Employee Engagement Ideas
Posted on Mon, Feb 06, 2012
By Scott Weighart, Director of Learning & Development
Lately I’ve been trying to develop a new habit of getting to the gym by 5:45 AM several days a week. I’ve been a baby about waking up a little earlier, so I’m not always in the best mood when I scan my card at the gym.
The other morning I shuffled in. Before I could scan my card—which would make my name pop up for the front desk attendant to see—she greeted me with a bright “Good morning!” Then, much to my surprise, she said, “It’s Scott, right? How are you doing today?”
This struck me. Here it was, some ungodly hour of the morning. She had only been at the desk a couple of times before when I had come in. Yet she remembered me and made a point of greeting me personally and with positive energy—despite the fact that I had only grumbled a hello before.
As I went through my usual elliptical exercise that morning, I felt a little more energized than usual. What she had done was a small gesture, but it made me happier to be there. On the way out, I made a point of thanking her for giving me an energy boost, and I also resolved that I would come back the next morning with a more enthusiastic greeting for her.
This experience makes me think about the nature of energy and how it relates to ideas for employee engagement—a big economic issue these days. How do employees—or customers—become engaged or disengaged? Here are three employee engagement ideas for you:
1. Query your key players about employee engagement
Our president, David Casullo, is publishing a book in a few weeks called Leading the High-Energy Culture: What the Best CEOs Do to Create an Atmosphere Where Employees Flourish. The book features a series of practical steps that leaders can take to energize their employees. One step is to “query the key players.” You need to seek different perspectives on your company in a forum that feels safe to those that you interview. With the process described in the book, you’ll understand that your people are yearning to be engaged…. And they’ll help you understand how to make it happen.
2. Break the big goal of employee engagement into a series of small steps.
No one speech or conversation is going to be the miracle drug to improve employee engagement. That’s just unrealistic. You need a series of words and deeds over time. When we provide executive coaching to leaders, we break big goals into a series of specific actions over months of coaching. The goal that seemed like Mt. Everest eventually gets conquered—very strategically and not overnight.
3. Start taking small steps TODAY to energize your people.
As with my example of going to the gym, it doesn’t necessarily take much to tip someone’s mood from negative to positive. Some employee engagement ideas are very simple… but how often do you do the following?
- Catch someone doing something right.
- Take a minute to solicit input from someone who typically just takes orders
- No matter how smart you are, slow yourself down to listen and ask questions instead of jumping to an answer.
- Make the effort to learn people’s names and greet them personally.
That last one worked for me! That makes sense, because implementing employee engagement ideas is like going to the gym. You have to commit to do it regularly if it’s going to have a real impact.