I find that many leaders and first-time managers are really not aware of their role in engaging, retaining employees and energizing their teams and business.
Today, many business strategies are laser focused on technology, AI and dominating their market share. However, part of that strategy should include how to have engaged employees. Have you thought about it? Do you have a strategy to engage your employees?
- Are people showing up energized and ready to work?
- Are people feeling hopeful about the future of your business?
- Are people bringing their best effort to the workplace?
Having engaged employees isn’t enough. You must retain them. Are employees happy enough to stick around? Or are you always looking for new people and use the excuse: “No one wants to work anymore!” I am not sure that is a true statement.
There are hundreds of studies that tell us engaged employees are more productive, customer focused, have more satisfied customers, suffer fewer accidents, and help the business to be more profitable. What’s more, losing, replacing and then training new employees can cost businesses thousands of dollars every year.
No business can afford a culture where unhappy employees are the norm. Nor can their leaders. Many of your managers may lack the prospective and skills to make employee engagement and retention a priority. Yet when employees show up for work feeling strong and full of enthusiasm they develop loyalty that makes them want to push through any challenges, bring new ideas to the business and do their part to help make the business more successful. They also stick around. Who wouldn’t want that?
Therefor your managers play an important role in bringing the energy to capture the hearts and minds of your employees. They help drive higher levels of commitment, energy, enthusiasm and loyalty. Indeed, it’s an important truth that people don’t leave jobs, they leave managers. Every day, Managers need to be evaluating their staff and determining where they measure on the engagement scale. Here are the signs managers should be looking for:
The Engaged Employee – they positively charged, passionate at what they do, optimistic, and sharing ideas.
The Stuck Employee – are they operating by being average, checked out, low energy, does the bare minimum, slows everyone down and is quiet quitting but not leaving.
The Disengaged Employee – they are negatively charged, complains, spread discontent, causes conflict, doesn’t care about others, hides from hard work and may or not leave anytime soon.
Okay, now that you have identified who they are and what you like or don’t like about them, what are you going to do next? Keep dumping on your engaged employees to carry the slack and do most of the work? Tolerate poor performers and average results? Spend most of your time and energy dealing with the disengaged employees?
As Walt Disney would say- “It’s time to stop talking and start doing.”
If your managers play a critical role in keeping teams engaged, productive, and sustaining performance, your managers need the tools and skills that will enable productive conversations and prioritize employee behavior. Coaching is a powerful way to promote professional development, correct behaviors, measure engagement, tackle issues early and work with employees to help them define where they currently are in their careers and get them to where they want to be. Here are a few tips:
Coaching conversations scheduled regularly to include some of the following to check on your employee’s wellbeing and engagement:
• Sharing consistent, timely, and actionable feedback
• Setting achievable goals
• Improving role and goal clarity
• Helping identify and overcome roadblocks, conflicts and team dynamics.
• Preparing employees to advance within the organization
• Use it to recognize progress and achievements and provide appreciation
So, are your managers and leaders bringing the energy, by following the latest strategies and solutions to recruit, retain, engage, train, motivate, articulate, and instill a more positive, productive, and profitable culture? If not, when was the last time you invested in leadership training? Imagine, not being in the babysitting business dealing with non-performers and what your business would look like with highly productive and engaging employees. I promise you it will be “Magical”.
Need help in building a customer and employee focused culture that lasts? Contact John today! info@johnformica.com
John Formica is America’s and Australia’s Customer Experience Coach, team culture experience expert, keynote speaker, and Top 10 Global Thought Leader and Influencer on Customer Loyalty. For information on customer experience programs, leadership training, team culture, business growth, how to find and hire great people and tailored training programs just for you or to book John to speak at your next event, contact 704-965-4090 or visit our website at JohnFormica.com.