TOP TIPS: The 10 Cs of employee engagement
To reach the heady heights of success as a leader requires the influence of and support from the communications function. Help your leaders to master the factors of employee engagement, including credibility, confidence and control.
by Gerard H. Seijts (right), associate professor of
organizational behavior and Dan Crim, doctoral student at the Richard Ivey School of Business, at the University of Western Ontario.
A professor at an executive education program on leadership told the following joke: A CEO was asked how many people work in his company. "About half of them," he responded.
If people aren't engaged, how can leaders attain the business objectives that are critical to improving organizational performance? The 10 Cs of employee engagement should help:
1. Connect
Leaders must actively show that they value employees. Employee-focused
initiatives such as profit-sharing and work-life balance
initiatives are important.
Employee engagement is a direct reflection of how employees feel about their relationship with the boss, and staff look at whether organizations and leaders walk the talk when they proclaim that, "Our employees are our most valuable asset".
Not giving people the knowledge and tools to be successful is
de-motivating and unethical.
2. Career
Leaders should provide challenging work with
opportunities for career advancement. Most people want to try new things in their job.
For example, do you provide job rotation for top talent? Are your people assigned stretch goals? Do leaders hold people accountable for progress?
Good leaders challenge employees but, at the same time instill confidence that the challenges can be met. Not giving people the knowledge and tools to be successful is de-motivating and unethical; it's also likely to lead to stress, frustration and lack of engagement.
3. Clarity
Leaders must communicate a clear vision and the goals for the division, unit or team.
Clarity about what the organization stands for, what it wants to achieve and how people can contribute to the organization's success isn't always evident.
4. Convey
Leaders clarify their expectations about employees and provide feedback
on their function in the organization.
Good leaders establish processes and procedures that help people master important tasks and achieve goals. Good leaders work daily to improve the skills of their people and create small wins that help the team, unit or organization perform at its best.
Exceptional leaders give recognition, and they do so a lot.
5. Congratulate
Surveys indicate that employees feel that they receive
immediate feedback when their performance is poor, or below
expectations, but that praise for strong performance is, unfortunately, less common. Exceptional leaders give recognition, and they do so a lot.
6. Contribute
People want to know that their input matters and that they're
contributing to the organization in a meaningful way. Good leaders help people see and feel how they're contributing
to the organization's success and future.
7. Control
Do leaders consult with their employees with regard to their needs? Are
leaders flexible and attuned to the needs of the employees as well as
the organization?
A feeling of "being in on things" and of being given opportunities to participate in decision-making often reduces stress; it also creates trust and a culture where people want to take ownership of problems and their solutions.
Being cared about by colleagues is also a strong predictor of employee engagement.
8. Collaborate
When employees work in teams and have the trust
and co-operation of their team members, they outperform individuals and
teams that lack good relationships.
Great leaders are team-builders; they create an environment that fosters trust and collaboration. Being cared about by colleagues is also a strong predictor of employee engagement. So, leaders must rally individuals to collaborate on organizational and departmental goals.
9. Credibility
Leaders should strive to maintain a company's reputation and demonstrate
high ethical standards.
WestJet Airlines employees believe so strongly in what WestJet is trying to do and are so excited about its strong performance record that more than 85% commit their own money into its shares.
10. Confidence
Good leaders help create confidence in a company by being exemplars of
high ethical and performance standards.
To illustrate, consider what happened to the former CEO of a major airline company. He made the restoration of corporate ethics in the organization a top priority but was soon after embarrassed by the disclosure of an extramarital affair. His poor judgment impaired his ability to lead and he lost a key ingredient for success – credibility.
Adapted with permission from an article in the Ivey Business Journal published by the University of Western Ontario and The Globe and Mail, 2006.
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