagement Survey Problems (And Solutions).

Problem #1: Your Responses To Surveys Is Negative - If employees point out an inefficiency in production and you respond by giving them more unpleasant work, that does not provide much of an incentive for them to give positive feedback.

Solution #1: Promote Positive Results - Instead of issuing negative responses, try addressing the concerns in a positive and enthusiastic way. If production results are inefficient, offer a reward or bonus for the team showing the most improvement.
 

Problem #2: Disengaged Employees Ignore The Survey -Chances are your disengaged employees already feel like you do not care about how they think. You've already lost them - so why are they going to take the time to fill out the survey? This means you do not hear from those who you need to hear from the most - your disengaged employees.

Solution #2: Provide An Incentive For Taking The Survey -Offer something extra - and make sure it is something that will be appreciated by engaged and disengaged employees alike, such as leaving a half hour early on a Friday.
 

Problem #3: You Distribute The Survey At The Wrong Time -Most employees are familiar with the ever-popular "exit interview," which usually occurs when an employee is leaving your company. If you find out why the employee was disengaged only at that point, then you have obviously already lost your chance to engage them.

Solution #3: Actively Encourage Feedback At All Times - It takes work to have an open door policy, but it pays off if a disengaged employee speaks up and you can assist them with their problems. This will help productivity, profit and team morale as well.

Problem #4: Your Survey Is Too Limited - If your survey simply requests yes/no responses or asks for ratings on a scale, you are actively disengaging everyone who takes the survey. While these tools will help you obtain solid metrics, it looks like a cold ploy to figure out engagement numbers.

Solution #4: Ask Open-Ended Questions - Ask questions that will encourage employees to think in ways they have not before. You could ask questions such as:
 

• If you could make one change in the culture of our company, what would it be?
• If you had the power to change one process, what would it be and why?
• If you could pick who to work for in this organization, who would you pick and why?

Executive Summary: Employee engagement requires constant focus. It takes time (and resources, such as your employees' time) to distribute an employee engagement survey and analyze the data. Make sure you use effective tactics that allow you to further engage your employees. The wrong survey could create more disengagement.

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Tip #468: 6 Quick Business Growth Tips

It may seem difficult to grow your business in today's challenging economic climate; however, it is possible. 

To help you and your staff expand your sales, we have listed below a number of tips for any size business to consider - tips that will help you look beyond what you are doing today.   

Expand Your Business By Focusing These Quick Business Tips.

Tip #1: Remind Your Customers - Your business will not move forward or increase in value if your customers are unsatisfied. As you grow your business, continue to cultivate your existing customer relationships. Consider rewarding your current customers (even past clients) with discounts, vouchers and loyalty benefits. Additionally, don't forget to reward them if they "refer" someone to your business as well.

Tip #2: Avoid Selling On Price - Every member of your business should be able to understand and define what makes it different from the competition. This will help you drive sales and keep focused as you continue to grow your enterprise. Coach new and existing employees on an appropriate "elevator speech" that describes your business with concise clarity.   
Tip #3: Market Your Business To Its Customers, Prospects And Partners - Marketing is about telling your clients, prospects and business partners over, over and over again the value that your business brings to their business. The key to your marketing is this: Make sure you are sending slivers of information on a consistent basis (not one campaign with a list of all the products and services you can offer them). 

Tip #4: Add Complementary Lines of Products And/Or Services - To expand your sales, you should consider a formal (e-mail or through written communications) customer survey on an added product or service. Here is a question that you may want to use: What type of product and/or of service would be of value to you and your business? (List possible items below and an open space for a variable answer.)

Tip #5: Create A Formal Sales Follow-Up System - After a marketing campaign has been released, make sure your salespeople are calling the recipients to follow-up on the risk-free offer, i.e., call to action, that you used on the campaign. To ensure that this is being done, measure how many calls each person has made and the results of their calls.  Do this and you will see an immediate increase in sales activity. Remember this: 50% of most salespeople stop calling a prospect after their first unsuccessful attempt at moving the sales process forward!

Tip #6: Look For Financial Opportunities And Risks -Finances can make or break an expanding business. Carefully consider all investments - which are necessary and which are luxuries? Consider the details such as:

• Business grants

• Employee-related costs (orientation, benefits)

• Financing expansion

• Tax penalties and/or write-offs

Executive Summary: While there is much to consider when it comes to expanding a business, your core values should remain the same. As the business leader, you are ultimately responsible for retaining focus on these values - as well as the responsibility to see them through and pitch in when more help is required.

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