Leadership Behaviors that Increase Employee Engagement

Leadership Behaviors that Increase Employee Engagement
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Why Increase Employee Engagement?
Employee engagement can be seen as the mental and emotional connections employees feel toward their workplace. We know from assessing organizational cultures that the stronger the connection, the longer employees stay and the more discretionary effort they give. Both lead to higher levels of performance. But what are the leadership behaviors that increase employee engagement?

Top Leadership Behaviors that Increase Employee Engagement
Leadership teams have an enormous impact on employee engagement. The entire workforce looks to their leaders as models of how to behave and for what matters most. Leaders have the power to establish the purpose of the enterprise, the culture, and the strategic priorities. Those executive team leaders who effectively strive to increase employee engagement do so by working together to:

  1. Create Strategic Clarity
    Our organizational alignment research found that strategic clarity accounts for 31% of the difference between high and low performance in terms of revenue growth, profitability, customer loyalty, leadership effectiveness, and employee engagement.  Engaged teams have a clear line of sight and report 50 percent higher levels of strategic clarity than their more disengaged counterparts.

    Is your corporate strategy clear enough to engage and retain top talent?
  2. Champion a Mission with Meaning
    The most engaged employees believe that the company mission matters.  Effective leaders are able to articulate the shared goals and purpose of the organization in a way that resonates with their teams and inspires them to strive together to realize the company’s vision.

    Is your company mission statement meaningful enough to engage and retain top talent?
  3. Maintain a Focus on the Customer
    Leadership teams who keep focused on what their customers want and need are always looking for ways to deliver meaningful value. They set a standard for employees to follow by connecting regularly with customers, listening to their feedback, and tuning into their changing needs.

    Is your company culture customer-centric enough to engage and retain top talent?
  4. Model and Expect Open and Honest Communications
    The most engaging leaders use open, direct, but always respectful communication. This encourages employees to feel that they, too, can express themselves in an honest, straightforward manner that supports innovation and collaboration.

    Leaders who seek the thoughts of others and welcome and carefully consider different perspectives uncover opportunities they would not have found on their own. Likewise, employees who are open to diverse opinions are primed to accept and act upon the constructive feedback and input from their colleagues.

    Have you created a culture of open feedback to engage and retain top talent?
  5. Prioritize Continuous Learning
    Executives make mistakes too. Those who are humble enough to admit their missteps and learn from them are committed to doing things better and moving forward. What better example for employees than to see their leaders embrace the ideal of continuous improvement?

    A recent study by Udemy found that 80% of employees said that learning and development opportunities would help them feel more engaged at work.

    Do your leaders model, encourage, and reward continuous learning at work to engage and retain top talent?
  6. Earn Trust through Integrity
    No team can function effectively without high levels of trust, accountability, and dependability. A leader with integrity does what they say they will do and always “walks the talk.” Organization-wide trust is a byproduct of a culture of transparency, workplace accountability, and leadership integrity. 

    Do your employees trust senior leaders to lead the company to future success in a way that makes sense to the people AND the business?
  7. Committed to Making It a Great Place to Work
    Some leaders are truly committed to making it a great place to work.  Others are just in it for themselves.  Leaders that prioritize a people first culture create an environment where employees feel valued at work.  When employees see leaders following through on employee engagement actions and feel that leaders intentionally appreciate them and their contribution, their level of employee engagement increases.

    Are your leaders committed to making your company a great place to work?

The Bottom Line
When leaders intentionally put employees first and model desired company behaviors, they create higher levels of alignment that foster increased employee engagement. Are your leaders visibly and consistently walking the talk?

To learn more about leadership behaviors that increase employee engagement, download Research Report – Relationship Between Employee Engagement and Manager Effectiveness

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