A Gallup study found that “13% of employees across 142 countries worldwide are engaged in their jobs — that is, they are emotionally invested in and focused on creating value for their organizations every day.”
Of the remainder, 63% are not engaged and 24% are actively disengaged. Something about the way we work today just isn’t clicking.
The Gallup survey also tells us that employee engagement and business outcomes, such as customer growth, profitability, and overall productivity, go hand in hand. For example, organizations with an average of 9.3 engaged employees for every actively disengaged employee in 2010–2011 experienced 147% higher earnings per share than their competition.
Companies aiming for market leadership must first win the hearts and minds of their employees. If you can increase your employees’ level of engagement, you set your company up for success.
Where to start? The answer is not just to hire great managers and make good use of the skills and talents of every employee; it is more closely tied to the organization’s core purpose, leadership principles and overall culture. Ultimately, it is about connection—how employees connect to their colleagues and the organization as a whole.
Historically, emphasis has been placed on productivity and not on creating an environment and encouraging a set of behaviors that help unlock employee talent, innovation and creativity. In order to establish an engaging culture for your team, you have to structure your workplace with these things in mind. Here are four key aspects to consider:
PURPOSE
- Make sure that you have a distinct core purpose that is understood by all employees.
- Bring the company’s core values to life and make them a crucial part of every workday.
- Share progress in real-time with all employees.
PERFORMANCE
- Allow employees responsibility for outcomes rather than undertaking specific tasks.
- Give employees the responsibility to make immediate decisions that impact customer experience.
- Remove burdensome controls and processes that delay decision-making and execution.
PEOPLE
- Breakdown any organizational silos so that information and knowledge can flow between teammates and teams.
- Promote cooperation and talent amplification by understanding the skills and expertise of team members and connecting them with the colleagues and projects where they can contribute the most.
- Provide every employee with the opportunity to spend time on creative and innovative projects.
PRODUCTIVITY
- Encourage more spontaneous meetings and remove the latency associated with waiting for responses or planned meetings.
- Move to a collaboration culture where time waste is minimized and effort is focused on valuable activities.
- Allow team members more flexibility in their own time management.
Truly working together with a team is the glue that brings employees together and creates a sense of belonging and engagement. Whether your team is co-located or distributed across cities and continents, working in Sococo can build teams and boost employee engagement.
