3 Tips To Engage Your Employees And Get Better Results

The secret sauce that turns average companies into great companies

For those who own a business or lead a team of people, there’s no denying the power of employee engagement. “When employees are engaged, they give discretionary effort, and that’s the secret sauce that turns average companies into great companies,” said Kevin Kruse, serial entrepreneur and New York Times bestselling author.

An engaged salesperson, according to Kruse, will sell just as hard on Friday afternoon as she does on Monday. An engaged service worker will fight just as hard to resolve a customer problem at 5:00 pm as he will at 9:00 am. And engaged factory workers have higher quality and fewer mistakes. “All of this improved performance inevitably leads to higher sales and higher profits,” he said. For example, companies that managed higher employee engagement relative to their peers throughout the economic downturn are now seeing dramatic, positive impacts to their revenue growth, according to a study, 2013 Trends in Global Employee Engagement, by Aon Hewitt.

Yet employee engagement and satisfaction in the U.S. has been trending lower for more than 25 years. Why? Kruse believes that as the notion of lifelong employment has disappeared, our natural loyalty and emotional commitment to our employer has also diminished. Today, most surveys show only one-third of employees are truly engaged at work, and bosses who do make an effort to connect with and motivate employees often miss the mark. “One common problem is that many executives confuse engagement with happiness; they think employee engagement initiatives are just a nice thing to do rather than a critical driver of sales and profits,” he said. “The second misconception is that engagement can be increased with more picnics and parties. Parties are nice—and who wouldn’t want a foosball table or free sodas?—but those don’t drive engagement.”

So what does it take to effectively engage employees? After reviewing the research of 10 million workers in 150 countries, along with his own experience as a Best Place to Work CEO, Kruse says it boils down to three things: Employees want growth, recognition and trust.
1. Growth.
2. Recognition.
3. Trust.

Read the full article at:  forbes.com

Patty Block, President and Founder of The Block Group, established her company to advocate for women-owned businesses, helping them position their companies for strategic growth. Charting the course for impactful, sustainable, profitable businesses, the beacon is control: of your strategic direction, your money, your time, your staffing, and your ability to bring in business. The Block Group brings together the people, resources and ideas that build results.

Business consulting for women entrepreneurs in Houston.

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