Key Factors for Building Engagement

Part of what makes being a manager difficult is that at any given time, employees are all operating at different levels of personal and professional engagement. Experienced managers of people have learned over time that to impact an overall team or organization’s performance, they need to move the collective team upward in spite of the ebbs and flows of each employee’s professional and personal engagement

Critically, it’s not all about beanbag chairs in the lounge or the Friday beer cart! In many cases, what really boosts engagement is evidence that the organization supports employees in their non-work challenges: especially their and their families health and well-being. Although trust is the number on driver of enterprise-wide engagement, the most important way a leader can demonstrate trust it to show empathy.

There is no better time to demonstrate empathy than during times when a member of your team is going through personal hardship. If an employee (or one of their family members) is seriously ill or injured, offer flexible hours and/or telecommuting. If the employee is running out of sick or vacation time (and if policies allow), allow other employees to donate their paid time off to the employee who’s struggling. It’s not only the right thing to do – it will pay dividends later when you need the employee to go “above and beyond” for the organization.

In almost every study on employee engagement, the number-one driver of work-related happiness and engagement is also the number-one driver of employee unhappiness and disengagement: your relationship with your immediate supervisor. You might have heard the adage that “people join good companies, but leave bad bosses.” It’s true- if your boss is the bane of your existence, then you need to work to improve the relationship. In most dysfunctional manager/employee relationships, it is often a breakdown in communication that is causing the rift. Open up those channels and make an effort to reach an understanding.

Trust in leadership, which is generally built by leaders showing empathy and caring for the well-being of the employees, is an essential factor in building engagement. Employees also need to have a good relationship with their immediate supervisor; this relationship can be a key factor in employee engagement or disengagement.

The information in this post was pulled from the soon to be released book I-Engage: Your Personal Engagement Roadmap. Click here to learn more about the book!

-Kaitlyn Carr, Manger of Creative Development, @EmplyEngagement, @kacarr789