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Managing for Team Engagement

Today’s global marketplace is an ever-changing, highly competitiveenvironment, where organisations that survive are most certainly ‘the fittest’. Opting for the traditional ‘job for life’ is no longer viable as employers are forced to maintain excellence in terms of not only products and services but also people to remain competitive in their industry.

As such, to prevail as a valuable asset to an organisation, employees are now under considerable pressure to sustain heavy workloads and effectively manage teams, while simultaneously maintaining intricate business networks. However, as most employers know all too well just as the current marketplace has created a degree of uncertainty for employees, employers too must face the prospect of competitors ‘poaching’ top talent for their commercial gain!

Monitoring employee engagement is a useful tool for managing talent within your organisation. Simply put, the more motivated and engaged your employees, the more committed to your organisation they will be; striving for continuous improvements both
in their role and the organisation as a whole.

"When engaged employees utilize their natural talents, they provide an instant, and
constant, competitive edge.” (Curt W. Coffman & Gabriel Gonzalez, 2002)

So where should you start as an organisation with little or no experience in managing employee engagement…

1. Ensure there is an effective, open 2-way communication process in place;nwhere employees feel that their ‘voice’ is heard. Put in place forums for employees to regularly voice their opinions – ‘comments box’, employee
   magazine, intranet, etc.
2. Undertake an annual staff survey to determine general views on your organisation, specific roles, management, leadership, processes, systems, work environment, capabilities, rewards & recognition and the future. By understanding what motivates and drives your employees you will be able to actively support them and facilitate a process of aligning their goals with the organisational goals to achieve success.
3. Be seen to act on employee opinions and outcomes from surveys.
4. Create a positive employer brand. It is important to utilise all available opportunities to communicate and build a positive employer brand which employees are happy to commit to; this will be a contributing factor in successful attraction, engagement and retention.
5. Provide clear leadership, where the managers personify the desired values of your organisation; managers must ‘walk the walk’. Clear leadership provides the guidance and support employees need to achieve organisational goals, which is paramount in the retention of talented employees. Effective leadership assists in creating an environment where employees want to work.
6. Ensure there are clearly defined routes for progression within the organisation. It is important to provide real opportunities for enhanced responsibility, increased team work and movement into cross functional roles.
7. Create a culture that nurtures a positive work-life balance. Implementing a sustainable work-life balance strategy (i.e. meets organisational goals, customer needs and enhances employee quality of life) will convey a message to employees that you care about their health and well-being and this in turn will increase their ‘bond’ with the organisation.

Conclusion

In the current competitive marketplace, the importance of effectively managing employee engagement can not be stressed enough and should be at the forefront of strategic thinking and planning within successful organisations.

To discuss potential HDA contributions, please contact us at email: info@hda.co.uk