4 Essentials of Employee Engagement

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It’s easy to fall into Auto Pilot mode. You know, just going through the motions. You can easily get stuck in a rut, in your routine, in tasks, and in a state of feeling like every day is the same. Many organizations specialize in this type of daily grind.

But, it’s not compelling. It’s not what we want. It’s not what we strive to be in the world. We don’t want to go through life in some sort of auto-trance-like-state. We want to be awakened. We want to be alive.

The best teams, companies and organizations realize they don’t want this either. They don’t want robots, they want people. In fact, they want people who are engaged. So, they intentionally invest in ways to engage the minds and hearts of their people. They understand that higher levels of employee engagement lead to higher metrics in other areas too. They want results, but they also want people who are alive to experience them.

4 Essential Elements Of Strong Employee Engagement

  • Dedicated Time & Space — the most engaged workplaces create intentional time and space for their employees to get away from their desks and connect. They see this as an investment in the growth of their people and their culture. It breaks people out of their Auto Pilot trance.
  • Content That Engages The Mind & Heart — a commitment to the growth of people is about engaging their mind and heart in discussion, reflection, and exercises that strengthen them. In the best places, the content develops people individually, while at the same time connects them to the greater team culture, and provides them with resources to put into practice at work.
  • Ask & Listen — engaged employees and engaged workplaces are participatory. They ask for feedback, provide space for healthy dialogue, and truly listen. They provide opportunities for employees to share in the creation of their team, organization, and culture. Leaders seek to understand before their need to be understood.
  • Respond With Action — the teams or companies with the highest scores of employee engagement are the ones who are doing the three bullet points above and then respond with action. They connect the time and space, content, and the listening with actionable efforts that make an impact. They stimulate progress one small act at a time.

If we want to engage, we have to move toward each other rather than away from each other. If we want to connect, we need to awaken our minds and hearts, together. It’s not complex, but it does take awareness, commitment, and an investment into the people and culture we want to create.

So, two suggestions to end this post:

  1. Make sure your Auto Pilot switch is turned to the off position.
  2. Start pushing the employee engagement buttons within your team!  All your people will thank you later.

Travel Gracefully,

Jason

Jason Barger is a globally celebrated author, keynote speaker, and leadership consultant. More importantly, he’s striving to be an above average father, husband, and friend.

Follow on Twitter @JasonVBarger and learn more at JasonVBarger.com