10 Leadership Communication Tips to Build Employee Engagement

According to a fairly recent study conducted by the Gallup Business Journal, only a mere 30% of employees in the US are actively engaged in their jobs. Now, with this in mind, it’s no wonder that retention as well as enhanced productivity strategies are currently becoming a quintessential consideration for different organizations in the US and abroad. Employee engagement, however, could as well be the cornerstone upon which most of these strategies are built. So, let’s have a look at 10 leadership communication tips in order to build it up properly and conveniently.

Invest

There are quite a lot of tools that you can take advantage of in order to understand how to better enhance the engagement of your employees. However, investing a certain amount is definitely going to be necessary. Taking advantage of the tool offered above will definitely keep those expenses at bay. This is something that you should take into proper consideration. You can also take a look at these effective and affordable ways to enhance the overall motivation of your staff.

Growth opportunities

Show your employees what they can earn and accomplish, should they decide to be engaged, thriving and self-motivating. This is all the motivation that they need. Of course, when you do so, you need to actively deliver on your promises. Showing growth opportunities and actually making them happen is undoubtedly something that you need to take into consideration.

Foster meaningful work

This is one of the most important things that a leader should do. Not every employee is suitable for the same type of work. If you want to ensure that everything is handled perfectly, you need to distribute the work-flow and ensure that it’s being taken care of properly. This is going to stimulate people to work as they’d enjoy what they do.

Recognition is key

This is also something that every single manager, CEO or any other type of leader needs to consider. In order for you to motivate your employees to give you their best, they need to know that these efforts won’t be left in oblivion. You need to actively show them your recognition. Keep in mind that this doesn’t always need to be represented in monetary compensations. A simple “good job” could go a long way, should it be sincere and on time. Celebrate accomplishments and make sure that they are well-appraised. This is definitely capable of going a long way.

Inspire

Charlene K. Crowder, a HR manager at Awriter, says “The best leaders are not those who demand the impossible but who inspire their employees to achieve it”. You need to be competent as well as passionate and understanding in order to do so. Long-gone are the old-school 5-tier management systems. People understand their own value now and they demand counteractive reception and understanding.

Understand your employees

Take people personally. The only thing that you shouldn’t be doing is to commercialize your staff and treat them like labor contracts. Make sure that you are aware. Of course, this isn’t possible for huge corporate structures but this is why divisions are created and additional layers of management are added. Make sure that the direct manager of an employee is perfectly aware of the worries of the person and that he does, in fact, understand him – this is something absolutely critical and very important.

Be up-front

Do not hold back when you need to. This is something that you should be very careful with. Share information which is necessary – don’t go for the “too sensitive” approach as it will certainly bite back. The more information people have, the more they are going to understand it and be appreciative in return. This is something that you need to understand.

“Who did this?” – Forget about this sentence!

You shouldn’t be drawing blame individually. Your team needs to act as a unit. Make sure to draw conclusions instead of seeking fault. When something is done in a way which is ineffective, wrong or inappropriate, identify the reasons for this and handle them swiftly as a unit. Take the blame, if you have to. A good leader is not a “boss” in the convenient sense of this word – he’s someone willing to take the hit for his team – someone who’s worthy of making an example. That’s what your employees look for.

Explain yourself

Don’t give orders. It’s amazing how often managers tend to believe that just because they know they need something, their team does so. You need to give clear instructions on what needs to be done – only then can you expect it to be properly taken care of. This is something very important.

Speak a lot!

Communication is absolutely critical. That’s just it. Speak with your team every time you get a chance to do so. This is going to ensure that everything is handled properly and that you are aware of their issues – be it professional or personal.

As you can see, there are quite a few things that you can take advantage of in order to ensure that everything is handled as per the highest industry standards. It is the manager’s responsibility to ensure that the team is working properly and is coordinated enough. Therefore, if this fails, it’s also his fault – this is something that quite a lot of people fail to take into account and stall in result.

Author: Lucy Benton is a marketing specialist, business consultant who finds her passion in expressing own thoughts as a blogger, and currently works at Admission Service. She is constantly looking for the ways to improve her skills and expertise. If you’re interested in working with Lucy, you can find her on FaceBook and Twitter.