What actions can an executive take to increase employee engagement

As an executive in an organisation, your key responsibility is to provide the leadership that will enable your people to be successful. And that’s often quite a tall order. After all, that kind of leadership frequently has to wait until the numbers have been achieved and all fires have been put out.

We have all observed situations where the executive response to problems is to jump in with both feet and impose ideas and solutions for others to implement, whether workable or not. Opportunities for positive reinforcement are not taken, and everyone feels minimised by the experience.

Wouldn’t it be nice if there was another way?

‘Enabling your people to be successful’ implies the ‘fixit’ role of the leader; a strategic perspective that develops the environment where success can be the natural conclusion.

Strategic leadership creates a vision for successful action within the organisation to make it operate well in conducting its business. And to be effective, this vision needs to be described in detail.

Whether working with a whole business, a department or a team, I like to start with a Balanced Scorecard. Identifying how we would like our customers to see us, what we want to achieve financially, which processes we need to be exceptionally good at to achieve our customer and financial aims, and what capabilities we need internally to conduct those effectively helps gain clarity about our purpose. From this understanding, we can then determine clear indicators of success in each area, by asking ‘What actions and behaviours will we see when the business is running successfully?

For instance, a recent private sector client decided that amongst the key delivery processes for their business, key manager acquisition and management was the most critical. Investigating the process further, we identified:

• the behaviours and actions that would indicate success within the business
• a profile of the perfect employee
• specific goals and targets to achieve
• actions to be taken in managing the operation
• a key managers’ performance framework

With these indicators of business success, my client knows what to look for in their peoples’ work performance. The priorities are clear and can be communicated simply and clearly, emphasising the important interrelationships between them. Producing a Balanced Scorecard has clarified in their mind what the business needs to achieve and how it needs to be managed to achieve results. Additionally, it has provided a foundation for clear performance information which can be used for feedback to everyone involved. So, in determining leadership actions which will help increase engagement, the first is to be very clear about expectations and feedback on performance. The next is to expect enough from people, and devolve enough responsibility to provide challenge. That is not to say people need to be overloaded with tasks beyond their skill level. Rather, think about a progressive trickle of responsibilities with the accompanying authority to manage them successfully, to be taken up at the pace employees can accommodate.

So as a strategic leader, the executive role is to communicate the goals, objectives and expectations, and to set the culture for performance and engagement. This is where the situation gets trickier, because culture is formed from what is real and experienced; reactions and behaviours that are observed and noticed. Intention is not reality, and your peoples’ belief about your behaviour and action as an executive will flow directly from their collective experience of you. This is not the time or place to be moody and self indulgent ‘ word gets around quickly and positive action can work more effectively in your favour. It is a time to make sure that people are encouraged to develop their skills, to contribute their ideas and to be passionate about serving the customer.

According to Johnson & Scholes, the organisational culture can be characterised by:

• the stories people repeat
• the rituals and routines everyone uses to get things done
• the visual symbols of status and position in evidence
• power structures in place
• the organisational structure itself
• the control systems in use

In other words, how easy is it for individuals to get things done? How much energy does it take to make simple changes? How long does it take to get help from others, or to get decisions from above? How many layers of management must be manouvered? And is it easier not to do this?

The third part of the strategic leadership role is to remove organisational barriers to action where these slow the organisation down, reducing energy and impetus. Flattening management structures, increasing involvement in decision making, recognising and reinforcing positive actions and behaviours, all help to create an environment where people feel they have the elbow room to function well and a good chance of success in a reasonable timeframe. All this creates a positive flow of energy that develops into a passion and purpose that achieves results.

The fourth task of the strategic leader is to enable the social networks since this is where ideas and new practices come from. If people know each other and it is an easy step, they are more likely to be in contact when they need help or want to discuss a new idea.

I recently observed a company where a new manager decided to close down the employee led social network on the grounds that it took people’s focus away from their work. Over the last couple of years, it had become the pulse of the organisation: a mixture of a community bill board and ideas exchange. Removing it was a definite signal of change that catalysed many good employees leaving.

This illustrates the fifth and final point which is that once an engaging environment has been created; removing the building blocks will have a devastating effect on your people. When an employee’s expectation and experience of personal involvement and operational freedom has been raised, restriction will be seen as a very negative sign and a loss of confidence.

In a recent study of 1000 companies worldwide, the benefits of engagement were agreed to be an increase in retention, customer satisfaction and productivity, with almost a third of companies also saying it created a great work environment with higher profitability and work quality, and influenced their ability to attract new talent.