What’s Your Low Employee Engagement Costing You?
According to Haiilo:
– Companies with a highly engaged workforce are 21% more profitable.
– Good company culture increases revenue by four times.
– 33% of professionals cite boredom as their main reason to leave their jobs.
Sadly, these metrics (and feelings) haven’t improved much in corporate America over time. If you’re wondering if your employees are engaged, consider that 80% of employees are not engaged (Haiilo). How often do you or your leaders encourage your team to focus on increasing their engagement?
If you believe your engagement is low, that doesn’t mean we can’t change the game with how you set out to encourage those we lead. In this blog, I’ll give you actionable ways to improve your employee engagement.
Encouragement
Encouraging others has been, is, and will continue to be one of the biggest drivers in your ability to help people on your teams feel comfortable in their own skin, in their roles, and on your team. Making them feel comfortable with your encouragement will ignite levels of productivity you never thought possible.
People will stand a little taller, they’ll participate more, and step up their game to give you their best. For some, the change will be instant. Others will take a little more time. Stay the course, and watch the difference unfold.
I’ve chosen three simple, actionable ways for leaders to encourage people. The purpose is to make your teams feel more comfortable and confident in their abilities to step up, lean in, and deliver their best work.
As a leader, you can encourage through recognition, reminders, and assistance.
– Recognition. Recognize people publicly, privately, on voicemail, in text messages, on Snapchat, on Twitter, and on Instagram, if the situation presents itself. As with most things in leadership, it’s less about what you do and more about how you make them feel.
– Reminders. Remind people of their successes and the obstacles they’ve overcome. Playing old tape may not work in some contexts, but it’s never a bad move when you genuinely remind people how great they’ve been in the past. This will reinforce the idea of stepping up and leaning into their greatest potential today and tomorrow.
– Assistance. Whether it’s for five minutes, five hours, or five days at a time, take the time to help those on your team. Few leadership actions are as encouraging as leaders of teams out in the field, on the floor, and in the moments that matter as they help their teams.
Have a great day!