Companies that have not caught up to modern employee engagement strategies often feel frustrated their vision is not shared and executed by all of the people on their team. But effective business leaders know that in order for that to happen, employees need to feel valued, engaged, and like their work contributes to the greater whole.
Where many go wrong, even in forward-thinking companies, is in assuming employee engagement means bigger paychecks, better benefits, and more flexible work policies. Alone, those strategies are not enough to keep most people engaged, competitive, and productive.
A true people strategy includes a wholistic set of shared qualities that is successfully carried out across the organization at all levels.
Convey Your Vision
Employees want to feel a connection to the purpose of their work. How what they do affects customers, stakeholders, and perhaps even the world is a key quality that needs to be clear to each person within the company.
Tying performance indicators to a larger vision for the organization is a concrete way to give each employee a stake in achieving a greater purpose.
Share Your Institutional Values
Do employees know the guiding principles the organization was built upon? While many leaders think so, people in the ranks might not agree.
In order to convey values, they need to be part of the company culture, demonstrated from the first interaction a potential employee has, through the hiring process and training, and continued with performance evaluations and leadership development.
Articulate Expectations
This is another area where business leaders and employees are often on different pages. The C-suite feels that they’ve conveyed employee expectations clearly and regularly, while staff members feel that objectives are murky or always changing.
Expectations as well as position requirements and goals need to be articulated often and from a variety of sources within the organization so that everyone feels like they know what success means and how to achieve it.
Build Trust
Honest, open communication and follow through are hallmarks of employee engagement. If the company or its leaders cannot be trusted, people will not be as engaged or productive.
Trust in action means honoring agreements, clearly communicating changes, and keeping one’s word.
Create a Culture of Innovation
Leaders who celebrate innovation inspire employees to increasingly strive for it. However, that means also allowing risk-taking and failure as part of the process, which can be a challenge for many leaders. But the benefits of innovation, including the increase in engagement it brings about, are well worth the challenge.
An organization’s people strategy is one of its greatest assets. Fundamental to that strategy is a modern employee engagement plan that stresses shared values, honesty, innovation, expectations, and vision. To create a strong people strategy based on employee engagement within your company, contact us today.
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