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Engaging the hearts and minds of your employees

By Kathy Van de Laar, CCXP posted 06-17-2021 05:16 PM

  

For C-suite leaders, a key challenge is how to translate strategy into practice to deliver business results.  Because it doesn’t start with results, it starts with people, the true challenge is how to engage the hearts and minds of your employees to create an intrinsically motivated organization. 

Research shows that people perform better when they’re motivated. According to Gallup, teams with high employee engagement have better customer engagement, greater productivity, better retention, and 21% higher profitability. I’m a fan of Daniel Pink’s work and his three components of intrinsic motivation:

  • Autonomy– people are trusted and empowered to make choices in their own development and in how they fulfill their roles and contribute to the strategy and goals
  • Mastery– people are enabled to realize their potential and are given the tools and training they need to continue to grow, learn and improve their skills
  • Purpose– people understand the big picture, why it’s important and are encouraged to use their skills to contribute to the greater good of the organization and its customers.

 How can you use these three components to grow intrinsically motivated employees?

Help employees connect to the big picture

Boil your core message down to 5 key talking points that you and your leadership team can use to communicate consistently. Use the talking points every chance you get to create a cadence of communication, your drumbeat. When you repeat your message often, everyone knows the rhythm and can dance to the beat on their own.

Help employees connect their personal goals to your strategy and business goals.  Let them answer the question, “how do I want to contribute?” to create ownership and commitment.

Heart and Mind
Image by Gordon Johnson from Pixabay

Set a clear direction and get out of the way

Set clear goals for your organization. Make your direction and intent clear. In the words of the great philosopher The Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland, “if you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there”. 

Encourage self-organizing. Let people decide for themselves how they will achieve the goals. In agile terminology, let them fill in the “how”.

Promote understanding, collaboration and learning

Take time to understand the value of your people. Show them that you’re interested in what they’re doing and the difference that it makes.  When was the last time you spoke to one of your frontline employees to understand what they are hearing from customers? 

Create projects that require collaboration and contribute on all levels of your business. Give them the opportunity to succeed together.

Encourage employees to invest in themselves so that they can grow, learn and contribute in more and better ways.  Make sure you have the right learning opportunities available and accessible to your employees.

 

In times of crisis, stay engaged

These tenets always hold true but deserve a little extra attention in times of crisis and transition.  Your employees are undoubtedly curious how your organization will adapt to the next normal, while they are dealing with great disruption in their normal routines. Here are three tips to stay engaged and maintain your relationships:

  • Keep your rhythm going – it will provide a sense of security and comfort to know that your core commitments remain stable in the face of a changing world.  
  • Give your team the ultimate collaborative challenge to think about where there are opportunities for your business and what the next normal will be for you collectively. Great companies thrive in times of crisis because their people adapt and innovate.
  • Stay connected, remotely. Create virtual moments that matter. Have a coffee corner via Teams or a conference call to engage and reflect with each other. Call employees directly to ask how they are doing. Remember, relationships are built on emotional connections. Be a leader with a listening ear and set the example for others.

 

Your employees’ success is your success

Help your employees help you be successful. Do your employees know where you are going? Can they dance to the beat on their own? Are you giving your employees the opportunity to show what they can do in their own way? Are you challenging your organization to learn from one another?  Focus on engaging the hearts and minds of your employees by developing an intrinsically motivated organization.


#Customer Centric Culture
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