As a manager, do you measure employee engagement? Do you wait for a complaint to come across your desk, or are you proactive about it?
An article I was reading recently about employee engagement got me thinking about a former working environment in which leadership (or lack thereof) contributed to a rather hostile working environment.
I never truly realized how important strong leadership is and how a lack of support and care for employees’ engagement can cause a situation to deteriorate so rapidly. But that was the case in this particular office — employees constantly feared an outburst or combative email from those in charge, and as a result, walked on eggshells at all times. Employees often were not given the information they needed to execute a task at a superior level and then chastised for it later on. It left all of us feeling like every situation was a lose-lose.
It wasn’t conducive to producing top-notch work, and it left most employees jaded and dissatisfied with their current situation. Open communication wasn’t even an option, as those who tried to voice their concerns were quickly shut down.
I say all of this to say that if you think employee engagement — and when I say that, I don’t just mean that they show up every day and go through the motions — isn’t an issue that needs to be addressed, it might be a sign that you’ve waited too long to start a dialogue with your team.
Take some time to sit down with each of your employees, one-on-one, for just 15 minutes and ask them questions like:
- Are you happy with your current job duties and responsibilities?
- Is there something you wish you could be doing?
- Have I given you all of the resources you need to accomplish your goals?
- What’s one thing you’d like to see done differently?
These simple questions can go a long way in the eyes of your employees — it shows you care enough as a manager to find out what makes them tick and what they think could use improvement.
Are there any questions you’d add to the list? Let us know in the comments section.
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Photo credit: aMichiganMom
