Employee Engagement: A Leader’s Role

Employee engagement is the relationship between employees and their jobs or organizations. Engagement is the tool that serves as the foundation for employee satisfaction and organizational sustainability. It is not simply about paying people more money or buying them gifts to entice them to stay with the team, department, or company. Employees must feel connected, respected, involved, and a part of the cultural fabric of an organization. The connection is what drives employees to commit to helping the organization grow and thrive. Connected employees see a future for themselves and understand they are an important part of the mechanism that make the organization successful.

What is a leader’s role in building employee engagement? Leaders can do the following things to help develop, support, and grow employee engagement:

1. Onboard and train: Setting clear employment expectations, providing detailed information about the company mission and vision, and incorporating training on company policies, procedures and systems, is integral to every employee feeling engaged during the hiring process. Neglecting to do these things lead to misinformation, and a lack of clarity from the employee on what is expected of them to be a strong contributor to the company.
2. Be transparent and honest: Leaders must be open and honest to establish and strengthen trust with employees. Transparent leaders instill a sense of respect, humility, accessibility, and partnership with their teams which builds engagement. Honest leaders share the right information at the right time and provide their teams with the resources and tools to respond to the information.
3. Walk the Walk: Leading is not always done from the front, but often occurs when leaders walk alongside or behind employees. Leaders who walk alongside employees portray a willingness to share and collaborate on ideas, dreams, and action plans. Leaders who walk behind portray a willingness to allow the employees to take the lead at times and are there for support and reinforcement when needed. A leader who is flexible enough to lead from all directions instills and builds engagement by showing employees he/she is agile and humble and knows when to lead, when to assist, and when to be led by the team.
4. Be consistent: Consistency instills trust and a sense of security. Leaders must engage in practices that are stable and consistent day over day so employees understand processes and expectations will not change, even if leadership changes.
5. Give and receive feedback: Leaders must be willing to give employees honest and timely feedback about their performance and expectations. Additionally, leaders must be open to receiving feedback about their performance from employees. Leaders will create an environment where giving and receiving feedback is a welcome part of the professional growth and development.
6. Grow the team: Professional development and growth are the keys to make and keep organizations thriving. Leaders must know what positions need to be filled, what leadership competencies those positions require, and which employees are the right fit for the open positions. It is then the leader’s responsibility to help employees develop the skills necessary to either strengthen their current skill set or to grow into more complex positions. The growth may come in the form of feedback sessions, succession planning, or coaching.
7. Follow through: Following up on employee’s and team’s progress is the leader’s responsibility to ensure employees feel heard and are receiving support and feedback on their progress. Each leader needs to follow up to ensure programs are functioning effectively and to make adjustments or changes when appropriate. The same can be said for employee’s progress. It is imperative for a leader to follow up with employees or teams to ensure progress is being made by providing timely, honest feedback and providing support and development opportunities.

Employee engagement is critical for increased retention, employee satisfaction, and organizational growth and sustainability. Leaders play a pivotal role in investing in and engaging employees so they will invest in the success of the organization.