Want to hear a scary statistic? According to a recent study by Dale Carnegie Training, nearly 75% of employees aren’t working fully engaged in their positions.
That means three out of every four employees in YOUR organization are not giving you 100%.
And a recent study by McLean & Company listed the following statistics that stated, in comparison to disengaged employees, engaged employees are:
- 30% more likely to agree that they regularly accomplish more than what’s expected of them in their role
- 66% more likely to agree that their contributions are very important to the success of the organization
- 109% more likely to put in extra hours to improve results
So how do you engage employees?
It all boils down to being a good leader yourself and making sure that the senior management team and managers all the way down and across your organization are good leaders. Also note that there are huge differences between a manager and a leader. Managers may not necessarily be leaders, and leaders may not necessarily be managers, but the success of your organization depends on your managers being good leaders with their staff members.
What are the traits of a good leader in a management role?
I’m so glad you asked. Here are several:
Self-effacing and humble. If you expect your employees to fess up and take ownership when they made a mistake, you have to be willing to do the same thing. Admit when you are wrong. Many managers think that doing this is a sign of weakness and will compromise employees’ trust, but it is really a sign of a strong leader and will actually increase your employees’ trust in you.
Not threatened by brilliant ideas. It is human nature to have the gut reaction of “why didn’t I think of that?” But a good leader lets go of that thought and instead embraces that their team members are growing and succeeding as a result of their tutelage. Good leaders are never scared to hire people who are smarter than them.
Care about their people. I mean truly care. If one of your staff members gets married, ask them about their wedding and honeymoon instead of pretending its business as usual on their first day back to the office. Yes, it may be 10 minutes out of your busy day, but that 10 minutes means the world to your employees. People want to work in an organization – and for a manager – who they feel cares about them as a person. This is an absolute must in a good leader.
Encourage honest feedback. Poor leaders will squirm in their chairs when someone comes into their office with some honest feedback about a goal that was set or an initiative they think would work better in a different way. Your organization will not thrive if everyone is telling you what you want to hear because they are afraid of the repercussions. Honest feedback from employee to manager and manager to employee is the only way to build trust, which is the foundation of any organization. And your organization can only truly thrive when everyone works in an honest environment where opinions are valued and shared.
Trust your employees first. If you start out someone’s employment by giving them limited duties, expect them to do everything exactly the way you would, and don’t provide them with the autonomy and empowerment to take risks and make mistakes, then you aren’t trusting them to do their job. Your front-line people especially deserve this as they are the ones who are taking care of your organization’s most precious asset: member and customer relationships. If you trust them to take care of those relationships but won’t trust them on a new project, you need to answer one question: is it me who is scared to trust, or have they damaged my trust in some way? Either way, fix the situation.
Empower employees. Ritz Carlton is famous for its “$2,000 Rule” that empowers any employee at any level to solve customer problems and spend up to $2,000 without having to go to a supervisor. Risky? Absolutely. It doesn’t have to be $2,000, or even monetarily-related in your case. However, if you trust your front-line employees with your company’s relationship with customers and members, then you can trust them and create an environment of empowerment and enable them to make the right decisions and do the right thing when it comes to taking care of those relationships.
Challenge employees. One way to do this is to give them what are known as “stretch” projects: things they’ve never done before and would like to learn how to do. This “stretches” their professional and leadership muscles and ultimately makes them more valuable to your team and organization.
Invest in your employees. This takes many forms. Benefits and compensation are the two most obvious parts of this equation. Many studies that have come out through the recession clearly state that companies that pay their employees higher than average salaries in conjunction with a good employee development program have a higher success rate and overall better profit margin. Another very important way to engage employees is by providing opportunities for professional development. This is a financial investment, but it is one that ultimately rewards your organization because, if you invest in your employees, they will be more likely to invest back in the company.
Recognize them when they do good work.
“The model of ‘if you aren’t getting yelled at, you’re doing a good job’ isn’t going to cut it anymore. Managers must switch their perspective of management from a job of ‘critique and assess’ to one of ‘teach’.” -Dr. Jean Twenge, iGen Consulting
It’s easy to get up from your desk or place a call to an employee when an error has become apparent, but do you spend an equal amount of time (if not more) recognizing them for their outstanding efforts? Recognition means more to employees than anything else because they want to know that their efforts are valued.
Help them reach their own goals. Make no distinction between professional and personal goals. This is also where the honest feedback and caring about them personally comes into play. You could have a great employee who is starting out in his or her career and, in your work on helping them achieve their professional and personal goals, they realize that they have a dream of owning a restaurant. Yeah, this sucks for your organization, but helping your employees achieve their dreams is also your job in addition to taking care of your members and customers.
There are many rewards to being a good leader, but the biggest difference will come to the success of your organization. Employees will be happier and more engaged in their positions, overall organizational trust will increase leading to more great ideas, and everyone will be moving in the same direction – toward success.
Amanda
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