How to engage and retain your top performers.
Are you worried? You might have cause to be.
A massive challenge for the UK economy right now is a lack of engagement by the workforce.
I just carried out a quick search for information on this, and many leading organisations researching this topic provide damming evidence that engagement by staff is at an all-time low in the UK. Some reports state that it is lower than it was during the great depression before WW2.
Apparently “85% of Employees Are Not Engaged in the Workplace” this is according to Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace, only 15 per cent of employees are engaged in the workplace. (13 Jan 2024)
What does this mean for you as CEO, MD, or the senior leadership team in your organisation?
The point is that this is a leadership matter.
Only highly effective leaders will be able to solve this issue.
Re-engaging your people is crucial for effectiveness. If it is true that 85% of your people are NOT engaged, you are throwing money away. Then you will lose potentially great people, when they leave to find what they want to do, to feel engaged.
From my experience of working with leaders and teams over the last 13 years, I have noticed a few simple steps to tackle this issue. They are:
- Bring this issue into the open.
- Observe what good engagement looks like and praise it.
- Hold meaningful conversations throughout your structure.
- Notice people’s effort and praise and re-direct all day.
Countless studies (and my time spent listening to leaders and employees whilst coaching) show that two of the biggest killers of engagement are:
- Indifference to the contribution made at work
- Unfairness in the workplace
These factors build resentment.
It is a massive undertaking to love your work whilst holding feelings of resentment.
There is a psychological contract at work between the leaders and the team.
I sum it up as follows:
“I’ll do my best if you do your best”
Are you doing your best as a leader? How do you know?
Leadership coaching can bring results for those people responsible for re-engaging their teams.
A small, well-timed intervention makes a huge difference. My own experience with supporting companies over the last 2 decades has proven to me (and my clients) that it is the small things done consistently well which make the biggest impact.
I like to illustrate this with the saying
“It’s not the elephant that bites you, it’s the gnat”.
The Tiny Noticeable Things (Dr Blakey, in “The Trusted Executive”) leaders can do to make a difference build deposits in their teams’ emotional bank accounts. (Stephen Covey, “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”)
There’s no panacea to suddenly switch engagement back on.
It’s about how you respond and re-engage with your leadership skills and tool kit which leads to impactful results.
If you haven’t prioritised leadership coaching or training, this year in your plan to improve your KPIs – you are missing the vital element which makes a massive impact.
Call me to discuss what leadership coaching or training can do for you and your team, and your organisation‘s results.