The Cobalt Group: employee engagement

Showing posts with label employee engagement. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 26, 2019

10 Important Ways to Increase Employee Engagement

As I stated in a previous blog, employee engagement is the next level above employee satisfaction.

Basically stated, employee engagement is the level of commitment and involvement an employee has towards their organization and its values.

There are two components of engagement:

Rational Engagement

The involvement, understanding and motivation an employee has in his/her job.

Emotional Engagement

The attitudinal attachment an employee has to his/her company.

In essence, employee engagement is a barometer that determines the relationship of a person with the organization.

At the heart of the engagement model is Leadership. This is where it starts. Your organization’s leadership sets the tone for your employee engagement model. And the engagement strategy must be directed from the top down.

The challenge facing the organization’s leadership is to move the employee beyond the way each feels about his/her job to the attitudinal attachment each employee has to his/her company.

So as you develop your employee engagement strategy, here are

10 Important Ways to Increase Employee Engagement

1. They Need to Know what’s Expected of Them

2. They Need to Have the Right Equipment to do the Job

3. Give Them the Opportunity to Do What They Do Best

4. Have a Formal Plan for Recognition & Praise

5. Care for Them as a Person

6. Let Them Know Their Opinion Counts

7. Build a Connection with Them and the Mission of Your

Organization

8. Talk With Them About Their Progress – formally and informally

9. Provide Opportunities to Learn and Grow

10. Encourage Professional and Personal Development

As your organization develops your engagement plan remember, the KEY to successfully engaging employees is getting to know each employee – not engaging a “them”.

For more information about engaging and mobilizing employees, and to take our free self-assessment about how well you are engaging and mobilizing, or to see how The Cobalt Group can help you with this or any other business or leadership challenges you are facing, Contact us.

We want to hear what you think. Leave a comment and let’s start a discussion.

Monday, December 10, 2018

5 Characteristics of Engaged Employees

Employee engagement is the next level above employee satisfaction. The difference between the two is distinct.

Satisfied employees perform under a more transactional relationship. They are willing to give X amount of work and time because the company gives them Y in return.

Engaged employees, in contrast, will go beyond a transactional relationship and are willing to give greater levels effort and time. They put more into their jobs because they are passionate about seeing the company and its customers succeed. Employee engagement is a barometer that determines the relationship of a person with the organization.

These are certain characteristics that are traits of more engaged employees. Among them are:

1. They have a belief in the organization. Engaged employees feel connected to the mission and values of the organization. They want to contribute to its success.

2. They have an understanding of the ‘bigger picture’. These employees know what is expected of them and they know how what they do fits into the overall strategy of the organization.

3. They work to make things better. Engaged employees seek out ways to improve the organization and the products or services they sell.

4. They are respectful and caring to colleagues. These employees appreciate that each has a role and that each bring certain strengths to the solution. They genuinely care for each other.

5. They are willing to go ‘above and beyond’. Another characteristic of an engaged employee is their willingness to go the extra mile to achieve the goals of the organization. They do so out of commitment to the organization’s goals and values,

At the center of any organization’s engagement model is its leadership. The tone for employee engagement is set from the top to the bottom of the leadership chain. To succeed, it has to be an all hands effort. The organization’s leadership must move the employee beyond the way each feels about his/her job to developing the attitudinal attachment each employee has to his/her company. This is the difference between having satisfied employees to having engaged employees. And it's not that hard.

And remember from a previous blog, the KEY to successfully engaging employees is getting to know each employee – not engaging a “them”.

We want to hear what you think. Leave a comment and let’s start a discussion.

Wednesday, November 28, 2018

3 Questions You Must Answer to Know if You’re Setting Your Employees Up for Success

If you’ve ever had employees work for you then you’ve likely been in the situation where you have to decide whether or not to let them go for poor job performance. How did you get there? What led that employee to perform poorly? If you’re in a leadership role your job is to set your people up to succeed; to give them what they need to do what you hired them to do.

There are legitimate reasons to fire someone little to no notice. For me that would involve willful or gross negligence, or criminal activity. In those cases the answer is fairly simple – termination is warranted right then. There are other factors, as well, that would rightly lead to ending their employment with you.

But, if you have an employee that is struggling to do what you hired them to do and you are considering letting them go, there are three questions that you must answer before you make that decision:

1. Did the employee know what was expected of him/her? It seems like a simple question but I have worked with a few clients that had let people go without knowing if the person knew what was expected of them. If your employee doesn’t have a clear understanding of what is expected of them, then how could they know what they were supposed to do?

2. Was the employee properly trained to perform their duties? There have been many times when I have seen people thrown into a job or a task without adequate, or sometimes any, training to do the job. That seems incredulous in this day and age but it happens more often than you would think. If they haven’t been shown the proper way to do the job, how can you expect them to do it properly?

3. Does the employee have the right tools to do the job? This is the last question I ask. If they know what is expected of them, and have been properly trained to do the job, were they given the appropriate tools? If the employee’s job is to drive nails into the wall, sending them out with a spoon is of little help. Why weren’t they given a hammer?

Our job as leaders is to set our employees up to succeed. The calculation is simple – our success is dependent upon their success. If you can’t honestly answer ‘YES’ to each of these questions, you have set them up to fail. And in that case, you have failed as a leader, too.

Make sure you can answer each of those questions with a resounding ‘YES’.

For more information about employee engagement, or to see how The Cobalt Group can help you with this or any other business or leadership challenges you are facing, Contact us.

We want to hear what you think. Leave a comment and let’s start a discussion.