As a leader of people, you set the tone for culture and the engagement of your team. It starts with placing a priority on the team and understanding the importance of a winning team. It is easy to talk about what a great team environment you have to applicants but another story to actually live core values every day and continue to keep employees engaged.
Engagement starts with a commitment from the top that people are the most valuable asset of the company. It is supported by core values and guiding principles that are integrated into policies, training programs, and decision making. Disengagement begins to take hold when there is a lack of communication, upholding the original picture painted of working for your organization, failure to ensure you recognize contributions and commitment, and not role modeling the core values that you said were critical for success.
Engagement can be measured through surveys, the gift of feedback, results, and attraction of key talent. Indicators for ROI for engagement include an increase in productivity, decrease in turnover, reduction in worker’s compensation costs, improvement in safety metrics, reduction in rework costs due to stability and knowledge, increased customer satisfaction, and lower training costs. Likewise, these benchmarks can also have a direct correlation to weak leadership.
Core values need to be clarified and defined for employees with an understanding of what “empowerment” really means. Are employees rewarded for empowerment or is there a punitive consequence? If the latter, then you need to rethink including “empowerment” as an organization value until you are ready to throw your total support behind just the “concept”.
For an employee, engagement can mean longer tenure, dedication, innovation, pride, and productivity. If you value your employees and the upside for the team, then taking the time to communicate with and develop your team is invaluable.
