Employee Engagement

Many executives think that Employee Engagement is a scorecard to look at once or twice a year.  Leaders who have worked in an environment where employee engagement defines the corporate culture realize it is so much more.

Employee Engagement may define the degree to which an employee will dedicate their discretionary effort, energy and creativity generally speaking, but the underlying 5 Elements of what constitutes a corporate culture founded on Employee Engagement creates a dynamic, collaborative and entrepreneurial organization where on average over 80% of team members are highly engaged or engaged.

TRUST

When we talk about Trust in the context of corporate culture, many leaders and team members respond with the cynical, “I trust that my boss doesn’t care.” When we discuss trust in the conversation of employee engagement and a positive corporate culture, we are talking about trusting that coworkers are going to do what they said they were going to do.  Managers are going to allocate resources based on the best interests of the company, not on whim, favoritism or random chance.

Two Way Feedback

Two way feedback, in a corporate culture that has high employee engagement means that there is honesty and transparency in how managers both talk to their direct reports, but more importantly, how they LISTEN.  Feedback in a corporate culture that is effective allows for channels up and down the enterprise to be open.

Workers want to know, clearly, what the expectations are of their performance.  Managers need to be open to hearing what they are doing that interferes with the accomplishment of team’s performance standards.  Executives, too.

Career Development & Training

Surveys have shown that many employees view good training as favorably as vacation time.  Nothing is more concrete and tangible an investment in the individual’s future than training.

Broadly, in a corporate culture that breeds high employee engagement, regular conversations with staff about expectations for performance and pathways for future professional development is a key measure of an effective culture.

Understanding their Role with Client and Corporate Success

Employees with high engagement understand how their performance impacts the customers’ experience of the product or service.  Low employee engagement is often found in teams where the staff have no clue nor care for how their performance affects customers.

Whenever positive or negative feedback is delivered, highly attuned managers seize the moment to improve employee engagement by connecting the dots on the negative to how it decreases value to the client.  Conversely, good leaders connect with dots with praise relative to high levels of performance or goal accomplishment with how that adds value to the customer experience and increases the value capture of the organization.

To be Heard and Valued in Decision Making

Lastly, and most importantly when ReMission Consulting supports clients, companies institutionalize and inculcate within the process listening to and honoring the  Voice of the Team member as influencer with organizational goals, department level goals and individual team member goals.

Staff want to know that their voice matters.  Many times, it is within Town Hall meetings at department levels client organizations capture the best, most easily adopted ideas.  Often, team members who contribute these ideas comment, “I’ve brought this idea up a thousand times before, and it’s never gone anywhere!”

Formalizing a process within your corporate culture where good ideas come to thrive will drive cost reductions, process improvements and increase employee engagement as a side benefit.

Teams who take on the challenges of addressing these 5 Concepts have seen marked, concrete and significant gains.  Some have decreased employee losses, others have had triple digit gains in revenue growth, while still other clients have used these concepts to take capacity utilization rates from low 60%’s to mid 80%’s.

The process is the key, and with ReMission Consulting, Inc. your team can take the challenge of employee engagement head on by proactively and positively managing your corporate culture.

Call us at 603.767.2426 or email Barry@remissionconsulting.com for more information or to discuss our process and your opportunities.  Visit us athttp://www.ReMissionConsulting.com