Employees who are engaged and energised impact the bottom line of any organisation. As engaged leaders, I suspect you are aware of the data that connects energy with motivation and performance improvement.
If it has been a while since you have dived into this topic, data from a recent article by Accenture, the global professional services company, might surprise you. Their research revealed some concerning data, indicating why our team’s level of engagement is dropping.
Here are a few data points to consider:
- Only one in six people feel highly connected to their organisation and the people they work for and with.
- Only one in five people feel comfortable sharing problems or raising conflicts with colleagues.
- Only one in four reports that leaders are responsive to their needs, communicate regularly and feel that team members are treated equally.
In other words, just a small fraction of any team—your team—feels like they are getting what they need and truly connecting on a human level. When people feel highly connected to each other, their leaders and their work, their companies stand to gain a 7.4% revenue growth boost per year.
What is happening? Let’s go back a few months to help analyse the situation.
The Positives of The Pandemic Are Slipping Away
During COVID 19, employee engagement was on every senior leader’s mind as they navigated how to help their people through enforced and extreme unpredicted change.
Daily Zoom or MS Teams, catch-ups, team quizzes, virtual Christmas parties and managers who consistently talked to their team members boosted productivity and results.
Apologies for the irony here, but maybe there is something to this idea of talking and engaging with people regularly that works.
Fast forward to summer 2022 and a true return to a different level of normality. Hybrid working is now the new norm. A recent survey earlier this year by the Charted Institute of Management in the UK revealed that more than 80% of firms had adopted some level of hybrid working.
Interestingly, companies are requesting people to return to the office as the year progresses. Fascinating that Elon Musk, one of the world’s most respected innovators, is ‘demanding’ his employees return to the office full time.
And this month, June 2022, a UK Pilot programme of a 6-month trial of the four-day working week started.
No wonder our employees are confused, lacking energy and disengaged. Not a good start as our economy starts to feel the pressure, and organisations need their employees to perform.
So how can you improve engagement and re-energise your team? Let’s explore some options.
Improving Engagement
To move forward, you have to know your starting point.
How ‘bad’ is it really?
Auditing where you are is key before starting various initiatives to improve engagement.
Many organisations are instigating this process though some are not.
Develop your employee engagement survey and use your results to identify the key issues; I am sure the data I shared earlier will give you a clue about what is happening and, therefore, what is important to instigate and drive change.
Then it is a case of taking action, resulting in improved engagement and energy across your team. Here are a few time-tested strategies that have proven to work repeatedly.
Compassion and Connection
Compassion and being connected are two strategies that make a huge difference.
This strategy worked so well during the pandemic because it tapped into our human need to be connected.
Why not recreate what you were doing two years ago in a slightly different format. Video messages, conferences or something described as town hall sessions; here, employees can ask questions directly.
For example, Nottingham Trent University created a virtual ‘Newsroom’ where the Vice-Chancellor shares regular updates to provide hybrid working colleagues with direct access to news.
Talk To Your People and Your Team
Accenture informed us in its research that only one in four employees felt that leaders are responsive to their needs and communicate regularly.
If you are a senior leader reading this, what are you doing to encourage your team leaders to set aside time to communicate individually and collectively with their team?
What questions are they asking alongside how is project x or y coming on?
How about straightforward questions that uncover what is really going on, like;
- How are you feeling?
- How are things outside work?
- What do you need from me to perform at your best, will encourage staff to open up.
Of course, the final question here is how you support your managers as a senior leader?
Appreciate Your People
As a leadership trainer and coach, I consistently encounter a common concern: the lack of appreciation employees receive from their managers and team members.
When, as a manager, did you last say a spontaneous thank you to a team member?
Thank you are two powerful yet underused words we could all say more.
For example, Imperial College London hosted a Thank You day which included sending personalised cards from the President and Provost to 2,000 key workers.
Other organisations and certain NHS trusts encourage colleagues to nominate ‘Hidden Heroes’. Corney though this may sound, the impact it makes might surprise you.
A Focus on Wellbeing Works
The CIPD shared its Health and Wellbeing report for 2022 a couple of months ago. The figures for how many of our workers are still struggling from stress are higher than I expected.
Workplace stress remains the main cause of short and long-term absences, with 76% of respondents reporting some form of stress-related absence from their place of work – this figure increases to 90% in larger organisations.
It is causing absence from work, and both presenteeism and leaveism both connected to a lack of engagement.
I hope what I have shared today encourages you to work on improving engagement in your team.
How Can We Help You Engage and Energise Your Team?
Our range of leadership development programmes focuses on supporting you to improve your leadership capability and productivity, leading to better relationships and staff retention.
Managers and their teams will improve vital communication, collaboration and influencing skills over six months – developing all participants into high-performing virtual team members. Click here for a full programme description or call one of our team on 0845 548 0833.
Until next time,
Julia
About Zestfor
Zestfor specialises in developing leadership Training programmes and resources scientifically tailored for technical markets – including Pharmaceutical, IT, and Life Sciences.
Our blend of in-classroom, online, and virtual live-stream delivery methods will engage and assure even the most introverted team members from the first meeting – whether face-to-face or virtually. So, to have a brief chat, call us on 0845 548 0833.
