The Gallup Management Journal has surveyed U. S. employees over many years and found that "engaged employees are more productive, profitable, safer, create stronger customer relationships, and stay longer with their company than less engaged employees." They go on to say that engaged employees are also more open to creating innovation and listening to the creative ideas of others.
The Gallup research has defined three categories: Engaged, Not Engaged, and Actively Disengaged. They have found that approximately 56% of the U.S. workforce is Not Engaged, which means they basically come to work and do their job, no more-no less. They don't cause trouble, but they don't get involved or support change either. This statistic is a few years old, so I wondered if it is less accurate or more accurate in today's economy. Either way, with workers staying in jobs they don't like and unemployed workers looking for any job, the potential for unengaged workers seems pretty high to me.
So where do you fit in this range of engagement? And, more importantly what can you do about it?
First of all, you have to look in the mirror and ask if you are personally engaged. If you don't have enthusiasm for your work and your company, how can you expect your employees to have it? You must demonstrate by your actions and your words that you respect the work of the organization and the people who do it. You must demonstrate that you want to hear fresh ideas and work to help implement those that you can. You are the leader and therefore, you lead the way in the kind of behavior you want to see from others.
Second, be involved with people. People tend to be more engaged with leaders who show an interest in them because they trust them more. They believe you have their best interests at heart and want to see them succeed. You must show them that to succeed they need to be engaged by not only doing their job well, but by looking for innovative ways to improve processes and add value to their work. Ask for feedback and encourage suggestions-no matter how large or how small. It's the small improvements that sometimes pay the most dividends. Remember that if everyone worked to be one percent better each week, the magnitude of improvement would be enormous.
Third, help people understand your business. Many organizations today are sharing more financial information with their employees to help them understand the impact of their work on the company's bottom line. Through quality and lean process improvements people input data and "keep score" on their own production, error rate, and customer satisfaction. You reinforce what you measure because you elevate it to importance. Some people are afraid of being measured because they don't want to be held accountable, but when you are able to show them the connection between activity and results, they can begin to shoot for excellence. Consider the Olympic skater who wins the gold medal by thousandths of a second. To him or her, that measurement is the difference in payoff for all the years of training. To you, it may mean the difference in getting the order or not.
So, look around. What would engagement look like in your workplace? How engaged are you and your workforce? What can you do to encourage more engagement? What would be your payoff if you personally were more engaged?
The Gallup research has defined three categories: Engaged, Not Engaged, and Actively Disengaged. They have found that approximately 56% of the U.S. workforce is Not Engaged, which means they basically come to work and do their job, no more-no less. They don't cause trouble, but they don't get involved or support change either. This statistic is a few years old, so I wondered if it is less accurate or more accurate in today's economy. Either way, with workers staying in jobs they don't like and unemployed workers looking for any job, the potential for unengaged workers seems pretty high to me.
So where do you fit in this range of engagement? And, more importantly what can you do about it?
First of all, you have to look in the mirror and ask if you are personally engaged. If you don't have enthusiasm for your work and your company, how can you expect your employees to have it? You must demonstrate by your actions and your words that you respect the work of the organization and the people who do it. You must demonstrate that you want to hear fresh ideas and work to help implement those that you can. You are the leader and therefore, you lead the way in the kind of behavior you want to see from others.
Second, be involved with people. People tend to be more engaged with leaders who show an interest in them because they trust them more. They believe you have their best interests at heart and want to see them succeed. You must show them that to succeed they need to be engaged by not only doing their job well, but by looking for innovative ways to improve processes and add value to their work. Ask for feedback and encourage suggestions-no matter how large or how small. It's the small improvements that sometimes pay the most dividends. Remember that if everyone worked to be one percent better each week, the magnitude of improvement would be enormous.
Third, help people understand your business. Many organizations today are sharing more financial information with their employees to help them understand the impact of their work on the company's bottom line. Through quality and lean process improvements people input data and "keep score" on their own production, error rate, and customer satisfaction. You reinforce what you measure because you elevate it to importance. Some people are afraid of being measured because they don't want to be held accountable, but when you are able to show them the connection between activity and results, they can begin to shoot for excellence. Consider the Olympic skater who wins the gold medal by thousandths of a second. To him or her, that measurement is the difference in payoff for all the years of training. To you, it may mean the difference in getting the order or not.
So, look around. What would engagement look like in your workplace? How engaged are you and your workforce? What can you do to encourage more engagement? What would be your payoff if you personally were more engaged?
Thanks to Vicki / Anderson Resources
