How to Drive Employee Engagement

You can’t do it alone. If you want to scale your company and achieve those big, audacious goals, you need an engaged, aligned team to turn your vision into a reality. 

Unfortunately, many companies aren’t focusing enough attention on employee engagement. 

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According to a recent IBM Smarter Workforce Institute Study, 75% of high-performing workers would be interested in a new job at a different organization if presented the right opportunity. The same study found that 70% of all millennials are already planning their next move! Gone are the days when you can expect good employees to stick around if they’re not highly engaged in the company.

What can you do to engage your employees -- so they have a passion for their work, feel a profound connection to the company and its purpose, push for innovation and have a relentless desire to help move the organization forward?

Here are some helpful tips: 

  1. Engagement starts on day one. Are you making a team member’s first day something to celebrate? Are they saying “Best Day Ever” and can’t believe how fortunate they are to join your company? Focusing on the onboarding process so that the new hire immediately feels welcomed and a part of the company culture is the perfect time to set the stage.

  2. Celebrate regularly. Are you highlighting people and company wins whenever you can? Recognition is a huge motivator. It not only makes employees feel valued for their work, but also increases productivity and loyalty to the company which leads to higher retention. 

  3. Employee journey. Does your workforce know what their growth opportunities are? Are you investing in their learning and development and helping them improve their skills? The LinkedIn Global Job Seeker Trends report states that the #1 reason employees change jobs is lack of career advancement opportunities.

  4. Open communications. Is there regular communication to keep your entire team informed about strategy, top priorities and key metrics and how their work aligns with the big picture? This transparency increases their passion and connection to the business. 

  5. Seek feedback. Are you regularly surveying your team members about their experiences within the company and taking action on the results? I especially like the powerful Net Promoter Score (eNPS) question, “On a scale of zero to ten, how likely is it that you would recommend this company as a place to work?” Calculating the results will quickly allow you to distinguish your promoters, passives and your detractors.

Bottom line: The importance of employee engagement can’t be overstated. It will reduce turnover, improve productivity and efficiency, retain customers at a higher rate and improve profitability. And most important, engaged employees are happier, both at work and in their lives!

Are You Trapped in the Shiny Object Syndrome?

Are You Trapped in the Shiny Object Syndrome?

We’ve all been guilty of it. We’re making solid progress on a goal, putting in the up-front work and watching it move from idea to execution. Then something new comes along — a fresh idea, interesting project or new marketing strategy that suddenly grabs our time and attention. 

This is the Shiny Object Syndrome…it’s the Disease of Distraction! It may be what’s preventing you from successfully scaling your business. You not only confuse your team, you may burn through cash and you’re often jumping ship before realizing any meaningful results.

Scaling Your Business in 2019 Starts Now!

Scaling Your Business in 2019 Starts Now!

Most of us are enjoying the vacation months and warm weather — including record heat in many places — yet August signals the end of summer. This is especially true in our businesses, where we go from a more relaxed pace to full-throttle the moment the calendar switches to September. 

Suddenly, the end-of-the-year countdown is upon us, and we only have four months to meet our annual goals. Our calendars get filled with budget reviews, prioritization meetings, status updates and the entire business seems to be operating in race-mode. 

What’s The #1 Roadblock to Growing Your Business?

What’s The #1 Roadblock to Growing Your Business?

I hear it constantly: “There aren’t enough hours in the day.” 

Do you find it hard to concentrate and stay focused because there’s just too much to do? Do you wake up in the middle of the night thinking about how you’re going to manage everything? Is your calendar booked solid every day?

What if I told you that the #1 roadblock to growing your business is something YOU can control? The answer is simple… DELEGATE!! There is no way you can scale the business if everything depends on YOU. 

Five Secrets of a Genuine Leader

Five Secrets of a Genuine Leader

As business leaders, we want to recruit and retain the best and brightest team members to execute on our strategic vision. But are we looking at the right factors when building our executive leadership team? Do we really know what makes great leaders in today’s environment?

I’ve worked with leadership teams throughout my career — from building great, highly effective teams at Shelter Mortgage to all the companies I work with in my current role as a Strategic Business Coach. I’ve noticed five common traits in the most successful executive teams, and I share them below as the “Secrets of a Genuine Leader.”