Engaging employees, rather than just managing them, is recognised by many business leaders as a crucial process to pull through the recession successfully. A UK Government report* also acknowledges the importance of employee engagement. So how do you get employee engagement right to help your organisation thrive in the upturn?

Will Mitchell, Director of Consulting of A&DC, says, “Engagement means focusing on employees’ strengths to achieve peak performance.  People who are engaged use their signature strengths within their roles to achieve heightened levels of performance.  This benefits the business as it achieves increased productivity, enhanced employee wellbeing, job satisfaction and very importantly, commitment.  It also benefits the individual as people are naturally motivated by tasks that interest them”.

A&DC Top Tips to maintaining an engaged workforce

•    Instead of exploring why people fail, consider why people excel, achieve and flourish.
•    Embrace transparency and trust.  Research from the CIPD (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, 2006) shows 2 main drivers for engagement are to enable employees to feed views upwards and to feel well informed.
•    So, create a ‘door’s always open’ culture.  Make leaders accessible and visible and communicate everything – good and bad – to staff regularly.
•    Adopt a collaborative leadership style. Partnership between leaders and employees is paramount.
•    Identify engaged employees, through conversations and reviews then help them communicate the organisational vision in a positive, constructive way.
•    Request staff opinions about the company’s direction, through meetings and focus groups, with senior people present.
•    Seek to understand employees’ concerns at every opportunity, then attempt to allay them as necessary.
•    Draw out the best of an individual’s past to inspire them in the present

More detailed information available from A&DC’s Leadership Series, in the guide entitled: Creating an engaged workforce during the downturn.  www.adc.uk.com

Or see the UK Government report: Engaging for Success: enhancing performance through employee engagement, by David MacLeod and Nita Clarke
http://www.berr.gov.uk/files/file52215.pdf