How do you build an Employee Engagement plan?

Employee Engagement is a central part of everything that is done in an organisation. Ideally these 2 aspects are important 1. The 5 Cs - Care, Connect, Coach Contribute and Congratulate 2. The 3 Ps - Purpose, Passion and Productivity These are the main drivers that help understand the pulse of employees and catalyse the efforts from all stakeholders.

Let's be honest, it's pretty easy to tell if employees are engaged or not. Sure, sometimes a few people know how to game the system here and there but, by and large, when things are good, they're good, and when why're not, everyone knows. Collecting data is important but we need to be careful not to put the burden of collecting that information on the people we're trying to engage. From my experience both taking and issuing employee engagement surveys, asking unmotivated or disengaged employees to contribute data about their experience doesn't yield meaningful results. Business is always personal, which is why I expect managers to primarily assess the current state through meaningful, one-on-one relationships.

There are various factors to this. First thing we shall keep in mind that satisfaction may not always have the same meaning as engagement. Free lunch or transport make an employee happy or satisfied but that does not constitute to engagement. The classical model of Oldham and Hackman talks of 5 parameters - 1. Task Identity; 2. Task Significance; 3. Skill variety, 4. Autonomy and 5. Feedback Points 1 to 3 talks about having a meaningful work where the employee feels a sense of accomplishment doing his/her work and opportunity to apply their mind and heart. Point 4 talks about owning responsibility of the work done and point 5 talks about actual knowledge of the work done

Conduct surveys or interviews to understand the current level of employee engagement in your organization. Identify the key areas where improvement is needed.

I believe we can do end number of surveys but if the focus is not on strengthening the "leadership with intention & from within" almost nothing will change. Surveys are purely a tool to gauge the perspective, the actual ground work should start even before that. And who can guarantee that surveys are not skewed - people attempt the surveys when they have a super good mental state or may be a bad one & tons of analysts are then involved in analyzing the results ! On the contrary an ideal state cannot be reached & it shouldn't come actually coz then the job of engagement & leadership is over ! Leaders shall act as partners to their co-workers, and this will bring them up and keep them engaged.

You need to be specific over what will drive change - take attrition - global economic metrics will have more impact that free fruit on a Friday or wellbeing days. SMART goals aren't enough, you need to communicate to the business the actions you will take on the back of any survey, then show these actions being taken. Taking pulse surveys from specific groups can be a good way to check progress.

Setting goals is about the journey, not just the end result. In the corporate sector, the SMART GOAL framework is a popular method for goal-setting. Yet, the real value of a goal is in its journey. An effective goal provides direction and offers a fulfilling journey. If employees can align this journey with their personal objectives, the experience becomes even more rewarding. In our fast-paced world, employees shouldn't just focus on professional targets. They should blend their personal and professional aspirations. When these align, employee engagement reaches new heights, showcasing the power of merging personal passion with professional purpose.

As with any organizational goal, we first need to be honest about the desired result. I've seen many employee engagement plans fail because the desired results primarily benefited the company. Perhaps not surprisingly, companies like to maximize benefit for the company. However, from my experience, I've found time after time that prioritizing the personal needs of my teammates to help them become their best is the single best way to maximize benefit to the company, as well as the customer. Think hard before setting SMART goals. Corporate humility makes a huge difference here. I wholeheartedly believe, as I've seen in practice for years, that there is always a way to create outcomes for everyone.

A decade with SMART Goals?? Time to become the Sherlock Holmes of engagement???♂? Set SMART goals that are as clear as a magnifying glass, and let's get cracking on that mission to boost satisfaction and slash turnover!??

The work of employee engagement lies with managers. However, many managers are frustrated, overwhelmed and unsure of how to engage their teams. Some are disengaged themselves. One of the first steps then is to re-engage managers and equip them with the skills to engage their teams. And yes - one of the first things a manager can learn is how to create psychological safety.

Effective engagement strategies are complex actions that enable your workforce to feel connected to a mission. Design a strategy woven into your people strategies. Wellbeing: Prioritize total health - Mind, Body, and spirit. Positive Work Environment: A work environment that enables a workforce to be at its best. Supportive Leader: Foster an environment and relationships that support the team to perform at their best. Growth & Development: A workforce can access learning opportunities and is able to grow. Trust in Leadership: Senior leaders communicate with transparency and honesty, actions are aligned with the organization's mission. Purpose & Meaning: A workforce feels connected to the organization and can contribute meaningfully.

The foundation of every action to increase employee engagement should be psychological safety. Amy Edmondson first coined the term at Harvard in 1999 to mean “an absence of interpersonal fear." She explains that "when psychological safety is present, people are able to speak up with work-relevant content.” Quite simply, no employee engagement program, or action, will survive without a culture of psychological safety. In fact, psychological safety is the single most important factor in my work to turn around red programs/projects and create high-performing teams. Before employees adopt a new action or behavior, they need assurance that it's okay to step outside their comfort zone. Psychological safety is that assurance. #changemanagement

Based on Gallup and 12 other major studies, employees' relationship with their manager account for 70% of variance in employee engagement. Any organization-wide engagement plans where immediate mangers are not in the spotlight is more likely doomed to fail.

Time to get creative and craft the engagement magic! Let's address those root causes and rev up those drivers ?? Think of it like creating a recipe for a perfect engagement soufflé ?? – a dash of clear expectations, a sprinkle of feedback, a pinch of recognition, and a whole lot of teamwork. And don't forget to let your employees be the chefs in this culinary adventure – their ideas are the secret ingredients to success! ??"

Learning is not just a process; it is an experience. For individuals to truly immerse themselves in learning, they need to feel psychologically safe and satisfied. It's this sense of safety and fulfillment that gives us a feeling of progression and growth. Any engagement program we implement, therefore, should aim beyond mere participation. The core of such programs should deliver life-changing experiences. Only when an employee truly feels transformed by this experience will they become its champions, endorsing and promoting it further among their peers. We need to ensure that our programs resonate deeply, making a lasting impact and inspiring continued endorsement.

I want to emphasize the point that "you should monitor and adjust the plan as needed, based on the feedback you collect along the way." It's quickly apparent whether or not the employee engagement plan is working as intended. Remember, employee experience is a significant driver of employee engagement. Smiles = positive progress/success Frowns = a flaw in the plan It's important to note that you'll enjoy better outcomes if you adjust the plan based on what the employees need, and not how quickly the company wants ROI.

The most important thing during implementation is understanding that you aren’t done! The work doesn’t stop. Your plan should evolve as the needs and goals of the organization and, most importantly, your people change. This needs to be more than a performative program or strategy but part of your culture.

It's showtime!?? Get your engagement plan rolling like a blockbuster movie premiere. Rally your leaders, managers, and the whole cast of employees. Communication is your red carpet, resources are your props, and feedback is your director's cut. And remember, when the credits roll, don't forget to give those Oscars (or at least high-fives) to your star employees!??

This might be super risky but I'm going to say it anyway: don't measure the results. Instead, and I'm going way out on a limb here, I think you should observe the outcome with your eyes, ears, and feel it in your heart. I know we need some degree of measurement but I also feel like we get too wrapped up in data sometimes. When employees are engaged, you can feel it in the halls. When they're not, you can see it on their faces. If you're going to measure data, do it passively. Don't put the burden of measuring results on the employees with repeated surveys. Measure data, passively, but manage relationships (and outcomes) actively. Do this and you'll reduce risk that employee engagement becomes another measure of employee performance.

Employee engagement is difficult to measure. There are many ways to gather data that can give you an idea of engagement such as employee surveys and other subjective measures. There are also the traditional objective measures like attendance etc that can help to inform levels of engagement in your organisation. The best advice is to gather a combination of objective and subjective measures which can include things like sentiment analysis and mood tracking.

For measurement, I like to frame measures around a specific model. Using a logic model, I craft measures according to inputs, outputs, and outcomes of key actions. When using the Kirkpatrick model, I design measures aligned to Attitudes, Knowledge, Behavior, and Results.

It's evaluation time! Let's roll out the engagement scorecards and see how this blockbuster performed. Did we hit the box office jackpot or was it more of a cult classic? Get ready to hear the critics, aka your employees, and let's script the sequel for even more engagement success! ??????

I am a big fan of quarterly engagement surveys and use them with the majority of organisations I work with. However, as we all know, it is really important to act on the feedback that you receive so I always ensure that any 'low scorers' are contacted and their feelings explored in the hope you can retain them and keep them engaged and motivated. I am also a fan of the 'stay' interviews .. I get so frustrated when you hear in an exit interview an issue that you know you could have helped to solve and retain that individual. We all need to be heard and to have the opportunity to influence so asking for suggestions as part of your survey is also a great way to get that commitment.

Employee Engagement is a wider term and needs to be seen in the context of desired outcomes. Merely organising some event or some kind of out bound programs,sport and fun related activities does not really constitute an employee engagement , rather one should look into larger picture where by an employee feels positively motivated all the time and stay for a longer time with the organisation and delivering the desired results through knowledge enhancement, ready to take up new challenges and using the experience to achieve his personal and organisational goals through Training, participation in new projects, taking up additional job responsibilities,always eager to learn and grow, creating an atmosphere of trust and respect for each other .

Employee engagement is not crafting fancy packages, free lunches, personalized gifts or club memberships. Or incentivising performance.These will create (temporary) joy but will not have a lasting effect. This is kind of creating delight ! Employees are engaged when they are given great challenges to work on, amazing colleagues to work with and they understand the mission of the organisation and are aligned with it. That drives engagement and belonging.

A happy team is a productive team. The happiest teams are the most productive. The clear parameter to measure gross happiness quotient is to have a look at the errors, faults, disasters, losses etc. If you trace back in a methodical manner ,they will lead you to the root cause of the low engagement most of the time . Then what remains is to analyse the root cause, and remedy it with the stakeholders on board. Also in case you want realistic inputs from the team themselves , nurture the culture of "constructive dissent" . never discourage people from speaking. When the culture takes roots the feedback will not need surveys and polls. the info will come to you on its own on a regular basis.

In my experience employee engagement comes from authenticity. Having values that really do reflect the culture of an organisation and are easily recognisable to everyone who works there. It's essential that Leaders have true integrity, that they really do care about their teams and this has to be genuine in order for it to be believed. Employees need to be empowered, to have a voice and to be heard and employers need to trust, act and do what they say they'll do. Honesty and transparency builds trust and I believe trust is what fosters true employee engagement - knowing someone has your back.

While employee engagement on one side is about role engagement, the other important aspect is the bonding associated with the organisation. While this bonding is assumed to be enhanced through sports and fun events, these are only tools. The environment to heartily participate is not a one time event. It should wire along the company culture to collaborate & participate. That's an everyday effort, these events turn as litmus to measure it's efficacy for HR team.