Every organisation wants its employees to be fully engaged. That makes sense. An organisation with a fully engaged workforce won’t only experience higher levels of productivity. It will also see lower staff turnover, increased customer satisfaction, and higher levels of overall success. Knowing that your workforce should engage and getting them to a stage where they are engaged are, however, two very different things. This is where we investigate how to create a culture of engagement.

Tap into a culture of engagement

So, how do you create a culture of engagement, specifically employee engagement within your organisation? The first thing you need to know is that you can’t force engagement on your employees. There are a few things you can do to encourage it.

Get it right from the start

When it comes to ensuring an employee is fully engaged — your best bet is to get it right from the moment you hire them. Get the onboarding process right, and you’ll have employees who understand their roles and responsibilities from the start.

Think about it. How many jobs have you felt lost in for the first few weeks? How long does it usually take before you feel like you’ve got your head wrapped around a role? The sooner you can get your employees feeling comfortable in their role, the sooner they can engage with the role and the organisation as a whole.

This is also the time to ensure that new employees get to know their colleagues. One study found that employees who have friends at work are much more likely to be engaged than those who don’t.

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Set organisational goals

If you want your employees to be engaged, they must understand where the organisation is going. The best way to do that is to set and share organisational goals that your employees can work towards.

These goals should be monthly, quarterly, semi-annual, and annual. It’s also important that these goals not just be set for the organisation, but also at the team and individual level.

In setting these goals, you must consult widely. You’re more likely to set achievable goals — and your employees have a better idea of where they fit within the organisation and what’s expected of them.

Acknowledge your employees

One of the most powerful ways to ensure that your employees are engaged with your work and with the organisation is to acknowledge them.

Some companies, like Atlantis, The Palm in Dubai make a big deal of employee achievements. One example includes posting them on walls around the offices where they work. Others put up employee birthdays and workplace anniversaries on TV screens around the office.

One of the simplest ways to acknowledge employees is for the leaders to greet employees and show that they know a bit about their backgrounds.

One company leader who places a lot of importance on this is Truecaller’s Alan Mamedi. In our interview with him, he spoke about the effort he puts into ensuring he knows every employee by name.

“When I bump into someone,” he explains, “I also try and ask about their family situation, how many siblings they have, trying to understand who they are and sharing stuff about myself as well”.

“The idea is then that they will feel comfortable sharing that kind of stuff with other people in the organisation”.

“That’s when you create an environment of trust with your colleagues,” says Mamedi.

Grow your employees

It’s very easy for an employee to start feeling disengaged if they don’t feel like they’re given enough room for growth. You must pay attention to the ways you can grow your employees. Sometimes it might just entail identifying employees who’ll thrive if they’re given extra roles and responsibilities.

Other times, you might benefit from offering employees educational and training opportunities. Doing so doesn’t just help keep your employees engaged — it also introduces new skills into your business.

Avoid micromanagement

If you’ve ever had a manager who interrogated everything you do, you’ll know how damaging it can be for your morale.

If you’re now in a management position, you must avoid becoming the micromanager you once despised.

Give employees the space to do their jobs. Sure, they might make mistakes, but they can also express themselves more fully and put everything into their jobs.

Continue to create a culture of engagement

If you’re looking for help improving your employee engagement levels, contact us. Our expert consultants will help you with everything you need to know, from how to create a culture of engagement and beyond.