Do you stride into work each morning with a spring in your step and a sense of excitement about the day ahead? Do your employees?
Only 24% of the Australian workforce are deemed as ‘engaged’ according to Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace. There is no doubt that most would like to feel a little more motivated, confident, passionate and empowered at work. Being engaged is not just for the benefit of the organisation, but it’s also the secret to your employee’s performing their best and maintaining their wellbeing.
For example, two employees with similar skills, abilities and experience are working for the same company in very similar roles. One of them is fulfilled, inspired and immersed while the other is uninterested, withdrawn and unhappy. Consequently, the former will perform to a higher standard, stay with the company longer and will be a positive influence within the workforce. The latter will underperform, have a negative effect on others and eventually will leave the organisation. The differing mind-sets are caused by engagement level.
FIVE WAYS TO REIGNITE YOUR PASSION FOR YOUR JOB
1. Pursue a new challenge
If you are feeling bored and unencouraged within your role, you are likely ready to take on more. One of the best remedies for a lack of interest in your work is to seek a new challenge, push yourself to achieve new goal. This is beneficial to both you and the business you work within, motivating you to push through barriers and embrace hidden talents whilst also being a value-add for your organisation.
2. Delegate your weaknesses
If your enthusiasm is diminishing at work, you may be working against your strengths and natural instinct. Allow yourself to flourish by discovering how you work best and where your strengths and weaknesses lie within your role. Find out if your position can adapt to this so that you are more focused on the things you are good at. Look within your organisation for others who strive in those areas that are bringing you dissatisfaction.
3. Recognise and rewards
If you’re dragging your feet through the front door of your office, it’s likely that you aren’t celebrating much. Giving someone else a word of praise or a pat on the back in front of the team can go a long way in boosting morale for you both. An added bonus being that this person will automatically try to give the same level of performance or improved efforts in the future. Reward and recognition is contagious and I guarantee that it will catch on and slowly you will feel it lift up your entire workplace.
4. Shift the focus away from ‘success’
One of the roots of this disengagement problem stems from the fact that we see loving work as a byproduct of being successful. Commonly, people set out with the goal of financial success assuming that achieving this will provide fulfilment. Loving work should be viewed as a critical component of success, not just an added bonus.
5. Seek a mentor
Choose a fellow coworker who inspires you, someone you would like to learn from, or someone who is in a position where you can see yourself progressing to. Reach out to them and tell them why you have selected them and if they will be a mentor to you. You could watch and learn, you could ask them to hold you accountable to your goals or even have a regular meeting with them.
FIVE WAYS TO INCREASE EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT WITHIN YOUR BUSINESS
1. Hold a regular team meeting or huddle
Having a business-wide meeting in the mornings, to start or even to end the week is a great opportunity for everyone to get together and share feedback and experiences. You can touch on what worked well, what didn’t and the goals for the coming week, month or quarter and where you are at with them. This will give your employees a chance to become more familiar with one another and what other team members and departments are working on. This will enable them to feel a better sense of being a ‘team’, emphasising that they are working towards something bigger than their day to day tasks.
2. Reward and recognition
Praise your people for their hard work, accomplishments or attitude. Having an open, appreciative organisational culture, not only creates a great atmosphere in the workplace, but also drives employee motivation. At Engage & Grow we run a weekly reward and recognition nomination where participants can give a shout-out to the person they feel deserves the appreciation for something they have done that week. It’s a great way to build strong relationships and show appreciation for the small things. It also encourages your employees to continue working or acting in the way they are being rewarded and recognised for.
3. Open communication
Take the time to have a quick chat with, ask a favour from or collaborate with one of your employees every day. You have no idea how big of an impact this will have on them and the way they perceive you. If you have a large or widely spread team it may be worthwhile to put a communication tool in place. This can be a great way for people to not only connect with those who they don’t have opportunity to speak to in person but also to encourage cross-departmental collaboration, and generally strengthen the bonds across your entire business.
4. Change it up
If you feel that your employees are lacking motivation and seeming disengaged you could freshen things up and give them a change of scenery or schedule. Provide a chance for them to try something new or interact with different team members. One way to do this is by having everyone in the office switch desks for a day. If this change is welcome, it not only prevents people becoming tired of the same daily practices but is a great way for people to become more aware of what their colleagues in other departments are working on. This will also help them establish a greater understanding of what is happening in the business as a whole. Be aware that this is not for everyone so ensure that your employees are comfortable with a strategy such as this before putting it in place.
5. Have a personal approach
for most people, the majority of our time is spent at work, so we want it to be an environment that we feel comfortable and supported within. Encouraging your employees to personalise their work space or have a voice in the appearance of the overall office is a great way to make it feel more like home to them. This small change can have a huge impact on how your employees feel when they sit down at their desk each day.
Final Thoughts:
Loving work is seen as an ideal that only few can achieve, and those who do have truly won the lottery of life. In reality, it is not as simple as winning the lottery, loving work requires hard work and commitment. Once this state of mind has been mastered, individual’s can feel fulfilled, challenged and engaged.
What is needed is a shift. A shift away from blaming employees, the organisation or even the hierarchy and work towards more effective levels of engagement. Loving work is a commitment that requires prioritisation. It’s time to get engaged and move this love for work from a wish list to a priority. The key component to creating this fulfilled and engaged mind-set is switching from a reactive perspective to a proactive one!
This guest blog is written by Eve Laidlaw, Employee Engagement Specialist at Engage & Grow Global