Employee Engagement - 31 July 2007

Whenever managers ask me for the solution to employee engagement, there's almost always an expectation that the answer will be a big strategy or a complex model or some kind of abstract theory. This is not the case. The people that have the greatest impact on engagement are direct supervisors. And it's the little things they do each day which determine whether employees love coming to work or not. A car isn't kept in mint condition by taking it in for a service once a year. It's maintained by regularly changing the oil, washing it carefully, checking the tyres frequently, and many other little things that a car-lover does each day to keep it reliable.

Likewise, the same principle applies when it comes to engaging employees. It's not a yearly performance appraisal or an annual bonus that keeps an employee engaged. It's the little things that managers do every day, the seemingly insignificant things, which make the biggest difference.

The 'little things' I'm talking about include: having casual conversations with staff each day; seeking feedback on decisions that might impact them; being approachable; providing regular and sincere praise and gratitude; smiling and laughing; using common courtesy when issuing instructions; taking the time to build meaningful relationships; and offering support.

Essentially, it comes down to this: in the same way that cars rarely ever break down on car-lovers, employees rarely ever break away from people-lovers.

To subscribe to James's Employee Engagement Newsletter and receive complimentary e-books valued at over $100, please click here.