What does employee engagement mean to your company? Part 4

 In previous blogs in this series, "What does employee engagement mean to your company?" we have discussed what employee engagement is not, using some typical examples that companies often cite as examples of involving employees.  We also talked about two tools that companies can use to effectively implement an extensive and sustainable employee engagement program, developing a compelling business need with clear objectives and goals and giving employees time to be a part of initiatives.  Today, in Part 4, we will discuss another tool that is integral to the success of employees' efforts - team development.  

How can we develop self-motivated work teams that include high-participation and high-involvement?  Our role as leaders is to provide the support and the training to our teams in order that they can, ultimately, function as self-directed, with a high degree of autonomy.  The values that this type of environment provide are extensive, including:

• making work more interesting for employees, thus increasing retention and reducing attrition
• sharing responsibilities for the success or failures of the company with all employees, not just management
• having those with the expertise using the operating procedures be a part of the solution, making the likelihood of success for any improvements much higher
• getting a lot more done - having your entire team working on continuous improvement is much more effective than having a small leadership team working on it

Work teams should include:

• a solid team structure, with team charters identifying clear goals (what does success look like?) 
• formalized and regularly scheduled team meetings 
• action plans with accountabilities and completion dates
• a reward system to celebrate successes (which does not have to be a gift, but can be a "thank you")

It is tough to argue with the benefits that result from implementing a team structure, as part of your employee engagement plan.  But your organization must be ready for what that means.  When employees are consulted, or maybe an "employee suggestion box" is available, they are able to give input and make recommendations, but, in reality it is the management team who makes the decisions or has veto power.  When employees are truly empowered, they have the authority to make real decisions.  Of course, there are many business decisions that have to be made by management, due to regulations, costs, complexity, skills and knowledge, confidential business information, etc., but there are also many decisions, changes, and adaptations that can be completed very competently, and sometimes even better, by employees than management could do.  As a result, your company can be getting a lot more done, improve employee motivation and commitment, and achieve bottom line results.

How effective are your current work teams?  How much responsibility do your employees feel toward the company meeting its goals?  How much time is your management group spending on making the day-to-day decisions or in fire fighting, keeping them from developing strategic, long term, highly impactful plans?  I invite you to consider using team development as a key component of employee engagement at your company.

In this multi-part series, we will continue to explore how to develop a key employee engagement strategy, which tools to use to make that strategy successful, and how to sustain it as part of an integrated culture. 

 

Kim Wolf Leadership Coaching and Manufacturing Consulting