Employees consider managers to be the “face” of the Company because they interact with them the most each day. In this post, we’ll consider four best practices that direct supervisors can use to better engage employees.
Care about your team
Dale Carnegie’s Emotional Drivers of Employee Engagement infographic indicates “Employees who reported that their managers care about their personal lives are 3 [times] more engaged than those that do not believe that.”1 There are many ways to show employees that you care about them. One of the easiest is to simply listen. You’ll be surprised about what can be learned by just being present in daily conversations. Let’s consider an example of how listening can be beneficial.
I like to bake so I decided to bake a cake from scratch for each of my direct reports’ birthdays. With the first couple of birthdays, I listened for reactions to the cakes and made mental notes of people’s comments. It didn’t take long to learn the type of cake each person preferred. That allowed me to surprise each employee on their birthday with their favorite cake. The employees appreciated the thought that went into making their day special.
Be a member of the team
Managers must understand that they are a member of the team and not above it. Being a manager is a great responsibility and one that should not be taken lightly. Managers must be visible and engaged in the team’s work. Personally, I enjoy being a hands-on manager. When I’m new to a team, I try to learn as much as possible about the work of each individual and then pitch in where I can. One day, during my first week as a new manager, I made a scheduling mistake. I let too many people off on the same day. Rather than asking others on the team to pitch in, I covered the key work needed. I learned more than I expected and, at the same time, the team was impressed with my willingness to jump in and contribute.
Give credit, take responsibility
I enjoy talking about my team and the great work they do. I make sure that leadership knows about the accomplishments of the group and individuals. When work is going well, the credit goes to the team. If things aren’t going so well, I take full responsibility. For example, I was managing the second shift data processing operations while the department was in the middle of a consolidation. We made mistakes that impacted our business customers. One day, my manager stopped me and demanded to know who was responsible for the problems. I told him that I was responsible because I was in charge of the shift. He kept insisting that I name the person or persons on the team causing the problems. I wouldn’t give in. Soon, word of this conversation spread in the office. My team thanked me. In fact, they were surprised that I stood up for them considering that most were temporary/ contract employees. From that point forward, the team knew that they had my support and we worked together to address the problems.
Lead by example
Managers must model the behavior they expect from their employees. According to Dale Carnegie, “2.5 [times] engaged employees reported that their manager sets a good example more than disengaged employees.”1 When I was managing my data processing team, I struggled to get the team to allot time to unpack the daily supply order. It was thought to be menial work and people avoided it by finding other things to do. Unfortunately, we couldn’t work efficiently until the order was attended to. The pallets impeded access to some of the machines needed to process our work and extra time was required in order to track down needed supplies if they weren’t in their proper location. After days of reminding the team to handle the orders, I started putting the stock away myself. The team soon realized the importance I placed on the task and understood it should be a priority for them as well. It wasn’t long before the supply order was being promptly handled without any mention or assistance from me.
In previous posts, we’ve discussed that managers play a key role in employee engagement. How key? According to Dale Carnegie, “84 percent of how employees feel about their organization is driven by their immediate manager.” 1 The best practices above are just a few of the many ways managers and by default, companies, can better engage their employees.
How do you approach managing others? What other best practices can you share?
1Dale Carnegie Training. “How to Engage Employees by Fostering Positive Emotions.” Dale Carnegie. Web. 25 Nov. 2013.
P.S. – First time here? Welcome to the Agent In Engagement site. Thanks for taking the time to stop by! I hope you’ll explore the rest of the site. Let me know what employee engagement topics interest you.
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Let’s Get Engaged!
I’m Agent in Engagement Simpson…Greg Simpson.
My mission? To help companies succeed by focusing on how they engage, manage, and develop their employees.
My credentials? Award winning engagement work with Fortune 150 companies.
My next assignment? To come in from the field, the consulting field, and return to headquarters. There I’ll lead the ongoing battle against the greatest nemesis in every company – employee disengagement.
I’m excited about this opportunity to connect with fellow “Agents.” Subscribe to the RSS Feed to receive the latest updates and/or register if you would like to comment on posts.
You can follow me @agtinengagement, email me at g…@a…t.com or learn more about me at www.gregoryfsimpson.com.
