It just means treating people like individuals and talking normally
In July 2009, the UK Government released a report, entitled "Engaging for Success: enhancing performance through employee engagement", by David MacLeod and Nita Clarke.
I welcome this report and it seems to me that this will apply in equal measure to large businesses and small ones. However, in the UK economy, 97% of businesses are Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). There are 4.7 million of them and I wonder how many of them will become aware of the report. I also wonder how many of them will wade through a 152 page report which does not have an Executive Summary.
In any business which I have run, this has always been very high on the firm’s agenda. In my experience, there are 7 important aspects of employee engagement:
- The company needs to sincerely believe that employees have a right to know what it is doing and why – people invest their time in the company and their families depend on them. Your employees need to know that you are thinking ahead and doing your best to look after their interests. They are adults and know that sometimes there are tough economic circumstances, so just talk about it in a level-headed manner.
- If the Company does not have this sincere belief it should make no attempt to communicate – most people prefer being kept in the dark than having their time wasted to hear platitudes or lies.
- If the Company does have the right attitude, it should implement its’ communication in a very clear away – not using the term "employee engagement" might help! Talk clearly and with no business jargon.
- Employees also have a responsibility to communicate and it does no harm to gently remind them of this. If you are an owner or manager of a small business and you take the trouble to communicate openly, there is nothing worse than being met with silence or cynicism. Raise questions and give your manager the benefit of the doubt.
- Make sure that communication matches your behaviour – if you say you care – show it. It can be as simple as asking somebody how their child is or whether they enjoyed their holiday.
- Say thank you every time you see something which has been done well. This applies to employees as well as employers. If you think your manager has done well to keep you advised, tell him or her – they often get less feedback than employees and they are human too.
- You may have to use different ways to convey information, such as emails, intranets and written material but make sure that there are a lot of face to face communications to support the 'mass-media' forms of communication - people in larger businesses can appreciate the fact that you cannot convey every message to every person individually but it helps them to receive your written messages if they have seen your face from time to time.