Team Leaders – your key to highly engaged teams
You just dread that time of year. The engagement survey results are about to be released. You just hope and pray that they are better than last year. They surely couldn’t be worse …
Engagement surveys have long been used by organizations to determine how motivated team members are. How satisfied are they with their roles in the business. What is their level of emotional commitment?
There is much research to back the notion that a highly engaged organisation is more productive and has higher profits.* Surveys tell you a substantial amount about what people are really thinking and feeling. What’s more the data allows you to measure changes year on year.
The frightening part of it all is that over the years, there hasn’t been much of a shift globally in the results of the engagement survey! Gallup, one of the largest engagement survey organisations, reports that whilst there has been a slight uptick, the truth is that about 2/3rds of the workforce is NOT engaged.**
And what’s even worse, over 16% of team members are “actively disengaged”. That means that there is a ratio of two engaged workers for every actively disengaged one. Not a great outcome for a business that wants to be hit high goals.
So, you really cannot be surprised when leaders and HR managers treat the survey with much trepidation. It’s not very pleasant to have to confront how miserable people often feel at work.
The usual solutions involve the following – and there is without doubt much value to these initiatives: training for managers and other leaders, major culture change projects and improved working conditions.
Surely there is something a whole lot more straightforward and easy to implement?
We are strong believers that the high value that team leaders bring to the creation of teams that are totally engaged and committed. Team leaders are often overlooked in terms of training and yet they hold the key to far higher levels of engagement. After all, they are right there, at the rockface.
Here are 3 proactive steps that you can take to ensure that your team leaders are create an engaged team. In turn, many such engaged teams add up to a more motivated workforce that feel valued and appreciated.
STEP 1
Provide your team leaders with some basic training
This can be via a range of modalities including virtual classes, online self-paced learning and coaching. Set them up for success by ensuring that they have at the very least the fundamentals of what creates team success. Focus on the importance of role modelling. Their team members take their lead from that they see and hear. That good old expression that ‘the fish rots from the head’ is very pertinent.
STEP 2
Provide team leaders with a tool kit
Team leaders need a practical tool kit for their immediate use. Instead of just training them in the theory of leadership, they need to have the techniques and strategies that they can implement. By DOING simple, positive actions in their team, they slowly build a very different tone and ‘vibe’ in the team. Team members take their lead from them and a slow shift in team climate grows into a larger wave that ultimately improves engagement.
STEP 3
Keep the momentum going
Once you notice the mood beginning to shift, keep it up. The challenge is to maintain the changes amidst the many pressures that the business faces. It is so easy to see some small victories and then slip back into the same old ways of doing things. It takes on-going commitment and determination to see even further gains in terms of less absenteeism and more drive towards achieving business goals.
Speak to us at Play4Business for more information and practical examples in action. Our training is in a blended format: we combine virtual classes and self paced learning for team leaders. And what’s more we provide you with a toolkit of easy to use activities including our famous ‘what the duck’ set of techniques. These are built for team leaders so that they maintain engagement in their teams – during every team meeting, stand-up session, morning ‘buzz’ session or any time your team gets together.
* https://hbr.org/2018/03/employee-surveys-are-still-one-of-the-best-ways-to-measure-engagement
** https://news.gallup.com/poll/241649/employee-engagement-rise.aspx
