What do you do if your employee engagement is low despite coaching and mentoring programs?

My opinion is that this should be the first step, before reevaluating goals. If your coaching and mentoring programs are not encouraging team member engagement, it is your fault. Go back and get to know your team members, because either your content, methods, or style are missing the mark. If you fail to tailor your program to your team member preferences, it will not engage them. Go ask the team where you got it wrong. If they trust you, they’ll share their opinions.

Feedback is probably the most crucial part of maintaining employee engagement. However, feedback is meaningless if it is collected and the organization fails to acknowledge, adapt, and make improvements based on this feedback. When employee feedback is disregarded, it sends the message that management doesn't really value the feedback that was given. Thus, making employees more unlikely to share feedback in the future and further decreasing their motivation to participate. Feedback is crucial to validating the opinions of others and makes an individual feel stronger value within the team and organization. Feedback must be followed up with some form of action via acknowledgment, adaption, reconsiliation, or training.

Again personalised individual coaching and mentoring is where you should start as everyone is unique. It’s not the back up plan. If you were doing team or group coaching then techniques such as Organsation Relationship Systems Coaching would be beneficial.

Before rolling out a coaching and mentoring program, ensure that all levels of management are on-board with all aspects of the program. It doesn't matter if they recognize that the program is good for the company as a whole, if they think it will negatively impact them or their department. If your departments compete for resources, managers may feel that having their workers mentor workers in other departments works against them. If teams are already stretched tight to meet deadlines and production quotas, managers may view mentoring activities as drains on the team's productivity. Adjust your programs so that they align with department-level needs as well as corporate goals.

Company culture has a huge impact on employee morale. Team building activities and mentoring programs can be effective if it is adapted to better suit the company culture. Nothing can be more frustrating as an employee when superiors create more work and disregard feedback from the team. Training and team building that connects to the company mission statement or mantra creates a team atmosphere. Take feedback into account and act on it via, acknowledgment, adaption, reconciliation, or training. Consider using different strategic approaches such as the 4DX model to recenter the purpose of these programs and validate the opinions of employees through their involvement.

In the rush to administer more programs, leaders often forget that they need to peek within to see if things are not working even after the 'right' programs are in place. - Their own rigidity could be stifling growth - Their lack of rapport and understanding of the team could be a speed breaker in growth - They themselves need to be part of the programs designed for the growth of employees

Make sure mentees are being coached by someone who is not within their direct reporting line. It can be difficult for people to ask questions or expose that they need support in a particular area when they feel that it could cause them to be impacted or seen differently by their leadership team.

Some of the best teams I've ever worked on were at companies that made its mantra a core part of the day-to-day operations. Feedback was not only encouraged but seriously taken into consideration, and achievements and milestones were celebrated. Remember that your employees are qualified people. They can see through a facade just like you. If employees aren't engaged because the program feels inauthentic; it probably is. Foster engagement by: - Feedback: follow up with action via acknowledgment, adaption, reconciliation, or training. - Company-centered values: every employee should know the company matra/mission statement - Strategic Communication: Consider improving team communication utilizing strategies such as the 4DX model.