Does your organization support equality? Let me as you this: do you actively, and equally, engage all of your employees? Would they all agree?
I’ve been writing about employee engagement. In my last post, I wrote about accountability, transparency, unity, trust, loyalty and effort, all important to strengthen employee engagement, and all a result of personal connection and genuine care.
Equality also strengthens engagement. The best leaders know that favoritism destroys unity, while fairness builds trust, enhances employees’ perspective and engagement. Effective leaders don’t show bias or partiality among employees. Instead, they treat all people equally, under the same set of rules, with equal considerations, consequences and rewards. Do you?
Fairness allows room for flexibility. Caring leaders take interest in an employee’s life, family and aspirations, and when possible, offer flexibility when personal lives are challenging. Working from home, taking time to attend to a family situation or being left alone while on vacation are important considerations that greatly enhance attitudes and engagement.
Leaders who accentuate positive results build a powerful culture. As I’ve written before, find tasks your employees are doing well and point them out. Two of your most powerful words are “thank you.” Use them frequently.
Encourage and motivate people to learn, grow and take on more. Your support through their seasons of growth is essential. Recognizing and celebrating their accomplishments will greatly raise their engagement. A leader’s success is the compilation of their people’s many achievements. Everyone benefits.
The leadership mindset needed to build employee engagement involves a number of natural steps, all of which can be learned and executed. The basic premise is to make underperforming employees better and good employees great, building on who they are and what they’re truly capable of doing. Start with those who will best spread their positive attitudes to their coworkers, assisting your efforts to raise the bar. The goal is to bring out the best in everyone.
What do you think? Have you created a culture of equality? Are all of your employees engaged? I’d love to hear from you. You can call me at 561-582-6060; let’s talk. And as always, I can be reached here or on LinkedIn.
