How to Start Employee-Engagement Activities Right Now
Build strong employee bonds through meaningful engagement that encourages commitment, trust and retention with these 7 techniques.
#1 Share your Vision with your Employees
It is essential to involve your employees in decision-making processes on a regular basis. Sharing the company’s vision and getting their buy-in is one way to achieve a culture of inclusiveness. This is how employees get to feel as if they are important to the company, and take responsibility for their work, because they feel valued and respected.
#2 Sharing Company Details Shows Trust
Build trust with employees by sharing the company’s financial status with them. This level of transparency shows how much you trust your staff members, and proves to them how important their contributions are in making the business profitable and sustainable, which they will willingly return. By doing this, your vision and goals are made clearer, promoting greater commitment from your staff members. Josh Carlyle, CEO of the Writings Guru has proven this to be an effective strategy.
#3 Build a Strong Team Spirit
One way to build a strong cultural team spirit is by hosting business events that involve all employees. Event arrangements can include sport’s days, hiking trails or games at the office. Sponsored corporate team building activities help to endorse physical fitness, which supports mental clarity. Stress is reduced, your team is motivated, and productivity then increases.
#4 Introduce a Mentoring Program
Most employees want to continuously improve their skill set. This can be achieved through mentoring and coaching. Management shouldn’t wait to be approached to initiate such programs, since these are mutually beneficial. Introduce an ongoing program for collective growth that improves the individual and team culture as a strategy to harness internal skills, enhance engagement and drive business performance.
#5 Continued Training Equals Greater Employee Value
Create an environment focused on continuous training. This is an important way for the business to stay relevant, and to provide regular opportunities for the professional and personal development of your employees. The financial resources invested in this strategy will pay dividends in the increased productivity generated by people who feel valued, and add to your bottom line.
#6 Encourage Employee Engagement
Develop a culture where your employees feel confident about sharing their ideas. Being heard and seeing that their ideas are adopted, will further enhance feelings of inclusion. When employees feel valued, their commitment and creativity increase. This process can be executed in a personal, open manner or feedback can be anonymous. As Jack Donaghy stated, ‘There are no bad ideas, only great ideas that go horribly wrong.”
#7 Keep Your Lines of Communication Open
Hold regular meetings for management where they share their reports, resources and ideas for improvements. This is a key strategy to guarantee that communication stays open, and for you to know what is going on with your employees and their departments. If these lines of communication are closed, the business will certainly suffer. Sharing reports and ideas on a weekly basis through DR meetings is vital to maintaining positive relations and business goals.
Engaged and valued employees not only improve retention rates, but also add to the long-term sustainability and growth of a business. Keeping your finger on the pulse through employee engagement is a strong strategy to ensure that your long-term vision is clearly shared and successfully executed.