By now you might have a huge wish list of things you'd like to implement this year. Or you might just have a few key initiatives that will help move you forward and build engagement. We're now going to look at how you can turn these into ACTION!
Make engagement your priority
We've seen plenty of engagement plans created and discarded when "the day job" gets in the way. But the "day job" gets so much easier if you have a motivated, empowered engaged team all pulling in the right direction. So don't put this off, make your engagement plan a priority.
Include everyone
In week one we discussed that employee engagement needs to be everywhere in your business and run through everything you do. So if you have gaps in engagement you'd like to close, it can't just be a handful of people who are making this happen and it especially can't just be one leader / HR Manager.
Share your vision with everyone and make sure your managers and leaders are sharing . Make it clear you'll be measuring their success on employee engagement with a particular focus on what you're expecting from them.
Assemble your team
As a leader, your vision and your mindset are vital to making this spread BUT let your employees be involved in the process. You need to assemble a team of people who can tell you what is important, what's going to make a difference and help you make it happen.
The key players you need in this team include:
- The 'highly engaged' - the ones who love your business, love working there and can cheerlead for you
- The 'disengaged' - the ones who are vocally disengaged and will give you the feedback you might not want to hear
- The 'influencers' - those people who get things done and have great networks
- The 'quiet ones' - use this opportunity to engage those who aren't as ready to share their opinion.
You now have a team who are going to help you improve engagement. They are there to share your ideas and observations from the previous weeks bring their own contributions. You can identify priorities, actions, timeframes and review periods. This is where you breath life into your action and plan and set about making it happen.
Get some quick wins in first, to gain traction and success. Identify what you can do that will visibly demonstrate something has changed.
If you get stuck
From time to time you will encounter roadblocks, but if addressed quickly, they can be overcome. If you can't, you need to explain why. Demonstrate that you've heard it, considered it and explain what you can do / have done / can't do. Use it as an opportunity to build trust and transparency.
Ignoring things that you can’t do anything about will undermine your efforts. If you’ve taken time to listen to your team and asked for their contribution, ignoring their feedback can undo your good intentions.
Leading your team
In leading this team of change agents, you can use the principles of the engagement model to drive further engagement.
These include;
- Creating clear direction and leading by example
- Allowing people to be heard and making it easy for them to contribute
- Delivering inspirational leadership to bring out the best in them creating an environment where they can succeed
- Recognising (and rewarding if appropriate) achievements and success
- Providing challenges that stretch personal development
- Share success so your team become real ambassadors for your business
- Create a safe environment where they can share their opinions, concerns and ideas
- Listen to what they need to support them and go make it happen
Need some help creating your engagement plan, getting your team behind it, or making it happen? Ten Space can help victoria@tenspace.co.uk.
