… And who carries the key responsibility for it?
Employee engagement is a psychological commitment – to take ownership for one’s work and to go the extra mile.
Engaged employees learn more, grow faster, and show more initiative than employees who are not. They are committed to finding solutions, solve problems, and improve business processes.
Therefore, employee engagement is strongly linked to business performance!
How can there be big differences in engagement between teams of the same company, when all employees in those teams are subject to the same organisational culture, the same HR policies and the same economic conditions?
The difference is the manager. The manager has the single most impact on the engagement and the happiness of an employee.
“Know me, focus me, care about me and inspire me”
Great managers…
- … Know their team members. They identify their strengths and how to use these, and get to know people as individuals, not just employees.
- … Provide focus by setting clear outcome-based expectations and giving regular and ongoing feedback on how they’re doing.
- … Show genuine care for their people, helping them overcome obstacles and supporting them to reach their goals.
- … Provide inspiration and context, helping each person understand how their role contributes to the company’s overall performance.
A company who understands this and invests in developing those very managers, retains talents and is an attractive employer for high potential candidates.
This post was inspired by and based on Debbie Whitaker’s article in the HRreview in December 2008.
Filed under: Articles on Recognition in the workplace, Employee Engagement Tagged: | Employee Engagement, people management
