June 3, 2009
Are your employees engaged? The May 20 issue of Credit Union Times contains a few selected results from a survey by Right Management. More than half of the senior leaders and human resource professionals surveyed cited employee engagement as the most significant practice in order to achieve business goals in tough economic times.
What exactly is an engaged employee? It's someone who is sincerely and verbally proud of the organization he or she works for (think "brand advocate") and does everything possible to contribute to its success. One would hope that a majority of employees would be engaged. Unfortunately this is simply not the case. Repeated studies have shown that fewer than one-third of employees are actively engaged in their job at any one time.
Culture starts at the top. So, for me, these shocking statistics are not really about employees at all. They're about the failure of leadership. To help assess the leadership culture at your company, here are a few questions to ask yourself:
1. Are we regularly communicating to employees where the company is going and what's happening inside our organization? The two most important communicators are the immediate supervisor and the "big boss." Remember it's important to communicate even when you don't have all the answers. 2. Are we allowing every employee to contribute in a meaningful way? Does each understand exactly how his or her job affects the success of the company? Does each have the opportunity to help define the best way to accomplish tasks?
3. Are we encouraging regular and frequent recognition? The same for feedback. Do we have a formal goal setting and annual (or semi-annul) performance review process in place?
4. Do we regularly solicit the opinions of employees - not only about their level of engagement, but also about how we can improve our business overall?
5. Do we actively seek employee development opportunities? Having contributors who are cross-trained not only helps the business, but it can be a powerful motivating factor.
6. Is teamwork encouraged? Are we fostering an environment that values collaboration and creates trust?
7. Are we having fun? Sure times are tough. But this doesn't mean we can't have fun. A plate of cookies, a potluck lunch at the park, an employee talent show... little things mean a lot.