1. Leaders talk about employee engagement and how it benefits the organization and leaders. Employees don’t care. You can read more about this at Why your employee engagement survey scores aren’t what you want them to be
2. Leaders take on too much of the responsibility for engagement of others. Employees take the easy route of pointing fingers instead of owning engagement themselves. Why your employee engagement survey scores aren’t what you want them to be (part 2 of 3)
3. Leaders see employee engagement as something on their to-do list. It’s not a one-time thing; it’s an all-the-time thing that can easily be woven into everything that happens at the organization.
This article gives you ideas to overcome reason #3…Overcoming “Engagement Dread” and seamlessly weaving in the “Engagement Thread”.
Engagement Dread
For many leaders the idea of having their staff fill out an Engagement Survey brings on feelings of uneasiness and anxiety. So many of the questions seem subjective and what if folks are having a bad day when they fill it out? If your department scores are low then all kinds of (usually unwanted) attention is directed toward your department It’s no wonder that leaders dread engagement.
The Too-Full To-Do List
Add to this Dread that leaders have way too much to do and not enough time or staff to do it. Productivity goals are at an all time high and everyone’s watching quality and safety. This is all good, except when it comes at the expense of employee engagement.
You know what happens when you have a big project to work on, right? It seems overwhelming and so you keep putting it off, hoping it will go away. That’s often the case with employee engagement action plans. They seem big and unwieldy and “soft”. In addition, many executive leaders only talk about engagement with their direct reports when survey time rolls around. So the “squeaky wheel” conversation is usually focused on other activities. It’s time to replace Engagement Dread!
The Engagement Thread
Instead of making employee engagement something that shows up on your to-do list, think about engagement while you are doing everything that’s already there. For example, if you have a meeting about safety and you are talking about do’s and don’ts or new policies, stop and ask, “How will this impact people’s ability to be satisfied, energized & productive (my definition of engagement)?”
During staff rounding, add one question. “How satisfied, energized & productive are you today?” You can use a traffic light as the measure. Is the person red (not satisfied, energized & productive), yellow (moderately) or green (very). For an overview of the Traffic Light Check-in™ tool, visit www.ShortcutsToEngagement.com and download the free PDF.
Another tool you can find at the same sight is the “Satisfaction Snapshot” which provides an easy way to talk about engagement during one-on-one meetings with team members. Letting folks share their feedback about how important various aspects of the work culture are and at the same time how satisfied they are provides a jump start to the engagement conversation.
Weave it In
Thread is so thin and small, yet so strong when it’s reinforced. The same holds true for the engagement thread. Each time you weave the thread into what you are already doing, you make the connection even stronger and it’s able to stand up to change and other challenges. Today’s the day to get rid of your dread and pick up the thread.
Vicki Hess, RN, is your go-to resource for transforming employee engagement at the individual, department or organization-wide level. As the author of four books, keynote speaker, trainer and consultant; Vicki inspires clients to take action in a real-world, relatable way. Organizations that implement Vicki’s ideas experience increased engagement, productivity, safety, quality, retention, patient satisfaction, creativity and more. For more information, please visit www.HealthcareEmployeeEngagement.com
The views, opinions and positions expressed within these guest posts are those of the author alone and do not represent those of Becker’s Hospital Review/Becker’s Healthcare. The accuracy, completeness and validity of any statements made within this article are not guaranteed. We accept no liability for any errors, omissions or representations. The copyright of this content belongs to the author and any liability with regards to infringement of intellectual property rights remains with them.L
