I often talk about "disengaged and actively disengaged" employees and the first question I usually get is, “what is the difference between the two.” Disengaged workers are those employees that are not adding any type of contribution to the organization, knowingly or not. These folks are just going through the motions of their work day. Actively disengaged employees are those individuals that are knowingly calling off work, stealing from the company or participating in behavior that hurts the organization.
Hopefully your organization doesn't employ too many of these folks, but the odds are not good. A 2013 Gallup poll revealed 70 percent of American workers fit into these two categories. Therefore, the next question leadership must ask is how do we fix it?
There are three ways to reengage!
1. Get your Management Team to Ask Employers How to Make Improvements.
Those on the front lines are more apt to understand what is working and what isn't, but most of the time they aren't asked! When the organization asks and implements these ideas, employees naturally feel a stronger connection to the organization and want to do their best every day. There are whole systems that are designed to make the most of getting improvement suggestions from employees.
2. Build Trust.
If your leadership team doesn't instill trust in the organization’s employees you are dead in the water. While top tier employees will always move forward with their best effort, you will eventually lose them to better organizations. What you are left with will be employees who have been burned or have seen what happens to others and are no longer invested in trying to make a difference. Building trust is the single most important element leadership must possess.
3. Show Appreciation. Regularly.
It is critical that your employees know they are appreciated. I talk a lot about getting employees to add value to their positions and why it is so important. When you have an employee that gets this concept, they are worth their weight in gold! Tell them and show them they make a difference, not just once a year during performance reviews, but all the time. For those employees that don't understand what it means to add value teach them and then reward them for it. It seems that these "value adders" are scares in today's workplace, but it doesn't have to be that way. Management just needs to add value to those employee’s lives. As the saying goes "It's a two way street."
With 70 percent of the workforce hating or not caring about their jobs, and it costing businesses over $500 billion each year management needs to take notice. Therefore, leadership must get engaged themselves to solving this problem.
While these three ideas are a great start to changing workplace environments, organizations need to be consistently dealing with these concepts on a larger scale.
These concepts are just some of the ingredients that go into a larger focus called invoking a Professional Intelligence Culture. Give me a call today to see how I can help you reengage your organization.
Best,
Nicole
Hopefully your organization doesn't employ too many of these folks, but the odds are not good. A 2013 Gallup poll revealed 70 percent of American workers fit into these two categories. Therefore, the next question leadership must ask is how do we fix it?
There are three ways to reengage!
1. Get your Management Team to Ask Employers How to Make Improvements.
Those on the front lines are more apt to understand what is working and what isn't, but most of the time they aren't asked! When the organization asks and implements these ideas, employees naturally feel a stronger connection to the organization and want to do their best every day. There are whole systems that are designed to make the most of getting improvement suggestions from employees.
2. Build Trust.
If your leadership team doesn't instill trust in the organization’s employees you are dead in the water. While top tier employees will always move forward with their best effort, you will eventually lose them to better organizations. What you are left with will be employees who have been burned or have seen what happens to others and are no longer invested in trying to make a difference. Building trust is the single most important element leadership must possess.
3. Show Appreciation. Regularly.
It is critical that your employees know they are appreciated. I talk a lot about getting employees to add value to their positions and why it is so important. When you have an employee that gets this concept, they are worth their weight in gold! Tell them and show them they make a difference, not just once a year during performance reviews, but all the time. For those employees that don't understand what it means to add value teach them and then reward them for it. It seems that these "value adders" are scares in today's workplace, but it doesn't have to be that way. Management just needs to add value to those employee’s lives. As the saying goes "It's a two way street."
With 70 percent of the workforce hating or not caring about their jobs, and it costing businesses over $500 billion each year management needs to take notice. Therefore, leadership must get engaged themselves to solving this problem.
While these three ideas are a great start to changing workplace environments, organizations need to be consistently dealing with these concepts on a larger scale.
These concepts are just some of the ingredients that go into a larger focus called invoking a Professional Intelligence Culture. Give me a call today to see how I can help you reengage your organization.
Best,
Nicole
