Most executives and Human Resource professionals know that high employee engagement is related to higher performance, profitability, and even higher customer loyalty. But what’s not always as clear, is how to achieve that higher employee engagement. This article explains 4 practical, research-based habits that the most effective leaders in the world use, to ignite engagement and performance in their people and teams.
What is Employee Engagement?
Years ago, organizations focused on employee ‘satisfaction’. They understood that while employees get paid every two weeks, if they could ensure they were satisfied with their job, they would be more likely to stay. But it turned out that having ‘satisfied’ employees was a poor predictor of productivity or profitability. Employee Engagementgoes beyond just being satisfied to where, as Aon Hewitt described, the employee is more willing to stay(more knowledge of products, services, and customers), saygood things about the organization to others (think recruiting), and importantly, more willing to use their discretionary effort (go above and beyond to solve problems). Over the past 25 years, more and more research shows a direct correlation between organizations with high employee engagement, and their profitability (or productivity), employee retention, and customer retention.
How do We Increase Employee Engagement?
There are a lot of factors that can contribute to an employee feeling engaged and this is why it can be confusing. Platforms like the ‘100 Best Companies to Work for’ or ‘Best Employer’initiatives outline specific programs such as benefit packages, on-site day care, flexible work options, or free coffee. These initiatives cost employers money, and people do ‘appreciate’ these offerings, but as Gallup found in their research on Employee Engagement and their Q-12 survey;
“It was not pay, benefits, or a charismatic corporate leader that was critical in building a strong culture, it’s the manager that was key”.
Their research found that it’s the employees’ relationship with their direct manager that makes the difference.
In their work on recognition and rewards, OC Tanner found that it is the day to day experience that has the biggest influence on how engaged an employee will feel. So if it’s the day-to-day experience, then things like year end award ceremonies, events, or even quarterly meetings, are too infrequent to make the most difference.
This doesn’t mean organizations should drop those benefits, perks, or human centered initiatives. Instead, focus on getting your leaders to practice the same habits that the most effective leaders in the world use to inspire higher engagement. Here are 4 leadership behaviors that are easy to use and when done consistently, are proven to get results.
4 Leadership Behaviors that Inspire Higher Engagement
There are a number of specific leadership behaviors that are proven to create workplaces where people want to do their best. Research from Human Synergistics shows that there are 4 primary styles or strategies leaders use to inspire a constructive culture (engagement). The most effective leaders help others to be clear on their goals, take time to connect with their team members, provide meaningful feedback, and create a sense of team. These actions help create a culture where employees know how they contribute, feel appreciated, and motivated. The best part is these habits are often natural, easy to learn, and don’t cost money.
1. Communicate a Clear Sense of Purpose
A clear purpose gives work meaning. Leaders who explain where the company is going, help people see how their daily tasks contribute to a bigger goal. Think of leaders like Steve Jobs, they didn’t just have ideas, they told stories that made people excited. When employees understand the direction, they know their work matters and are more likely to put in effort and creativity.
How to communicate a clear sense of purpose:
a. Share your team’s purpose and how it contributes to the organization’s success, in your regular weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly team meetings (you are having regular team meetings…right?)
You may be tempted to think that they already know the vision or purpose but it’s always inspiring to help people see how their work contributes to something bigger. Remember, to the degree your team members are focused on their daily tasks, they may lose sight of the overall vision. In his book the ‘4 obsessions of an extraordinary executive’ Patrick Lencioni encourages his readers to over communicate the vision.
b. Take time to remind your individual team members how their work contributes to the team or organization’s success – that’s right – one on one, in what my colleague Andy Kimball calls, a connection meeting. (see below).
2. Connect Personally With Each Team Member.
The most effective leaders take time to connect with each employee. These are one on one meetings where we ask about the team members vision, their goals, challenges, and what help they need. This one on one interaction builds trust which is fundamental to engagement. One of the questions in Gallup’s Q-12 survey is ‘my manager or someone at work seems to care about me as a human’. When teaching this skill in leadership courses, I’ll sometimes have someone say ‘why should we care about their goals? We are paying them every two weeks’. Yep – hopefully you do pay them dependably. But if you want to take trust to a higher level, connect. It’s more than just being nice. When you understand what is most motivating to an employee (hint – it’s not always just money), or what their challenges are, you can now tailor your feedback or ideas in a way that is most motivating for that individual. If you don’t connect, then you’re just guessing. Companies with more trust have less turnover and happier workers. This shows that honest leadership builds loyalty and better work.
How to effectively connect with an employee:
‘Connect’ with each team member, one on one, once per year where it is all about them. You can then ‘check in’ on their goals and challenges periodically throughout the year. Some leaders will say “I have 20 employees, I don’t have time!”. You don’t have to do all 20 employees in one week, in one month, or even one quarter. While some leaders like to hold these connection meetings near the beginning of their performance year, you can spread them out throughout the year if you like. I used to keep an excel spreadsheet to ensure I connected with everyone at least once a year. New employee comes on to the team? Connect. Got a steady performer that’s been there for awhile but seems to be struggling lately? Connect. Got a high performer and you’re worried they’re a flight risk? Connect. Remember, while the focus is on them, it helps you to tailor your coaching to be motivating. Here’s an article I wrote on how to Connect.
3. Give Frequent Positive Feedback.
The most effective leaders provide meaningful feedback and praise often. While positive feedback feels good to receive (and feeling good is engaging) it’s more than that. Positive feedback allows you to reinforce a behavior that you want them to repeat! It’s a strategy that leads to higher performance. Praise that is quick and linked to results encourages people to keep doing good work. Gallup’s research found that employees who have received recognition or praise in the last seven days tend to be more engaged. It doesn’t have to literally be in the last 7 days, but don’t wait for the year end performance review!
How to provide positive feedback to an employee:
Feedback that is vague or too high level such as ‘hey, you’re really doing great’, can come across as insincere (eroding trust) or leave the team member wondering what it is that they did or do that is working. So:
a. Give a headline. This lets them know what’s coming.
Examples:
‘I really appreciate your…’
‘You’re so dependable.’
‘You’re such a great team player.’
‘Thank you for…’
These all let the person know that what is coming, is primarily positive. This allows them to let down their guard and receive the feedback you’re about to give.
b. Be specific. Instead of ‘you’re such a team player’ try – ‘I appreciate it when you take time to teach your colleagues a new process’, or ‘I notice in meetings you’ll often point out what you like about someone’s idea, and that seems to generate more creative ideas.’
c. Be sincere. Look for opportunities to provide positive feedback for sure, but don’t fake it. When you see or hear something someone does that is helpful, let them know. Make it a habit.
But what about negative feedback? Am I supposed to just ignore it when someone is not doing their tasks or not doing them correctly?
No. I’m not suggesting you ignore behaviors that aren’t working. When we ignore a behavior that is not helping, that individual’s performance is affected, the team’s performance is affected, and it could leave other team members feeling frustrated. When you see something that is not working, you can provide negative feedback. Negative feedback is basically, pointing out what is not working. It’s possible a person may not know what they are doing that is incorrect, or what they are not doing that they should be. This is when negative feedback can be helpful. It’s also when our memory of our ‘connection’ meeting can come in handy.
Is this person someone that lacks confidence and so I need to deliver the feedback a certain way?
Is this someone that might already know there is a challenge but does not know what to do?
As with positive feedback – make sure you point out the specific behavior that is holding them back, and of course, be sincere. Many people already know where they are struggling, where they’ve made a mistake or dropped the ball. But they may not know what ‘to’ do. So one idea is to, well, give them an idea.
4. Offer Positive Ideas and Guidance
As a leader you often have more experience, knowledge, or perspective that you can share with employees to help them to be successful, perform more highly, or overcome a challenge. When someone is not doing what we want, or not doing something effectively, it’s possible they either don’t know what we want, or they don’t know how to do it. This is where your advice or ideas can come in.
How to offer positive ideas to an employee:
a. Give a Headline – just like with positive feedback, letting them know what the topic is, will help them to be open to your idea. ‘I’ve been thinking about your goal to become a senior… and I had an idea’, or ‘I’ve noticed you sometimes seem frustrated by….’ or ‘I had an idea on how you can close more sales’.
b. Be specific – what is the actual ‘behavior’ you’d like to see them do, or do more of?
If you say ‘you need to be more dependable’ (which by the way, can sound like negative feedback) they may not know what you mean by dependable, or may not know how. ‘I’d like you to send your spell checked month end report to me by 3 pm on Thursday. If you’re having trouble, please let me know by 4 pm the day before’. If you say ‘I’d like you to show more empathy’ they may not know what you mean by empathy. ‘When you hear a customer that sounds frustrated, I’d like you to acknowledge that by saying something like ‘I can see how this might be frustrating for you sir, how can I help?’
c. Check for understanding. After giving an idea, you want to see if they’ve understood and are they likely to go try the new behavior. You can ask ‘how does that sound?’ or ‘what do you think?’ or ‘ can you do that?’ Any question that invites them into the conversation.
As you can see, whether it’s positive feedback, negative feedback, or in this case a positive ideas,
Connecting is that super power that allows you frame your communication in a way that’s most motivating for that individual. This is what the best leaders do.
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How Can Leaders Measure and Improve Employee Engagement?
Measuring engagement helps leaders know what to do. Use both numbers and stories to find trends, focus efforts, and watch progress over time. Experts say measuring engagement helps leaders pay attention and take action.
Remember, you don’t have to wait for yearly surveys. The best leaders ask their teams for feedback often.
This table shows how certain leadership habits lead to real benefits in engagement. Small, steady actions often bring the biggest results.
| Leadership Habit | How it helps engagement | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Communicate the Vison | When employees understands how their efforts contribute to the bigger picture they’re more motivated and can use their own initiative to make decisions. | Taking a minute at a regular team meeting to share the vision or talk about how your team contributes to the vision. |
| Connect with employees | When we take time to understand a team members vision, goals, or challenges, they feel connected. It also allows us to tailor our coaching to be more motivating to that individual. | Having a ‘connection meeting’ with each employee, at least once per year, where you ask them what their goals are, challenges, and what help they need. Then check in once per quarter. |
| Provide Positive Feedback | Team members who feel appreciated and receive regular feedback are more highly engaged. And, they’re more likely to repeat those positive behaviors. | Giving regular positive feedback to reinforce behaviors that are working. Remember to include the specific behavior and of course, be sincere. |
| Provide positive ideas | While most people don’t want to be micromanaged, they don’t want to feel abandoned either. Receiving ideas or coaching on how to improve, is motivating. | When you see an opportunity for an employee to do something, or do something differently, offer an idea on how to improve. Again, remember to be specific. |
Frequently Asked Questions on Driving Employee Engagement
What challenges do leaders face in boosting employee engagement?
One challenge we hear often is that leaders don’t have time. For sure, leaders have more on their plates than ever before. Diverse and dispersed work teams, competing priorities, budgets, project teams, it’s a lot.
And while large engagement initiatives can look daunting, time and time again, it’s the small, daily behaviors that make the difference. Encourage leaders to see that sharing the vision, connecting, and providing positive feedback and ideas are ways to inspire others to get the work done, and not meant to be ‘extra tasks’ to be done. For example, if you already meet with your employees, then a connection meeting is not another meeting, you’re just shifting the topic that day to be all about the employee. If you’re already communicating with your employees, you’re just taking a minute to talk about the vision or your shared purpose. .
How can leaders clearly share their vision with employees?
Keep the message simple, consistent, and easy to relate to. Use stories and examples to show how the vision connects to daily work. Repeat the message in meetings, one-on-ones, and emails, and invite questions so people understand and act on it.
Why is employee feedback important for engagement?
Feedback shows what works and what doesn’t. Regularly ask for input through surveys, casual talks, or suggestion boxes, then act on what you hear. When employees see their feedback leads to real change, it builds trust and ownership.
How can leaders check if their engagement efforts are working?
Of course, formal engagement surveys, turnover and retention numbers, productivity data, and feedback from interviews or focus groups all help. Be sure to take action on a select set of priorities and let people know you are working on those initiatives. Nothing can undermine authentic feedback more quickly than when employees feel that nothing will result from their feedback. As an individual leader, don’t forget, one of the most powerful ways to check in on engagement efforts is to ask your team and team members for feedback. What is working (positive feedback), What would make things better? (soliciting ideas). .
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