Empower, Enrich, Engage

Engagement within a workplace is often confused with fun and activities. It is therefore often perceived by the number of social gatherings you go on, or the number of enjoyable activities that take place within your work environment. This are things such as a ping pong table or a drinks trolley on Friday afternoons. Now, although these are all great ways for your team to get to know one another, and encourage creativity within the team. It is also important to understand that there are other ways of making your team engage more at work.

So, how else can you engage your team members?

The key aspect to remember here is that an engaged team are ready to go the extra mile. This therefore means they are less likely to wait to be told to do something. They will do something because they genuinely want to. Things such as staying late to finish a project, or going above and beyond their job responsibilities.

Strong connections

Team members that feel a sense of connection to an aspect of your business, such as their manager, a fellow team member, or the overall business vision and culture, are more likely to want to be engaged in the day-to-day activity of the business. The connection can be made through showing that you care for your team. Something as simple as encouraging them to take breaks, for example, would show that you want what is best for their overall health in the long-term, as opposed to burning them out for a quick profit.

Make their opinion matter

Feedback. The one word that can change team engagement within a workplace. From small questions such as ‘What does the team want to order for lunch?’ to bigger decisions such as, ‘What office design concept do you think will look best?’. By asking for their involvement on these matters, you can demonstrate to your team that their opinion matters. If your team feel they aren’t being listened to, they may feel trapped – reducing creativity, productivity, and essentially, overall revenue.

Inclusion

This ties in with how included they feel within the business. If the business has a win, do all members of your team feel like they have contributed to that win? If not, it may not be because they do not care about the success. It may alternatively be because they are not aware of the importance it brings to the business. If you bring on a new client, for example, are you sharing how much the monthly revenue will be, or simply stating that a new client will be starting with you next month? How can your team be excited and celebrate a new client if they do not know the benefits this new client will bring the business?

By making each member of your team feel personally included, you are making them want to be a part of the successes and allowing them to strive to be celebrated themselves. Whether this is by hitting targets or bringing in new clients, either way it will benefit your business in a positive manner.

Career growth

What are you doing to ensure that you are bringing people along in your business? No one wants to be left behind their colleagues, and this correlates with engagement. If you have two team members at the same level fighting to prove themselves, they are automatically engaged with winning, making them inclined to be more productive. 

However, on the other side of the spectrum, there may be a team member with no competition, and therefore no ambition to grow, to train or to efficiently complete their tasks. They are effectively less engaged. How do you turn this around without the need to hire another person to compete with them? Find out what it is that drove them to be where they are in their career. See where they want to be in five years’ time and help them achieve that. Make them excited to come to work, to be able to learn and accomplish their overall goals, which consequently will assist your business in achieving its goals.

Clarifying goals

Over time, each team member’s career goals may become unclear, or may steer off course. It is therefore important to clarify these goals with each team member regularly. You can do this by checking in to offer any assistance or guidance they may need. If a team member feels that their goals are no longer achievable, you will quite often find them less engaged with their work and the overall success of the business. Boosting your team’s morale by helping them achieve their goals will increase their productivity levels and their overall engagement within the business.

Can engagement be measured?

Engagement is hard to measure directly. It correlates with the satisfaction of your team at work. In addition to how motivated they are to come to work each day. Ask yourself this – what motivates your team to come to work each day, and how can you improve this further?

Chew on this:

How will you make sure all of your team are equally engaged?