• What must Leaders do?
• Cybercrime survey
• The balanced scorecard - its simple really!
• 7 Steps for Marketeers to survive in the current climate
• Great managers - the key to employee Retention
• Everything Communicates - 7 Steps for Great internal communication
• PITOC Overview
• Why do we need professional change managers and leaders?
• Seven signs that your Company is struggling to implement change
• Why do organisations need to transform and change?
• Benefits Management - 'A Strategic Business Skill for all Seasons'.
• The challenge of creating positive working environments
• A summary of Professor John Kotters 8 step change process
• Leadership challenges in the Public Service
• Can staff engagement really pay back to bottom line business performance?
• Are any of these bad habits holding you back?

Can staff engagement really pay back to bottom line business performance?

Concentrating on staff satisfaction alone is dangerous – poor performers would be satisfied if we increase their pay and give them an easy time. Staff engagement is different and much harder to get right. Any business needs people who perform to at least 100% all of the time. So how do you know whether your people are engaged? How do you improve collective performance? Can you measure it so you know where to take action and whether it’s making any difference?

Disengaged people only work when they have to, don’t perform and are a complete distraction to others. Your top performers are passionate, deliver and own problems and find solutions you had never even thought existed. Have you ever thought if I only had 1 good person instead of 2 poor performers? –what a fantastic way to reduce cost in the current economic climate? We need clearer strategies in companies of all sizes to engage with staff and maximise output. Here are some simple steps you can take.

Firstly you need a clear strategy and some goals that people can identify with – sound obvious? Not really, many businesses don’t have them and staff become unclear about what is expected of them and disconnect from the company and leave – particularly top performers. You have to get your Managers on board. It is line Managers that really make the difference to people performance – most people leave their Manager and not the company. They are the people that are responsible for improving output and getting the teams working effectively. Make sure you give them the tools they need and the support network to be successful.

Measurement tools and success criteria are the next thing you need in place. It is important to be clear as to how success will be measured. Put in place some simple key performance indicators that people can identify with. For example, levels of staff retention or numbers of people being promoted or taking development moves within the company. There’s a very familiar saying – “what gets measured get’s done”. So put in place a staff engagement survey not a staff satisfaction survey. There are many companies out there that will do it but only the ones that enable you to focus on key actions are worth the money. Too many staff surveys will only tell you what people think. You need to know what’s important to them and what they think of those issues. That’s where the difference can be made and if Manager’s take action then the results can be stunning.

Finally, communications is the key that unlocks the door to success. This is so important – no actually it’s essential. A staff engagement programme without an internal communications strategy is pointless. Staff and Managers will become suspicious if you don’t tell them what’s going on. There are loads of techniques you can use – both face to face and other forms of communications. These need to include the leaders talking to staff, understanding their issues. Hold regular staff updates where the key messages can be communicated. All of this can be supported by other media such as posters and company intranet systems.

In summary, it is people that make the difference to any business. Climbing our way out of the current economic mess will be achieved by the Manager’s and staff of all our businesses performing at 100% plus – 100% of the time. A staff engagement programme is not “a nice to have” but an essential part of the business recovery toolkit for any company.

Simon Page
Operations Director – Ascot Barclay Group Limited

 

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