In this week’s article we have reached the last part in the Attract, Retain and Engage series. Now that you have attracted and retained your employees, let’s talk about how to engage them. This is where things really get good.
Engage
It is estimated that about 50% of your work force may be either disengaged or have low engagement. Did you know that over $500 billion dollars a year is wasted by having ‘disengaged’ employees? That is a lot of money!
One important factor for keeping your employees engaged throughout the year is to review with the individual their performance, productivity progress and to help keep them individually ‘on track’ for success at their job. Here are some tips.
Quarterly:
- Review Quarterly each person’s Performance. Ask each person ‘how they are doing; discuss their performance, current productivity and point out what they need to change or do differently. Be sure to write a quick Action Plan to make these changes.
Daily:
- Coach Individuals Daily with 30 seconds of constructive positive feedback on their current assignment. Help each person develop their specific skills, daily, weekly, monthly.
Going forward this year with Individual and Team Development:
- Review what the Team’s Developmental needs are; then develop a plan to include:
‘Elevations for Organizations: (At Kehoe Consultants we facilitate this particular program and consistently get excellent results).
Elevations for Organizations (EFO) starts with an EFO assessment. This assessment profiles the intrinsic motivations and behavioral strengths of each employee. It provides personalized reports with customized developmental tips.
Then there is an EFO Workshop to review the individual and team results of the assessment. This workshop includes team communication suggestions and skills practice exercises.
Next an ‘Elevations‘ Individual Coaching Session is scheduled for each person to discuss the individual’s Skills/ Values/ Personality Traits and how each applies to their current job along with how they can apply these traits to their next promotable job position within your organization. In this session the skills each individual in the team needs to work on is also addressed.
‘Launch the Team’: Following the individual Coaching Sessions, have the Team ‘regroup’ and talk about ‘as a whole’ team their Strengths, Weaknesses / Challenges, Obstacles and Training needed to go forward. Ask what goals going forward they would like to work toward together?
Lastly, boldly ask the team, how engaged/committed are they in accomplishing the new goals that they just worked on? Ask directly: What is your ‘Level of Engagement’ to these newly shared Team Goals for the near Future? Their answers will help you in the new direction you must take this group as a team leader and coach.
Engage, Retain, and Inspire Great People!!