The ten C’s of employee engagement can engage heads, hearts, and hands, Stephen Pace CEO of SJS Solutions explains.
1. Connect:
Line managers must show that they value employees. Initiatives that are employee-focused such as work–life balance and profit sharing are important but if an employees’ relationship with their manager is defective, then no amount of benefits will persuade employees to perform at top levels. Employee engagement is a direct reflection of how employees feel about their relationship with the boss.
2. Career:
Employees respond to challenging and important work with career advancement opportunities. Most people want to do new things in their jobs and good leaders challenge employees; but at the same time, they must instil the confidence so that challenges can be achieved. Not giving people the knowledge and tools to be successful is unethical and de-motivating; it is also likely to lead to stress, frustration, and, ultimately, lack of engagement.
3. Clarity:
The organisations goals, vision and ambitions must be clearly communicated to its employees. Having a clear vision gives employees the confidence to understand the vision that senior leadership has for the organisation. Success is largely determined by how clear individuals are about their goals and what they really want to achieve.
4. Convey:
Leaders should clarify their expectations and provide feedback on how employees fit into the strategy of the organisation. Good leaders establish processes and procedures that help people master the tasks required to achieve their goals. Achieving goals drives employee satisfaction.
5. Congratulate:
Surveys show that, over and over, employees feel that they receive immediate feedback when their performance is poor, or below expectations. These same employees also report that praise and recognition for strong performance is much less common. In the case of call and contact centres, properly configured visuals can provide recognition in real time.
6. Contribute:
People want to know that their input matters and that they are contributing to the organisation’s success in a meaningful way. How well an employee understands the connection between theirs and the strategic objectives of the company has a positive impact on job performance. Compared to all other factors combined an employee’s attitude towards the job and the company has the greatest impact on loyalty and customer service.
7. Control:
Visual communication technology supports supervisors by allowing them to quickly communicate with all agents. Employees value control over the flow and pace of their jobs and leaders can create opportunities for employees to exercise this control. A feeling of “being in on things,” and of being given opportunities to participate in decision making often reduces stress; it also creates trust and a culture where people want to take ownership of problems and their solutions.
8. Collaborate:
Studies show that, when employees work in teams and have the trust and cooperation of their team members, they outperform individuals and teams, which lack good relationships. Great leaders should also be team builders and create an environment that fosters trust and collaboration.
9. Credibility:
Leaders should strive to maintain a company’s reputation and demonstrate high ethical standards and invest in technology that supports employees. People want to be proud of their jobs, their performance, and their organisation.
10. Confidence:
Good leaders help create confidence in a company by being exemplars of high ethical and performance standards. Employees then trust leaders and the organisation, which leads to feelings of belonging to the organisation they work in.
Competitive advantage can be gained by creating an engaged workforce. Leaders should actively try to identify the level of engagement in their organisation, find the reasons behind the lack of full engagement and implement behavioural strategies that will facilitate full engagement. Once you have identified your employee engagement strategy, SJS Solutions Optymyse visuals can help you with automatic recognition, improved performance, removing communication bottlenecks and building fun engaging environments.
