4 Tips To Improve Employee Engagement

Employee engagement is a goal of every business or company. One of the best definitions I’ve read of what employee engagement is comes from Kevin Kruse in an article in Forbes.

He describes it as an employee’s willingness to go the extra mile without being asked. It represents an employee’s feelings of dedication and personal belonging to their place of work.

But how do you go about achieving that goal? Let’s look at four tips to improve employee engagement.

1. A Sense of Trust

To be engaged, employees have to trust their leaders and organization. Trust begins with open, honest communication and ends with delivering on your commitments. Do that and they’ll know that you’ll uphold the integrity and core values of the organization.

2. Challenge and Innovation

Employees are at their best when they’re being challenged. When you challenge someone, the underlying message you send is that you believe in them—you feel that they are capable of solving the problem. And this inspires them to improve and rise to the task, often exceeding expectations. Boredom is terrible for employee engagement, but workers aren’t bored when they’re coming up with innovative solutions to problems.

3. Individual Attention

Customized attention is necessary to cultivating engaged employees. The Platinum Rule we speak of in coaching applies here. Rather than “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” (the Golden Rule), “Do unto others as they would have you do unto them.” Don’t be afraid to accommodate someone for a special request or problem. Cater to the individual, not the job role.

4. Strong Leadership

Effective employee engagement begins with strong leaders who live the company values and be committed doing what it takes to engage employees: providing clear instruction, provide regular, timely and constructive feedback and celebrate successes.

What are your tips for creating an engaged workforce?