Blog Detail Centre Wellington Chamber of Commerce

The Key to Employee Engagement is You

Would you trust the care of your loved one to someone who didn’t like you very much? If you have disengaged employees you might be doing just that. It is impossible for a disengaged employee to provide excellent customer service. Worse than that, one disengaged employee can make all of your employees reevaluate their level of happiness within your business. For this reason, employee engagement is one of the most important investments you can make in your company. The good news is, a lot of that is up to you.

Act Decisively

If you have employees who are showing signs of being disengaged, don’t let it fester hoping it will go away. Talk with the individuals involved. See if you can’t come to an understanding of how you can both work on turning it around. Employees are not robots. No matter how many times you tell others to ignore your Eeyore in the corner, the bad feelings are bound to disrupt the working environment.

Decide Who You Are and Communicate It

Start your business with a mission and clearly convey it to everyone you hire. Your mission doesn’t have to be something as grand. A mission can be as simple as “CW’s favourite family ice cream shop.” Everything you do should focus on your business mission. If employees know and understand your mission, they can use it as a referral point asking themselves at each decision, “Is this in line with our mission?”

Hire for Fit

Hire in accordance to your mission and the culture you want to create. Skills can be taught easily, changing attitudes is a lot more difficult. Keep in mind: each new hire either puts you closer or further away from your goal. 

Give Them the Resources They Need and Get Out of the Way

One word “micromanaging.” If you hire well and communicate expectations, goals and your mission, assuming your employees have the resources they need to succeed, they will begin to feel the company’s success is their success.

Check in Often

Provide feedback often. It needn’t be a formal review process. Just a weekly or monthly check-in on how you think things are going but it should be a two-way conversation and not a monologue. When someone exceeds your expectations, call attention to it immediately. Don’t wait for an annual review as it may be forgotten by then. Peer recognition also helps team building and building a cohesive team increases employee loyalty.

If you want your business to be successful, you need to have a team that can help you attain your goals. Investing in your employees and increasing their engagement level allows you to exceed your customers’ expectations and become a company that everyone wants to work for.