It’s hard to overstate the importance of genuine employee engagement. Employees who are engaged at work often work harder and smarter; encourage others to do the same, whether by word or deed; are less likely to leave for a different job; and may even act as brand ambassadors, even while not on the clock.
The challenge, of course, is determining how to engage them. So, here is a step-by-step process for boosting employee engagement.
Understand
Before you can promote strong engagement among your own staff, you need to understand what you’re asking them to get engaged in. This doesn’t just mean brushing up on your company’s mission statement—it means truly becoming a believer.
Advocate
“As soon as you feel your company’s purpose, you can become an advocate for it,” says an article by Thomas Leisen of SAP, a provider of business software. Relate your own experiences, customer testimonials, and other examples that show and not just tell how the company executes its vision.
Connect
Leisen says it’s important to look for ties between your company’s purpose and the everyday work of individuals. It can be hard for them to see how their day-to-day activities impact the company mission, and it’s the manager’s job to show them.
Communicate
Keep the discussion going to drive home how employees’ actions impact the company’s goals and mission. Use employees who are effectively promoting the mission as examples, and keep the mission top of mind when communicating to your team.
Repeat
Employee engagement is a long-term process that requires iterations and repetition. You won’t achieve maximum engagement in one-off bursts of initiative on your part; you need to be diligent and adaptable.
You would be hard-pressed to find a company that didn’t see the value in employee engagement, but you may also be hard-pressed to find one that knows how to effectively generate that engagement. Any organization can use these straightforward steps as a template for success.