Provided by: TELUS Health
Employees who are engaged at work—who like their jobs and feel motivated to give it their best—are more productive. Studies have proven that high levels of engagement are linked to retention, better customer service, higher rates of employee commitment, better teamwork, and organizational profitability.
How do you play a role?
As a manager, you are in the best position to improve an employee's engagement. Organizations increasingly hold managers accountable for the level of engagement in the groups they manage. In this article, you will find five ways to encourage and motivate the people you manage to give their best.
1. Give positive feedback often.
Give positive reinforcement right away when someone does a great job. Don’t wait for an annual performance review. Waiting too long reduces the impact and effectiveness of positive feedback. Try to be specific when saying what impressed you. Rather than just saying, “Great job on that presentation,” add, “Your PowerPoint slides captured it very well.”
Reward improvement, not just excellence. It takes time for people to learn and refine their skills, and therefore, they need encouragement while they are improving. Look for opportunities to reinforce your employees’ efforts when they’re making improvements, even if they haven’t yet attained a peak level of performance.
2. Support flexibility as much as your organization allows.
Flexibility is a key factor in employee engagement and job satisfaction, research shows. The more control people have over how, when, and where they do their work, the more satisfied and effective they are likely to be.
Be supportive of flexible work arrangements. The more support you are able to provide in this area, the better. For example, it might mean allowing an employee to change their work hours or work remotely on a full-time or hybrid basis if the job and available technology allow.
Be a role model of work-life fit. Successful managers work at building a culture that promotes work-life balance because they know that doing so pays off. How flexible are you when it comes to responding to people’s work-life needs? Do your employees feel comfortable taking time off from work to attend to personal matters or when they are too ill to work? How well do your own practices align with the culture you want to create for your team, such as taking your breaks, leaving work on time, and using paid time off? Being a role model for work-life balance makes it easier for your team to get work done while reducing stress and meeting their personal and professional obligations.
3. Create a positive and supportive work environment.
Employees perform better for leaders who care about them.
Be sure employees have the resources they need to get the job done. People who have unreasonable workloads can have their sense of engagement worn down over time. If budgets are tight, get creative and advocate on behalf of your employees. Even if you can’t get them everything they need, be sure to get them what you can and see what other accommodations can help to address their needs.
Use high expectations to encourage success. Having high expectations means believing in the members of your team and expecting them to succeed. Numerous studies have shown that when you believe someone will succeed, you tend to give that person precisely the encouragement and support that helps them succeed.
Encourage people to work toward goals that are meaningful to them. Doing so allows them to experience the feeling of success and increases engagement. People like feeling the reward that comes from hard work, and they accomplish more when their successes are acknowledged and appreciated.
Create positive relationships with your team members. You can do this by holding regular one-on-one meetings, giving frequent, meaningful, and constructive feedback, and providing opportunities for growth and flexibility. Feedback should be an ongoing conversation so that everyone understands the team’s goals, how they are going to be achieved, and what is expected
of each team member.
Help people feel connected to the work and the organization. Tie work to organizational objectives so that employees understand the role they play in the bigger picture, as well as to their own career aspirations.
4. Provide ongoing opportunities for learning and growth.
Ongoing development is a critical part of being in the workforce today. Both employees and organizations benefit when employees continue to learn while on the job. But it isn’t just about providing training or formal educational opportunities.
Provide new challenges to help people stay motivated and interested in their jobs. Encourage employees to learn new skills for their work today that will also serve them in the future. Provide opportunities for participating in special projects and initiatives as well as job shadowing, apprenticeships, and mentoring. Every employee should have a personal development plan that reflects their goals and steps to get there.
Encourage employees to come to you with solutions, not just problems. By encouraging employees to think about and propose solutions, you empower them to feel more in control and more invested in the outcomes. By coaching them through their proposed solutions and arriving at something they can act on, you also build employee problem-solving skills that will lead to
smoother workplace functioning over time.
Regularly review career goals with employees. Encourage employees to discuss their goals with you and help them develop a plan to achieve those goals. Ask about their career aspirations so you can identify meaningful learning opportunities. You might ask an employee what they hope to accomplish in the next six months or the next year, or where they want to go with their career
overall.
Help people see the big picture. When employees feel connected to the business and understand how their actions can support it, there is less employee turnover and greater productivity. “If you can explain the whole picture, it connects the meaning to the person,” says Jeremy Kingsley, author of Inspired People Produce Results. Employees who learn about their organization’s work, services, or products (especially the ones they are directly involved in), as well as their customers and competition, are much more likely to be engaged.
5. Offer resources and support to help employees manage stress.
Stress affects energy, performance, retention, and employee engagement. About 40 percent of respondents experienced daily stress, according to a Gallup State of the Global Workplace report. And research shows an association between high levels of stress, low engagement, and higher levels of absenteeism.
Encourage employees to use the resources available to them through work. Remind them to make use of resources to help manage stress and build resilience, such as the Members Assistance Program, and health and wellness programs.
Encourage employees to use their vacation time. Taking time away from work—really away—lowers stress levels and helps employees return to work feeling refreshed.
It’s easy to forget to implement all the best practices mentioned here. Consider writing down an action plan of specific steps you can take to motivate and bring out the best in the people you manage.
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