5 Steps to Create Engagement

part 3 | Chapter 13

5 steps to Create engaged employees

At this point, you should be getting more comfortable with Employee Engagement, have a tangible definition of what Employee Engagement is, be familiar with the 10 Primary Factors of Employee Engagement and how those factors affect engagement levels, as well as have a clearer understanding of how you, the leader of your team, can take action towards creating more engaged team members .

Now that you are equipped with that knowledge, it is time to discuss the 5 Steps that you, as a leader, must take in order to create highly Engaged Employees .

step 1

leadershIp responsIbIlIty, Interest, and Care

The first step in engaging your employees will always go back to you, as a leader, recognizing that the engagement of your team is your responsibility . Employee Engagement is critical to both the success of your team as well as the success of our company . To truly be a successful leader, you must ensure engagement among your team . Creating engaged team members has to become part of your daily discipline and dedication .

The second part of the first step in creating engaged employees is showing that you genuinely care for and have a genuine interest in your team and the members that make up that team . This, as previously mentioned, is something we refer to as stickies .

Stickies create an emotional bond or emotional “stickiness”between a leader and their team members . When your team members can see through your words and actions that you have a genuine interest in them and care for them, they will give you extra on-the-job effort and go above and beyond for you when needed . Additionally, employees that feel a strong connection with their leaders are more engaged in their work, so they do higher quality work at a more efficient pace .

Here are some ways that you can increase stickies between yourself and your team:

1. Have non-work-related conversations

• Ask how things are going outside of work • Ask how their families are • Ask how their day is going • Get creative about it . Showing you care and have a genuine interest in your team and its members can only happen if it is real and from the heart .

2. Take time to coach and mentor team members

• Taking the time to do this shows a genuine interest, care, and investment in your people .

3. Encourage stickies between your team members by incorporating “sticky” conversations in group meetings or at lunch.

4. Get creative and be genuine about it.

step 2

understand the 10 prImary faCtors of ee

The second step in creating engaged employees is gaining an understanding of what factors in the workplace affect engagement levels . Just as we use problem-solving tools such as Fish-Bone diagrams, Root Cause Analysis, and other methods to understand and solve issues, we must understand what factors affect Employee Engagement before we can begin to effectively engage our team members .

As discussed previously, there are 10 Primary Factors of Employee Engagement that increase engagement when used correctly or decrease engagement when used incorrectly . For your reference, the 10 factors are:

10 prImary faCtors of employee engagement

01

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Manager Factors

02

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Employer Factors

03

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Empowerment

04

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Expectations

05

________________________________ Tools, Training, and Resources

06

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Job Fit

07

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Growth and Development

08

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Team-Related Factors

09

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Interdepartmental Factors

10

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Cultural Factors

step 3

leaders have the strongest ImpaCt

After you have (1) realized that Employee Engagement is your responsibility as a leader, (2) you have committed yourself to regularly showing that you genuinely are interested in and care for your people, and (3) have dedicated time towards understanding the 10 Primary Factors that affect Employee Engagement, the third step in engaging your team is to (4) realize that as leaders, you have the greatest immediate impact on employee engagement levels in your team members . You may be thinking, “Surely there are other things outside of what I can influence in my team members that affect engagement levels .” And… you’d be right . But, research and real-world evidence from Gallup, internal studies conducted at ABG (Appendix D), as well as the success of our current Employee Engagement program at ABG have shown definitively that you, as a leader to your team, have the most immediate and overall most substantial impact on Employee Engagement levels . That is part of the reason why realizing that Employee Engagement is your responsibly is so important . So, if you, as a leader to your team, are the key to creating engaged team members, what are some ways that you use to ensure increased engagement levels in your team? Well, you can do this by:

01

________________________________________

EE is your responsibility

02

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Showing you are interested and you care

03

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Time to understand the 10 Factors

04

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Leaders have the greatest impact Suggestion Actions:

• Demonstrating true care for your employees • Stickies and encouraging stickies between team members

• Begin engaging employees from Day 1 • Celebrating wins • Creating pride in your teams • Practicing open communication with team members • Providing strong support to team members • Motivating and inspiring team members by walking the walk, helping team members set goals, realize potentials, and strive for continuous improvement • Coaching and mentoring • Managing drama and chaos immediately • Giving consistent and clear feedback and direction frequently • Giving recognition to employees both publicly and privately • Forming strong, trusting relationships with your team and team members

• Putting the right employees in the right positions • Empowering employees • Setting clear expectations • Giving the tools, training, and resources to team members that are necessary to do their job • Establishing strong growth and development plans and holding team members accountable for reaching new goals (both behaviorally and tactically) • Ensuring smooth and effective interactions between members on your team as well as in the interactions between your team and other teams • Living the ABG Way and uniting team members

under our common culture step 4

fInd out Where you Currently stand

The fourth step in creating engaged employees is to determine the current level of engagement within your team so that you can (1) know where you currently stand in terms of EE (2) know where the greatest areas of opportunity for improvement lie (4) and track how effective EE action plans are working .

Just as you wouldn’t use the potential causes of an issue listed on a Fish-Bone diagram to solve the issue without first making sure that these potential causes were the true cause of the issue, you wouldn’t start implementing employee engagement initiatives or changes without first knowing where your team stands in terms of Employee Engagement and where the causes of low and high engagement levels are coming from .

As such, you need to use a couple of methods to assess where you currently are as a leader, and where your team is in terms of engagement levels .

but hoW Can We aCtually begIn to assess thIs?

You can do that through the following methods:

Assessments:

1. Analyzing Turnover and Absenteeism Data 2. Using ABG’s Employee Engagement Survey to establish your team’s engagement levels in relation to our 10

Primary Factors of engagement . 3. Using ABG’s Leadership Feedback Survey to gain an understanding of your strengths and weaknesses as a leader, as well as pinpoint key opportunities for you to improve engagement levels in your team by improving yourself as a leader . 4. Holding Employee Feedback Meetings with your team members (formal or informal) 5. Assessing current practices and policies 6. Being very honest and real with yourself

01

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Find out where you currently stand

02

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Find greatest area of opportunity

03

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Create Action Plan

04

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Track Action Plan Effectiveness

aCtIon plan:

After you have determined where you are as a leader and the level of engagement in your teams, it is time to create specific Employee Engagement action plans that touch on each of our 10 Primary Factors of engagement . When forming an action plan, remember to use the SMART method of setting and tracking these goals and their progress .

An example of an action plan can be found in our current Employee Engagement program . Each month our operations teams commit themselves to 5 actions such as hosting newhire luncheons and creating rewards programs . These actions that you commit yourself to do not have to be complicated, but they should reflect true deficiencies within your current level of employee engagement .

folloW-up:

After you’ve created and implemented an action plan to increase Employee Engagement in your team, you will need to monitor how well the plan is working . This can be done by walking the floor and getting a “feel” for engagement levels, repeating the previously mentioned assessments such as holding follow-up team meetings to get feedback from your team members, and analyzing changes in turnover and absenteeism . In addition, if using Employee Engagement and Leadership Feedback surveys, which is highly recommended, it is important to administer these assessments a second time within the same calendar year to determine any changes, positive or negative, that result from your action plan .

step 5

JoIn our employee engagement program

The fifth step in creating engaged employees is to join our Employee Engagement program at ABG where bi-monthly calls are held to discuss each chapter of our Employee Engagement Handbook, as well as the action items you, as a leader, have chosen that month to implement to increase engagement levels within your teams . If you are not currently a part of the Employee Engagement program at ABG, ask Derick Stonecipher or Scott Stonecipher how you can get started today .