Keeping teams engaged
Do you ever have those days where you’re working on something either inside or outside of work…but it doesn’t feel like work? This is because you’re fully engaged in what you’re working on.
This level of engagement towards work is something that every manager or leader dreams of from their teams.
Why is this? Because a team that is engaged in their work is often a high performing team.
When this is the case, you will often see; more consistent optimal performance, increased productivity, achieving of objectives with relative ease, high retention, lower absences, reduced stress and lower risk of burnout…to name a few.
However, to some people, work is simply work and not everyone will be passionate about their role as it may just be a way to make ends meet.
Regardless, as a manager or leader, it is your responsibility to ensure your team is as engaged as possible in the workplace - not only to the benefit of the business but also your team members as well.
“
“Engage employees with meaningful work…or watch them walk out the door.”
How engaged is my team?
A quick way to tell how engaged your team is by looking at their current performance, energy levels and attitude, for example;
Are we regularly meeting our objectives?
Are team members more positive or negative towards the work they are completing?
How committed are team members? I.E are they happy to stay a little longer or do they clock watch until their shift ends?
If the place you work at does them, we strongly recommend that you request to review the company’s latest employee engagement survey.
Alternatively, consider completing an internal survey with your team using Ken Blanchards P.E.F.O.R.M model to reveal the team’s perceptions of itself against the qualities of a high performing team. This is something we complete with our clients wanting to move their team’s towards high performance.
Tools you can use
Now that we’ve established that an engaged team is a great thing. Here are a few tools that you can use tin order to increase engagement within your team:
Identify what you and and your team are motivated by - One of the most common incentives in the workplace is commission…but what if you have a team of individual’s that aren’t motivated by money? For our CITB funded programme we delivered with Taylor Wimpey, we asked their early entry talent to rate their motivators when choosing a company to work for from responsibility to salary to company perks, social responsibility, continuous learning and general appreciation. NOT ONE of them listed salary as their main motivator. When we asked the same question to their managers…over 50% of them believed salary was the primary motivator for early entry talent. Moral of the story…identify your own motivators and what your team’s motivators are so that you can align their motivators with the goal you are looking to achieve. You can use tools such as McClelland’s motivation theory or for a more comprehensive insight, the 12 Driving Forces assessment by TTI Success Insights.
Identify how they like to communicate - Some people are into the detail, others just want the headlines. Some people prefer emails and others talking face-to-face. How you choose to communicate with someone will impact how engaged they are in listening to what you have to say. Our clients use the DISC assessment by TTI Success Insights to identify their team’s behaviours and communication preferences. Once you know how someone prefers to be communicated with, you can adapt your method and style of communication to have better, more productive conversations with that individual. When you clearly communicate messages to your team members, they will respond better with greater understanding of the point you’re making.
Measure their confidence and competence - Situational Leadership II is a ‘go-to’ for any manager or leader wanting to understand the performance level of their team members based on the task they are completing. For example; if you delegate a task to a new team member, they are often high in confidence (or engaged) in wanting to learn but low in competence as they do not know how to complete the task. You may also have team members who are highly competent in completing the task but lack confidence (engagement) because they have done this task a 1000 times and find it draining.
Adopt an Inclusive Leadership style - Leadership in an organisation has a huge influence on whether employees choose to stay or leave. After all, if you have the choice, why would you choose to work for a leader that treats you unfairly and undervalues you? An inclusive leader is one that ensures that all team members feel they are treated respectfully, are valued and have a sense that they belong. Recent Harvard research reveals that the effects of Inclusive leadership on teams include: 17% more likely to be high-performing, 20% more likely to make high quality decision, 29% more likely to behave collaboratively and 10% improvement in perceptions of inclusive management led to a reduction in absenteeism of almost one day a year per employee.
For more information, please follow us on LinkedIn
