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The Key to Engaging Employees: It’s Not What You Might Think

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Employee engagement is something that we hear about on a regular basis. In fact, we hear about it often enough that it can sound like just another buzzword. Yet, it’s anything but. The lack of employee engagement is estimated to result in $7 trillion in lost productivity worldwide on an annual basis (Gallup 2017). For nearly 20 years, Gallup has been researching employee engagement and the percentage of engaged employees has barely budged in the United States during this timeframe. Based on 2018 research, Gallup has reported that 34% of U.S. workers are engaged while globally, only 15% are engaged.

What is Employee Engagement?

What exactly is employee engagement?  According to Gallup, an engaged employee is one who is “involved in, enthusiastic about and committed to their work and workplace”. Someone who is experiencing this type of engagement is most likely to be aligned with their team and organization’s goals and making key contributions to producing desired results. Organizations that do the best job of creating employee engagement achieve earnings-per-share growth greater than 4 times that of their competitors. Additionally, other business boosting results are enjoyed by those companies who exemplify employee engagement. These include higher customer engagement, increased productivity, lower attrition, and higher profitability.

A Simple Approach

There are a multitude of methods available for increasing employee engagement with varying ranges of complexity, time commitment and cost. Yet, the solution may be simpler than you think. When we talk about employee engagement, we often speak in generalities. It can sound as if there is a group called “employees” that we must direct something towards collectively. A one size fits all approach has less of an opportunity to positively drive your engagement levels than one simple opportunity that many leaders have, at every level, including the C-suite. This opportunity, the key to engaging employees, is to get specific about each person.

One Employee at a Time

Engaging employees happens one person at a time. The place to start is to get to know each person on your team uniquely. How much do you already know about each employee and what makes that person tick?

How many of these questions can you answer right now about each employee on your team?

  • What are their career aspirations?
  • What personal aspirations do they have?
  • What motivates them?
  • What are their most important values?
  • What key strengths do they bring to the team?
  • What type of behavioral style do they favor?
  • What professional development needs do they have?

Call to Action

If you can’t answer all of these questions for each employee, I invite you to make it a priority to schedule 1:1 meetings to discover those answers. Then, look for the opportunities to:

  • let them use their strengths each day,
  • take on assignments that build the skills for their future career path,
  • communicate with them in a way that matches their style.

Your employees want to work in jobs that allow them to do what they do best, to grow and develop professionally, and feel a sense of purpose in what they focus on each day. What drives engagement and motivation is unique to each individual. So, get started by getting to know your team. Look for ways to align what is important to each person with the work they are doing, and watch your results begin to shift.

If you would like support in increasing employee engagement in your organization, please contact me to have a conversation. We offer a simple yet powerful and practical methodology to support you in improving employee engagement.

About the Author: Sherry Dutra is a Talent Development, Career and Retirement Coach and Facilitator who believes we each have far more potential than we typically tap in to. She helps you learn how to step into your full potential so you can create consistent, optimal performance for yourself and your team with less stress and more enjoyment. If you would like to uncover and address hidden challenges that may be sabotaging your success, leverage your strengths, and accelerate your progress toward the results you desire, contact Sherry for a complimentary consultation.

 

Anabolic Leaders and Gaining Buy-In

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teamwork_1-300x300In the past, we have explored the characteristics of anabolic and catabolic leaders. Click on the following link if you’d like to review that blog. Leadership: Inspiring and Motivating Yourself and Others This time, let’s look at another aspect of leadership – how information is passed along to others – to further see the difference between the two types of leaders.

In any type of leadership role – whether as a CEO of a Fortune 500 company, a small business owner, or as a parent, imparting information to others is an integral and essential part of leading. Catabolic leaders give information, while anabolic leaders share information.

Giving vs Sharing

“Giving” means to convey, transmit, or assign. When we give to others, we no longer have ownership of what we give. “Sharing,” on the other hand, means to partake of, use, or experience with others. When we share, we’re still part of the process – we’re “in it” with the other person.

When a catabolic leader gives information to others, they do so without much explanation, and with little buy-in or justification. An anabolic leader who shares information, however, explains well and gets buy-in, which builds trust, develops rapport, and deepens the connection with the other person.

Here’s an Example

Which of the following leaders is more likely to get the result they desire?

Catabolic leader – “John, I need a rundown of the responsibilities of the people in your department. Please get it to me by tomorrow afternoon, if not sooner.”

Anabolic leader – “John, we’re considering bringing in some additional staff members to ease some of the production crunch you and your department are under. I’d like a rundown of the responsibilities of the people in your department so that I can see who’s doing what and where some gaps might be. Since I’d like to get this process underway soon, how possible would it be to get this to me by tomorrow afternoon or earlier? After I take a look at it, I’d love to sit down with you to hear your ideas for resolving this. How does that sound?”

The two leaders asked for the same information – but how differently they asked, and how different the result is likely to be! John’s response to the catabolic leader would probably be to question what was going on and to worry about his department and the people under him, and to either put off doing the task or do it in a perfunctory way. His response to the anabolic leader, on the other hand, would most likely be to jump right into the task, do it well, and generate ideas for improvement.

My Challenge to You

Anabolic leaders get results! Over the next month, try sharing instead of giving information, both at work and at home. Those extra few minutes of explanation and getting buy-in can make all the difference.

 

Image courtesy of SMarnad/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Leadership and Participatory Delegation

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teamwork-285x300

In past blog posts, we’ve defined the characteristics of anabolic leaders, who truly “lead” and catabolic leaders, who “manage”.  https://dutraassociates.com//leadership-inspiring-and-motivating-yourself-and-others/  Today, let’s take that discussion further by looking at how each type of leader delegates.

Most of us have learned that delegation is something that’s important for us to do in order to be effective leaders and to get things done. And, it is true. However, anabolic leaders take it a step further. When a catabolic leader delegates a task, the leader typically walks away from the delegation and leaves the team member to carry on without support. On the other hand, when an anabolic leader delegates a task, they participate throughout the delegation process. In this way, the team member knows that they are supported and valued while they are carrying out the work.  Let’s be clear – participating doesn’t mean that the leader needs to do most or even any of the work.  Instead, it implies that the leader is available to her team members when needed and will check in at appropriate times to ensure the task is progressing per plan.  It also demonstrates that the leader is willing to personally do anything that she asks team members to do.

Here’s an example to consider. Imagine the following scenario. A small business owner is expanding from two retail locations to three. The owner of the company assigns tasks to the key team members.  In Catabolic Company A, the owner gets occasional progress reports, but remains out of the picture until everything is done, at which point the team is either praised or reprimanded based on what they’ve accomplished. In Anabolic Company B, the owner not only follows up frequently with the team, but is also on hand to pitch in and work alongside them, letting everyone know that she is part of the team, and that she is willing to do whatever she asks them to do. The team knows where they are at all stages of the project, because the leader has been “in the trenches” with them.  In which company are the team members more likely to be engaged and want to do a good job? Which leader is more likely to gain respect and loyalty, and inspire greatness in others?

This month, how can you show those around you that you are a participant, not merely a delegator?

Leadership: Inspiring and Motivating Yourself and Others

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Leadership

As leaders, inspiring and motivating yourself and others is critical to creating transformational and sustainable results. Yet, what allows you to do this well and do it consistently?

Research has shown that how well you are able to lead is connected to your level of energy. Well, what exactly do we mean by “energy”? There are essentially two types of energy: Anabolic energy is building, constructive energy that allows leaders to build strong relationships with their teams, clients, colleagues, etc. Catabolic energy is destructive and repels success in relationships, business dealings, etc.

Recognizing and understanding the characteristics and impact of catabolic and anabolic leaders will allow you to choose the type of leader you want to be.

Let’s start off with looking at the overall style of the catabolic leader. This leader manages. If we look at the definition of “manage” we find that it means, “to handle, direct, govern, or control in action or use”, and “to dominate or influence”. So, catabolic leaders tell others what to do and how to do it. By maintaining control, others with whom this leader interacts are in a non-powerful position and as a result, probably aren’t particularly engaged in their work.

An anabolic leader, on the other hand, leads. Consulting our dictionary again, we find that “lead” means “to go before or with to show the way”, and “to guide in direction, course and action”. This sounds much more supportive and empowering and it is. The anabolic leader doesn’t control or push people, but instead, inspires and motivates through words, actions and personal example.

Anabolic leaders believe that everyone has their own answers and gifts that they bring to all aspects of their lives. Consequently, there is no need to tell people what to do.

In the coming weeks, as you interact with those around you, notice when you are leading and when you are managing and pay attention to the results.