10 C's of Employee Engagement

"Managing only for profit is like playing tennis with your eye on the scoreboard and not on the ball" - Ichek Adizes. 

Engagement is the state in which INDIVIDUALS are emotionally and intellectually committed to the organization or group.  I have witnessed that we tend to leverage outside consultant when it comes to helping employee realize their potential, however, fail to leverage fully the existing available leadership to drive employee engagement and build employees sense of belonging and organization pride.

What we should do next? is a top of mind concern of most employees rather than what they would like to become or enjoy a decade down the line?. They naturally seek to extrapolate the immediate past rather than interpolate the aspirational future. Here it become incumbent upon the senior leadership to get hands on and help build / deliver people career aspirations.

I like the following video where Vineet Nayar talks about  "employee being centre stage of investment" and role of business / HR managers.

How can leaders engage heads, hearts, and hands of their people? Here are the 10 C's that I came across which will not only help in enhancing employee engagement, however, enable employees to  consistently speak positively about the organization to coworkers, potential employees and customers while engaging in behaviors that contribute to overall success of business.

Connect : A direct reflection of how employees feel about their relationship with the immediate boss. Early in my professional life I learned a lesson that when you are people leaders, your job is to focus on developing your staff and harness their potential. If they grow, you shall automatically grow. However, whenever in large gathering I ask a question, Is your managers more interested in his career or yours. The answers is "HIS OWN".  Managers / leaders must learn to inculcate the sense that employee growth and capability building is at the forefront of of their mindset which will enable not only employee growth, however, their own as well..

Career: Leaders should provide challenging and meaningful work with opportunities for career advancement. Employee do look forward to sense of career direction both from short and long term perspective.

Clarity: Leaders must communicate a clear vision. Success in life and organizations is, to a great extent, determined by how clear individuals are about their goals and what they really want to achieve.

Convey: Leaders clarify their expectations about employees and provide feedback on their functioning in the organization. It is imperative that leaders / managers sharpen the art of giving developmental feedback.

Congratulate: Exceptional leaders give recognition, and they do so a lot; they not only coach and convey, however, tend to catch people doing right things and appreciate them.

Contribute: People want to know that their input matters and that they are contributing to the organization's success in a meaningful way. 

Control: Employees value control over the flow and pace of their jobs and leaders can create opportunities for employees to exercise this control.

Collaborate: Studies show that, when employees work in teams and have the trust and cooperation of their team members, they outperform individuals and teams which lack good relationships.

Credibility: Leaders should strive to maintain a company’s reputation and demonstrate high
ethical standards that leads them to command the respect of their staff.

Confidence: Good leaders help create confidence in a company by demonstrating high performancestandards.  While they do so, they also help build the confidence of their employees by creating a culture where employee capability building, employee growth and growth from within remains at the centre stage of their mindset.

There is no doubt and it is a proven fact that genuine and sincere engagement help develop high-performing teams and produce behavior that help fulfill an organization’s promises to customers—and in so doing, improve business results.

In the best organizations, engagement is more than a human resources initiative. it is a strategic foundation for the way they do business.