Involve everyone. Employees might feel fearful about their job security and wonder about their future with the company. Help employees understand why changes need to happen and involve them in problem-solving. Finding opportunities to bring employees into planning, cost-cutting or other improvement efforts will help them feel like they have more control over their future.
Address factors that are controllable. Align senior leadership on the strategy, structure, process and people to enable a culture of change. Address the reasons why employees are becoming disengaged by focusing on their needs. Instill accountability and trust within the organization.
Set tough but realistic goals. Motivate employees by making goals achievable and in their span of control. Set clear expectations and communicate changes as roles within the company shift. Focus on driving customer engagement.
Empower front-line managers and supervisors. Though maintaining engagement at the executive level is crucial as leaders steer a company during rough patches, local managers have the greatest impact on employee engagement levels. Gallup finds that supervisors who work for engaged leaders are 39% more likely to be engaged, and employees who work for engaged managers are 59% more likely to be engaged.
Focus on strengths. Empower employees to maximize their talents and do what they do best. That means encouraging employees to use their strengths every day. Teams that focus on strengths every day have 12.5% greater productivity, and people who use their strengths every day are six times more likely to be engaged on the job.
The most successful organizations that Gallup has worked with in these situations have one thing in common: Senior leaders and managers are ready, willing and able to tackle their workplace engagement problems. These leadership teams understand that change makes employees feel uncertain about their future with the company, and even the company’s financial future itself, which in turn affects their engagement. As executives rethink short-term security and long-term growth, it’s crucial to hardwire engagement as a core performance strategy.
