Engage Staff

Actively engaging your employees is a matter of making sure each member of your team feels as though they have a voice. By making communication a two-way street, you can create a culture that values communication throughout the chain of command. A large part of engaging your employees is making them feel as though they have a stake in the success of your department or the business as a whole. Using strong management techniques, you can ensure your employees stay engaged and willing to go the extra mile for the business.

Steps

Managing the Way You’re Seen by Employees

1. Allow your staff to influence you. If your staff believes that you will truly hear the things they say, they will be more apt to embrace open communication in both directions. When an employee offers you a good idea, acknowledge it and incorporate it into you plan moving forward.
   • If employees feel as though they have a say in how things happen, they will be more engaged with you as their manager and the job in general.
   • By demonstrating that you value their opinions, you establish a culture in which the opinions of others are respected, including your own.
2. Be there for your employees when they need you. It’s important that an employee believes their manager will go to bat for them if they need it. By demonstrating that you support your team, their respect for you will grow and allow you to establish a more meaningful connection with each of them.
   • When an employee comes to you with a problem, work with them to solve it without being overly critical of what they did to cause the issue.
   • Try your best to help your employees when they are struggling. If an employee experiences a death in their family, do everything you can to permit them the time off that they need, for instance. This demonstrates that you care and are willing to make things happen for your team.
3. Emphasize impact over profits. It can be easy to get stuck on the idea of money, after all, that’s what you’re in the business for, but don’t let money be everything. Instead of constantly discussing reducing costs or increasing output to improve the bottom line, discuss the impact your team’s work has on the company as a whole, or on the world outside of it.
   • Instead of using money as the bar by which you measure success, reframe success in the minds of your staff.
   • Discuss the way your team’s hard work has improved things for the company, or your customers. Instead of saying “we sold 10,000 units this quarter and made a half a million dollars” suggest that “we put 10,000 copy machines in the hands of hard working folks that needed them.”
4. Share your successes as a leader. If your team is performing well, it will reflect well upon you as a leader, but don’t get caught up in accepting all the accolades yourself. Make sure you let your team know how valuable their efforts were in any successes you achieve as the supervisor or manager of your team.
   • If you receive an award, make sure to thank your team when presented with it, then again back in the office to emphasize how much you appreciate their work.
   • Giving your staff a sense that you value them will make them feel actively involved in the department’s victories and therefore increase engagement.

Communicating Openly

1. Clearly communicate what is expected of your team. It’s imperative that you make your expectations clear so your team knows what the measure of success will be. Be clear about the rules so there can be no confusion when you have to correct someone for breaking them, but also be clear about your objectives, so no one wastes time on something that is unimportant.
   • Employees become anxious when they aren’t sure how you will judge their performance when it comes time for reviews. Meet with each new employee and lay out what you expect them to do in their position right from the start.
   • Be clear about your rules and enforce them equally. If you are a stickler for being on time, make sure your team knows it. If you don’t mind employees trickling in a few minutes late but you expect them to adhere to a certain dress code, make sure they know what’s important to you.
2. Ask questions. As tempting as it may be to manage your meetings by simply running through the important points that need to be covered and getting back to work, don’t forget to take time to ask your employees their opinions on things. Ask them questions one on one as well, to demonstrate your care for what’s going on in their lives both professionally and socially.
   • Address individuals when asking questions. Instead of saying, “does anyone have any suggestions?” try saying, “Janet, you’ve worked with this sort of thing before, what did you find was successful?”
   • Ask your employees about their weekend, or about the things on their desks that indicate the things that matter to them. Photos of family, a Batman figurine, or an award hanging in someone’s office or cubicle are great things to ask them about to create a dialogue.
3. Talk less in meetings with staff. When you are interacting with your staff, try not to dominate the conversation. Instead listen to what your team has to say actively and only interject when you need to. This will demonstrate the value you place on what they are saying and give your team an opportunity to develop a rapport with one another.
   • Allowing your team to communicate amongst themselves with you present to interject as needed gives natural leaders the opportunity to develop and thrive under your tutelage.
   • Step in to offer guidance when it’s necessary, but let your team know you trust them by allowing them to take the lead on some topics.
4. Collaborate, don’t just delegate. When you and your team have a project to complete that is outside of your area of expertise, seek help from your team. Creating a collaborative environment will help make each employee feel invested in the success of the project and you may find that they have valuable input about how best to complete the task.
   • Let your team know that you are open to suggestions.
   • Have strategy meetings wherein you encourage your staff to brainstorm possible ways to complete projects or resolve issues.

Creating an Engagement Culture

1. Allow your employees to be themselves. Expecting your employees to behave in the same manner that you do creates tension without you realizing it. By embracing your employees as they are, you increase your chances of being able to truly engage them.
   • An employee that feels comfortable around you will engage with you honestly, rather than just saying what they think you want to hear.
   • Engaging with employees means addressing them as they are, not as you’d like them to be.Template:Expertgreenbox:126642
2. Cultivate strong leaders. Give the members of your staff the opportunity to develop their own leadership skills. Put them in charge of projects or appoint supervisors on the floor. Giving your staff leadership experience will help them to better understand your decisions and make them better rounded employees.
   • By appointing staff members to leadership positions, you let them know that you notice and acknowledge their abilities in your field.
   • A good employee may eventually want to move on to the next step in their career. While you may not want to see them go, a good manager will help prepare them for that next step.
3. Be consistent in how you interact with your staff. Fair can be a frustrating word in business. What some people perceive as unfair is often simply because they don’t understand everything that is going on. Instead of focusing on being “fair,” focus on being consistent in your interactions with employees.
   • Don’t demonstrate favoritism for any employee. If you allow one staff member to come in late all the time but chastise others, the resulting negative feelings could create a communications gap between you and your team.
   • Be demonstrating consistency, your staff will be more likely to give you the benefit of the doubt when they question something you do or say. Instead of thinking, “jeez, Sarah never lets me get away with that,” they may say, “Sarah must have had a good reason to let that go.”
4. Give recognition for a job well done. When an individual in your team goes above and beyond, make sure to give them recognition in front of the whole team. Let your staff know that hard work is not only appreciated, but rewarded.
   • When your team sees that working hard will be rewarded, they may work hard in hopes of achieving the same type of reward.
   • Even if your team isn’t directly motivated by wanting to win an award or recognition, knowing that they could will emphasize the value you place on your team.
5. Let go of negative opinions. Things are bound to go wrong and members of your staff are going to make mistakes. When you need to correct someone, do so, but don’t hold a grudge. After you tell someone what they did wrong and what your expectation are for the future, let it go.
   • Having a “short memory” in regard to negative experiences will help your staff feel like they can come to you with problems as they arise.
   • Chronic issues should be addressed as such, but occasional mistakes should be corrected and then moved on from.

Related Articles

• Manage People
• Manage a Business
• Be a Good Manager
• Motivate Your Employees

References

See also

• Create a Productive Working Environment
• Be Appointed to a Board of Directors
• Become a Better and Effective Team Leader
• Set Up an Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
• Retain Good Employees
• Be an Artist Manager
• Build a Management Team
• Use an In Basket
• Write an Employee Handbook
• Plan an Employee Retreat

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What links here

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