People leave leaders, not companies.
Our employee surveys have proven this saying to be true. Workplace culture and employee engagement go hand in hand, and the leaders within a company have the most significant impact on workplace culture. A company can have a mission statement and values meant to define the culture, for example, but it is the leaders who breathe life into these ideals through their actions and leadership.
Thus, when a company fails to retain its employees and struggles with engagement metrics, it often has more to do with the leaders than the overall company.
In this article, we will take a closer look at why staff engagement is important, explore the critical role leaders play in engagement, and offer some tips and insights into leadership strategies for increasing engagement to help boost employee satisfaction and retention rates.
What Is Employee Engagement and Why Does it Matter?
Employee engagement is defined as “the positive state of mind related to one’s job that is characterized by a passionate dedication to their work and helping the company achieve its goals.” The more engaged an employee is, the more satisfied they are, the more their performance levels will increase, and the more discretionary effort they will exert for the good of the company.
Increased performance is a key reason employee engagement is so critical. Engagement also improves retention. Additionally, when employees are more satisfied in their roles, they will provide better service to your customers, which enhances customer satisfaction and loyalty.
How Leadership Impacts Engagement
Studies have shown that leadership is significantly correlated with employee engagement and that an employee’s persistence in their work is tied to the degree to which their needs are satisfied. Leaders who are instrumental in satisfying their workers’ needs are more likely to increase engagement levels.
To be engaging, leaders must inspire and make employees feel important, they must strengthen relationships by granting employees freedom and responsibility, and they must connect employees by encouraging collaboration and fostering team spirit. By doing this, leaders fulfill their employees’ psychological needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness, which in turn fosters greater engagement.
What Leaders Can Do to Foster Engagement
Being a quality leader requires a strategic approach, one that is thoughtful and committed to addressing what employees need to be their best and foster a positive workplace culture.
Set the Right Example
Leaders must first look inward, which is to say that they need to evaluate their own behaviors and interpersonal skills. If their actions and skills do not exemplify positivity and dedication, then they cannot expect to inspire those same traits and feelings in their employees.
Good leaders act as mentors to their employees. Reality is, employees are always watching, so when a leader wants to inspire hard-working teams, they must model the way. This means embodying a good work ethic by demonstrating commitment, integrity, and a can-do attitude. It also means being a good communicator to inspire how employees should communicate with one another.
Coach Through Feedback
In addition to setting a good example, leaders must also use the right kind of feedback to guide and coach their employees. Constructive feedback is a powerful tool that if used correctly, can help employees grow and develop their skills while also feeling more engaged.
Instead of waiting for yearly or quarterly performance reviews, leaders should provide continuous and ongoing feedback throughout their weekly and even daily interactions and conversations with employees. However, it’s important to ensure that constant feedback is inspiring and doesn’t come across as leaders constantly negatively critiquing employees.
Additionally, feedback should be a two-way street. Establishing good relationships and building trust with employees means also allowing them to provide feedback and taking what they say to heart.
Be a Cheerleader
Another important way to boost engagement is for leaders to genuinely root for their employees to be successful, and not just to benefit the company. Leaders should want to help their employees achieve their personal career goals, which means showing support and helping them create a path for advancement through training and development.
Encourage Autonomy
Empowering employees with autonomy boosts engagement. Achieve this by giving them more space to manage their work day and by asking them their opinion, versus always telling them what to do. This helps employees feel more trusted and valued.
However, it’s important to note that with autonomy also comes accountability. When you give employees more autonomy, you have to learn to avoid stepping in and micromanaging when it seems like they might be making a poor decision. This means employees will need to learn how to take responsibility for their decisions, even when they make a mistake.
The key is to not make people feel bad for making a mistake. Sometimes you have to let employees learn from their mistakes and avoid stepping in and taking over. After the mistake has been resolved, then a leader can provide coaching and feedback on how to improve or do things differently going forward.
Encourage Team Cohesion
It is important to allow employees to build connections with one another to help foster camaraderie and collaboration. Friendship among employees is important as it helps create a positive workplace culture where everyone is supportive of one another and has each other’s backs.
When employees are more in tune with one another and feel like they can communicate with each other openly, they are more likely to work better together on projects, share ideas, and overall work cohesively to help the company achieve its goals.
Build Better Leaders and Boost Engagement with CRS
At Combined Resource Solutions, we are committed to helping companies succeed through powerful leadership development and employee engagement strategies. We gather valuable feedback and insights to create custom plans to help your company make the most of your most valuable asset—your people.
Want to discover how to help your people shine and boost retention rates? Contact us today to set up a consultation.