Nine ways to engage your team
It has never been more important for business leaders to stop dismissing internal customer care as 'soft and unimportant'.
The following is a list of nine employee management tips for creating and sustaining employee engagement:
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Let go of any negative opinions you may have about your employees. Approach each of them as a source of unique knowledge with something valuable to contribute to the company.
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Make sure employees have everything they need to do their jobs. Just as marketplace and customer needs change often, so do your employees' needs.
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Clearly communicate what's expected of employees - what the company values and vision are, and how the company defines success. Employees can't perform well or be productive if they don't know exactly what it is they're there to do, and the part they play in the overall success of the company.
- Get to know your employees - especially their goals, their stressors, what motivates them and how they each define success. Show an interest in their well-being and do what it takes to enable them to feel more fulfilled.
- Make sure they are trained and retrained in problem solving and conflict resolution and communication skills. These critical skills will help them interact better with you, their co-workers, customers and suppliers.
- Constantly ask how you are doing in your employees' eyes. It can be difficult for managers to request employee feedback, and it can be equally if not more challenging for an employee to give the person who evaluates them an honest response. To become stronger at this, managers should begin dialogues with employees using conversation starters such as "It's one of my goals to constantly improve myself as a manager. What would you like to see me do differently?" and "What could I be doing to make your job easier?". Be sure to accept feedback graciously and to express appreciation.
- Pay attention to company stories and rituals. Are people laughing at each other or with each other? Do they repeat stories of success of stories of shame? Stay away from participating in discussions that are destructive to people or the organization, and keep the success stories alive.
- Reward and recognise employees in ways that are meaningful to them (which is half the reason why getting to know them is so important). Remember to celebrate both accomplishments and efforts to give employees working on long-term goals more of a boost.
- Be consistent in the long term. If you start an engagement initiative and then drop it your efforts will backfire, creating employee estrangement. There's a definite connection between an employee's commitment to an initiative and a manager's commitment to supporting it. A manager's ongoing commitment to keeping people engaged, involved in and excited about the work they do and the challenges they face must be a daily priority.
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