Getting Your Leadership Style on the Right Path to Successful Employee Engagement

For every leader, at some point in their career, they will ask themselves the question, “What am I doing to properly engage my employees?” If you aren’t sure, the answer is probably “not enough.” For many leaders, proper employee engagement gets lost in the day-to-day tensions of making vital decisions and putting out fires. But should employee engagement be ignored? Not if you value profitability, employee retention and productivity, it shouldn’t. 

Employee Engagement—What does the Research Say?

We’ve all seen the stats on employee engagement…and if you haven’t, the numbers may be startling. According to a recent survey of U.S. workers conducted by the Gallup Management Journal, 76% of employees surveyed admit to being under-engaged—and in times of economic stress, keeping your employees engaged becomes even more difficult and extremely important to a company’s success. 

Is Your Engagement Plan on the Right Track?

Here are some key indicators to determine if your employee engagement plan is on the right track:

• Does my leadership style promote active feedback?
• Is the leadership style of my organization relationship-based? 
• Can my employees trust their Senior Leadership Team?
• Does my organization breed a culture of development and innovation?
• Do I take pride in my organization’s accomplishments, and do I relay that pride to my employees? 
• Do my employees have an incentive to directly promote company success?
• Are my employees emotionally connected to company success?
• Are my employees rewarded for their innovative ideas and contributions? 

If you answered “no,” or if you are not sure how to answer any of these questions, then most likely you aren’t doing enough to ensure your employees are fully engaged, and that could be costing you valuable time and money. 

So you may be asking yourself, “How do I get my engagement plan on the right track?” The first place to look is your organization’s leadership style. If you are promoting a culture of company pride, development and recognition, chances are you are on the right path. The key is to get your employees emotionally engaged in the success of your company, and in turn, develop rewards and recognition for doing so. Let’s face it. Without incentives, your employees don’t have much motivation to get fired up about what they are doing.  

The bottom line is, under-engaged employees are expensive, and in some circumstances, may be directly undermining the success of your organization. By understanding existing leadership styles and the benefits of highly engaged employees, companies can achieve higher productivity and customer satisfaction. And in the world of business, that spells profitability.

Under-engaged employees are expensive, and in some circumstances, may be directly undermining the success of your organization.