Creating Engagement — An Action Plan For Managers
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In MRA’s “Leading An Engaged Workforce (LEW)” series we define employee engagement as, “The extent to which employees are committed to their job, organization, manager, co-workers, and working both harder and smarter rather than merely showing up to do what they’re obliged to do. Engaged employees contribute discretionary effort in accomplishing their objectives.” Then, in our LEW series we identify the seven drivers that managers can impact. They are, Pride in the Organization, Job Fit, Nature of the Job, Trust-Integrity-Credibility, Supportive Culture, Emotional Connection, and Employee Development. So, why is this topic of engagement important?

In his book Management Challenges for the 21st Century, Peter Drucker said, “The most important, and indeed the truly unique, contribution of management in the 20th Century was the fifty-fold increase in the productivity of the manual worker in manufacturing. The most important contribution management needs to make in the 21st Century is similarly to increase the productivity of knowledge work and the knowledge worker.”

Drucker also wrote about how the means of production is no longer solely found machines in which all we have to do is buy people’s back and hands. Today the means of production is more often found in people’s brains and hearts — and the concept of engagement speaks to people’s brains and hearts. In MRA’s LEW series we have provided our answer to the challenges Drucker identified.

There are three players when it comes to employee engagement. The employee himself provides the starting point. Secondly, the organization can support or tear down engagement levels by the structures and policies it has in place. Finally, the employee’s manager has a huge role as well. The focus here will be on what managers can do to impact employee engagement. Let’s look at more deeply at each of the seven engagement drivers and how managers can take action today and have a positive impact upon their employee’s engagement levels at your organization.

1. Pride in the Organization
The manager positively, honestly, and continually communicates your organizational strategies, values, and successes in the delivery of your product or service to employees. What a manager can do is talk with her employees about what brought them to your organization — drilling down to the employee’s values, mission, and definitions of success. Then the manager and employee discuss how those values, mission, and definitions of success are being realized via your organizational success.

When genuine success stories are shared, employees have a sense of pride in being part of your organization. They recommend your organization to others.

2. Job Fit
The manager makes clear how employees’ performance align with your overall company strategy and goals while positively reinforcing success. This involves making sure all information that would benefit employees gets to them as quickly as possible. Helping employees navigate and adjust to inter-departmental and organizational politics by anticipating roadblocks and planning accordingly.

When employees know their contribution is appreciated and is important to the success of your organization and understand how their role is a part of the bigger picture, they are more engaged.

3. Nature of the Job
The manager structures the employee’s job with clear expectations that take into account the interest of employees and makes sure there is a “skill match.” Marcus Buckingham says in his book, The one thing you need to know, “[Managers] need to discover what is unique about each person—and to capitalize on this uniqueness. Each of your direct reports are unique and your job is not to eradicate this uniqueness — it’s to rearrange things so you can capitalize on it. Turn talents into performance.”

Employees with managers who can do what Buckingham suggests, derive emotional and mental stimulation from the day-to-day content and routine of the job.

4. Trust-Integrity-Credibility
The manager protects his personal credibility by following through on commitments and by giving honest and complete answers to questions and challenges. Further, if a manager messes up, he owns up to it and does what is possible to make amends (understanding that there is a limit to how many times and to what degree you can mess up). Leaders must always remember that people judge actions and not intentions.

When employees know that their manager is consistent they can easily follow that manager.

5. Supportive Culture
The manager capitalizes on everyone’s strengths, lets them know their importance to the team, communicates in ways that shows the team is valuable, ties individual success to group success, celebrates achievements, and responds to the needs of the team. If you have read the book ,em>Fish!, or have seen the video, it captures the essence of building a supportive culture. Fish! teaches that managers must: (A) Encourage and have fun while demonstrating results, (B) Find ways to make peoples day, C) Be in the moment, and (D) Choose a positive attitude.

Employing these tactics make employees feel they have the willing assistance of team members in achieving goals and there will be a sense of team at your organization.

6. Emotional Connection
The manager has a rapport with his employees. This is all about the concept of “Emotional Intelligence” (articulated by Daniel Goleman in his book Emotional Intelligence). A manager has to understand how his emotions help or hinder him in his interactions with employees and he needs to know how his employees perceive him (and adjust accordingly). Also, a manager has to develop an awareness of his employees needs then respond with an appropriate balance of meeting personal needs while assuring professional accomplishment.

If employees have a positive rapport with their manager they are willing to “give more” at your organization.

7. Employee Development
The manager actively assists in and identifies a viable career path for her employees. In today’s flat organizations what options are there beyond promotion by grade or position? There is the straight-forward but important path of being more effective in a current role. Other options? Moving to a different department — a lateral move. What’s the classic business model for success? Find a void and fill it. Help employees create a new job. Mentoring fellow employees is another career path option.

When managers discuss the various options — beyond just promotions - employees see a viable career path at your organization.

Employee engagement is all about discretionary effort, employees going above and beyond even when they don’t need to. Many of our organizations employ people who have career options and have more control over the means of production than ever before—they can take their knowledge and skills anywhere. Managers who use the above engagement strategies will be doing their part to help develop employees who want to work for your organization rather than your competition.