***Most organizations are just moving peas around on their plate when it comes to employee engagement.***
That may sound a bit harsh, but hear me out:
A healthy and thriving company culture MUST START WITH THE LEADERSHIP, the management, of an organization. Leaders set the tone…by what they do / don’t do, allow or don’t allow.
I’ve worked with many HR leaders who are SO passionate about helping their companies build a great culture, yet they spend many hours and tireless efforts to come up with strategies to close the engagement gap – often with little to no movement in their engagement metrics.
I’ve seen them implement well-meaning but often INEFFECTIVE tactics for improving employee engagement:
● Improvement in COMPENSATION PLANS (yet 65% of employees say they would take a new boss over a pay raise)
● Creative RECRUITING STRATEGIES (if you bring new, “better” people into a broken culture, you’ll likely have the same problems with the new employees within a short period of time)
● Social EVENTS and OFFICE PARTIES (77% of Americans who work full-time have experienced burnout at their jobs and many don’t want yet another work-related activity to attend)
Again, these are WELL-MEANING solutions for closing the engagement gap, but BY THEMSELVES, they don’t address the root issues of WHY employees are disengaged.
Statistically speaking, leaders have a 70% VARIANCE ON TEAM ENGAGEMENT.
Transforming the overall effectiveness of your leaders has a direct and profound impact on the cultural health of your organization.
And the key to LEADERSHIP TRANSFORMATION is equipping leaders to be COACH LEADERS.
The problem is – when leaders are not equipped to be coach leaders, most of the strategies that HR tries to implement will not be sustainable.
However, when leaders at ALL levels are leading like a coach, a thriving company culture is both possible and sustainable.
Real culture transformation happens in employee engagement when the people the employees work closest with and influence their working experience on a day-to-day basis (their managers):
● Cast a compelling vision
● Establish achievable goals
● Communicate clearly and frequently
● Ask good, curious questions that lead employees to find their own solutions
● Listen actively
● Delegate decision-making effectively
● Inspire and motivate employees to reach their potential
● Express sincere and consistent appreciation and encouragement
These are a few things great COACH LEADERS do. When every leader does this effectively, CULTURE is TRANSFORMED.
I’ve seen it.
The Coach Approach to Leadership is the method we have used repeatedly with our clients to transform CULTURE and EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT for the long haul.
If you’re interested in learning more, send me a message, and we’ll set up a call.
