Taking the pulse of employee engagement

When an organisation or team appears dysfunctional, when people work in silos and regularly pass the buck, and when no one speaks up in meetings even though they know the company is on the wrong track, then your company has engagement issues. There are many definitions of employee engagement, but it is best explained as the extra effort employees put into their work, going the extra mile and harnessing discretionary effort in order to deliver performance in alignment with a company's goals and values. One of the main issues in manufacturing and engineering is that it has a high population of technical people. Those that have excelled in a technical role are often promoted into management, yet they are not necessarily equipped with the skills to effectively make the transition. As a result, they lack the skills to communicate effectively about vision, goals and direction of the business, and how each department contributes. They can fail to recognise individual behaviour styles and motivations, and so treat everyone in the same way. They can also tend to adopt a command and control approach, rather than a coaching and mentoring approach which are hallmarks of effective leadership. So, how can you take the pulse of employee engagement within your organisation? - Develop an employee questionnaire or interview to evaluate levels of engagement, alignment to business objectives, satisfaction and drive - Evaluate how aligned your people are to your corporate culture and strategy - Evaluate how satisfied your people are with the roles, rewards and responsibilities they have - Consider the personality of each team member in terms of their personal drive and whether the organisation caters to their type of personality. This can be done through use of psychometrics or personality profiling tools. Festo Training and Consulting runs introductory workshops throughout the year exploring the relationship between leadership and engagement.