Pay Attention- your team will tell you if they are falling out of engagement with you

As leaders we are always ‘busy’, to busy sometimes to see the warning signs that our team members give us- telling us they are falling out of engagement with us. We often don’t notice this until it’s too late and our team members are disgruntled, unmotivated, and their work is slipping in quality and accountability.

If you are reading this and you are a leader (pssst…we all lead in some way, form, or fashion) remember it is your job to PAY ATTENTION to your team and the warning signs they give you. “People work for people, not companies”, we MUST lead with a servant heart and take notice of the little things our people are telling us.

Be Present- a best practice  

As I mentioned earlier, we all get busy! It is easy to miss those warning signs. As you climb the corporate ladder it is important to remember what you needed from your leader and learn from the mistakes of past leaders, these can be the best lessons! In my experiences, a common mistake made by most leaders is not being present in the moments they spend with their people. Because we are so busy, there are always meetings to run to and ‘to dos’ to check off that list, we forget to make time for the people making everything tick. As I have stumbled along the path towards becoming a leader those want to follow, I have learned that you can’t do it all, but we must make time to be there for our people in order to be successful. A few years ago I started to arrive at the office at least one hour before my team arrives. Why you ask? This allows me to get all my nitty gritty ‘to dos’ done, organize my day, and set my daily priorities. The beauty of this is that once my team arrives I am present for them, my day has been planned and now my door is open and I am available to support my team in any way they need. This does two things for team engagement:

1. The team feels supported and guided. I am able to coach on the fly.
2. I am open to seeing the warning signs of slipping engagement, so I can ask probing questions to uncover ‘why’ before it’s too late, I am Present.

Did you know..

A study conducted by Gallup showed that although organizations with a high level of engagement do report 22% higher productivity, it yields so many more rewards. In the article Employee Engagement Does More than Boost Productivity written by John Baldoni for the Harvard Business Review shows that “Strong employee engagement promotes a variety of outcomes that are good for employees and customers. For instance, highly engaged organizations have double the rate of success of lower engaged organizations.”

What to pay attention to

I can hear the little voice in your head as you read this… “What are the warning signs I should be looking for..” Great Question! If you are present and are paying attention you will have a pulse on your team engagement at all times, however there are a few tell tail signs that a team member is falling out of engagement with you.

Warning signs to keep an eye on:

1. Team members disengage

Is a team member unusually quite in meetings? When people are excited they want to talk about it, if you notice that a team member is less talkative or open to getting involved in a project or initiative there is a good chance that there is something going on. Team member disengagement can also show up as lateness or calling in sick more than usual. If you catch this early on you can pull the team member aside and ask him/her if there is anything you can help them with, probe and find out what is bothering them and then readjust their scope to reinvigorate them!

2. They start missing deadlines

Often if a team member starts missing deadlines, he or she is usually having trouble finding the purpose to being at work every day. They are not motivated to push through tasks or initiatives, and they lose interest which is often a sign that they are not excited about what they are working on. If we can pick up on this as leaders we can often redirect a team members focus towards something that excites them.

3. There is a lack of initiative

Those team members that stop taking initiative on new assignments or stop sharing ideas and opinions are often burnt out or disinterested. Communication is key here, find out how they are feeling, and ask questions. The solution could be as simple as ensuring they have some downtime or reallocation of tasks to lessen the work load.

4. They stop smiling

This is by far the most obvious sign of a disgruntled employee. We are only human- if we are not happy we stop smiling. If you see this, act on it. Be present and lead with a servant heart, ask your team how they are and care enough to do something about it.

Internal culture is a direct reflection of its leaders

If the engagement or moral is on a downward spiral on your team or in your organization the first place you should look is at yourself and the way you are leading your team. A mentor of mine once told me “You are a direct reflection of yourself, what you put out is what you get back”. That lesson struck me at the core. It is the leaders fault if moral drops, it’s our responsibility to pay attention to the warning signs and take the time to actively listen and be present. You’ll be thankful in the long run when your team works with you towards success.