Are Your Employees Engaged?

While many factors contribute to an organization's success, none is more important than a workforce - a healthy, productive and engaged workforce.
Employee engagement is a buzz word nowadays. One that is commonly heard in business circuits, one that many organizations struggle with.

How do we keep our employees engaged? is a question that is often asked by leaders and managers in organizations. Here are some strategies that leaders can employ to begin the process of engagement:

Clear mission/strategy: Establishing a clear mission/business strategy is imperative and critical to an organization's success. What is our purpose? What do we hope to accomplish as a company? How do we see ourselves in the next few years? How do we differentiate ourselves from our competitors? These are some of the important questions leaders must analyze and answer to establish a mission. A mission that is not limited to just the C-suite but that trickles down the organization and is adopted by each individual as a tenet to success. Leaders and managers should continually communicate the mission to their teams and employees, help them understand its importance and aid them in seeing the connection between what they do and the impact their contributions have on the mission.

Clarity in Job Expectations: Most employees don't necessarily have a full understanding of their role in the organization. What was I hired to do? How does what I do impact the overall success of my organization? These are questions often posed by employees who face this dilemma. And often, they don't voice these concerns for fear of retaliation or retribution. Job clarity is important especially when it comes to keeping employees motivated and engaged. They need to understand the critical role they play, how they contribute to the bottom line. They need to understand that very clearly and it is up to their managers and leaders to help them see their purpose. Setting clear/SMART goals, establishing performance parameters and making employees accountable are some of the critical steps in accomplishing clarity.

Communication: Lack of communication, particularly that of feedback from managers is one of the top reasons why employees leave organizations. Leaders and managers should understand the importance of staying connected with their employees both formally as well as informally. Employees want to know what's going on. They are interested in knowing the direction the company is taking, the initiatives it is involved in, the programs/projects that it plans to implement, how is it performing financially. Granted, information need to be divulged on a 'need to know' basis, but it does not take away the fact that information sharing(top-down, lateral, upward) should be one of the most important priorities for success. The organization should not only establish clear communication guidelines on how information will be disseminated,but should also establish proper channels that employees can use to offer ideas and feedback. After all, successful communication is a two way street.

Creating growth and development opportunities: Create an environment where employees are 'celebrated rather than tolerated' as Simon T. Bailey (http://simontbaileyblog.com/)would say. It is important that companies provide an environment where employees are provided with numerous growth opportunities. An environment in which employees thrive, take on challenging tasks/ projects, encouraged to take risks, learn from their mistakes, problem solve, utilize their skill set, acquire new ones. There should be opportunities for cross training, job rotations, lateral moves-any avenue that will help the employee acquire and maximise their skills and capabilities.

Recognition and Rewards: Recognition is one of the critical pieces of the engagement puzzle. Employers who take the time to reward and recognize their employees are much more successful than employers who don't. One of the common excuses companies use to justify lack of recognition is that it costs money. But rewards doesn't always have to be monetary. Here are couple of ideas that don't cost a dime. It's all about making an effort.

- Provide them feedback on how they are doing. Consistently and regularly.

- Involve your employees in the decision making – this is a great way to empower them.

- Ask them what they think. Ask for their ideas and input on work processes, issues you may be facing. The message you convey is: Your opinions matter, you are valuable.

- Listen to them. Listening to them sends the message that you care and that they are important!

- When you have a new member joining your team, ask them: “When you do a good job, how do you like to be recognized?” You will not only learn what motivates people but you also begin establishing an expectation that team members will do a good job.

- Know them as people! Find out what is important to your employees. What do they value? This shows you are interested in knowing them for who they in life than just what they are at work.

Create a recognition program in your organization. Better yet, task your employees to develop one. After all, they know best what works for them.

An organization is a vaccum without people-the single most important asset. The above are few important areas it can focus on to keep its employees engaged and motivated.