Employee engagement refers to creating a work environment that empowers employees to make decisions that affect their jobs. Drivers of employee engagement include quality of work life, work relationships, career opportunities, ability to utilize skills and learn new competencies, direct involvement in contributing to company goals, total rewards, flexibility, and being part of the decision making processes. The advantages of employee engagement are clear – an engaged employee demonstrates commitment to the company and goes the extra mile in terms of time, effort and contribution toward the organization’s success.
An effective manager helps in providing the strategic advantage towards increasing organizational productivity through employee engagement. Broadly this involves - 1) offering accelerated coaching and career support, 2) cultivating relationships, and 3) holding employees accountable for results by being clear about their expectations right at the start.
Good Managers are clear about the opportunities within the company and provide assignments that enable employees to build skills and broaden work experiences by working on projects and different teams. Recognition is a strong driver for employee engagement and may take the form of a verbal and/or written appreciation message as well as organizational bonuses and awards. Effectively engaging employees requires consistent communication, identifying the drivers for individual direct reports, and listening for and understanding what is most important in order to increase engagement.
The qualities of an effective manager
An effective manager is one who helps the employees work independently but is accessible when needed. Some of the other qualities are effective communication and listening skills, leadership skills and showing trust in the employee that they will perform their job well.
Managers of highly engaged employees ideally demonstrate the following three competencies:
• Cultivating relationships - by communicating frequently, encouraging collaboration, consistent recognition of employees for excellent work and getting employees the support they need.
• Focusing on outcomes - by linking employee goals to the company’s and the manager’s own goals, and by giving employees the freedom to figure out the best way to get the job done.
• Employee Development - by assessing performance regularly, providing feedback, coaching employees and helping employees stay visible.
The often heard saying is that ‘employees leave their Managers and not their organization.’ Hence having a good manager is extremely important to ensure that the employee remains engaged and adds the most value to the organization.
The key to having an engaged employee is to understand what motivates them. There are 4 broad factors that keep an employee engaged and motivated in their professional life – pay, promotion, career development, and fair treatment. An effective manager ensures that these factors are properly identified and understood for each team member and strategies to address these are formed early.
For example if the employee is motivated by his/her compensation and feels he/she is not getting a good wage for the hours and work they are doing then an effective manager knows the exact reason why that employee has become apparently lazy or is making more mistakes than usual. The strategy should be to motivate them by having a fair performance based incentive that will help in motivating them to perform better rather than taking a disciplinary action, which might have an adverse effect. Similarly a good manager recognizes and picks the ones who are ambitious and have the necessary talent to better themselves and promotes or trains them accordingly.
Effect of a good manager on employees
An effective manager makes sure their workers get on with each other and continue to be interested in their work. If employees come to work knowing that their colleagues are friendly, the work is interesting, the hours and pay fair, they will do a good job and stay longer in the company.
Motivating good employees to stay is essential, as it is much easier and cheaper to keep existing staff than replace them with new ones. A good manger will ensure that the employee remains satisfied and motivated by focusing on key variables like specific job goals, level of job difficulty and work-efficacy.
Excerpts of this article has been published in Times Ascent - http://timesascent.in/article/1/200912082009120812011466159fcdc34/What-good-managers-mean-to-their-employees.html
An effective manager helps in providing the strategic advantage towards increasing organizational productivity through employee engagement. Broadly this involves - 1) offering accelerated coaching and career support, 2) cultivating relationships, and 3) holding employees accountable for results by being clear about their expectations right at the start.
Good Managers are clear about the opportunities within the company and provide assignments that enable employees to build skills and broaden work experiences by working on projects and different teams. Recognition is a strong driver for employee engagement and may take the form of a verbal and/or written appreciation message as well as organizational bonuses and awards. Effectively engaging employees requires consistent communication, identifying the drivers for individual direct reports, and listening for and understanding what is most important in order to increase engagement.
The qualities of an effective manager
An effective manager is one who helps the employees work independently but is accessible when needed. Some of the other qualities are effective communication and listening skills, leadership skills and showing trust in the employee that they will perform their job well.
Managers of highly engaged employees ideally demonstrate the following three competencies:
• Cultivating relationships - by communicating frequently, encouraging collaboration, consistent recognition of employees for excellent work and getting employees the support they need.
• Focusing on outcomes - by linking employee goals to the company’s and the manager’s own goals, and by giving employees the freedom to figure out the best way to get the job done.
• Employee Development - by assessing performance regularly, providing feedback, coaching employees and helping employees stay visible.
The often heard saying is that ‘employees leave their Managers and not their organization.’ Hence having a good manager is extremely important to ensure that the employee remains engaged and adds the most value to the organization.
The key to having an engaged employee is to understand what motivates them. There are 4 broad factors that keep an employee engaged and motivated in their professional life – pay, promotion, career development, and fair treatment. An effective manager ensures that these factors are properly identified and understood for each team member and strategies to address these are formed early.
For example if the employee is motivated by his/her compensation and feels he/she is not getting a good wage for the hours and work they are doing then an effective manager knows the exact reason why that employee has become apparently lazy or is making more mistakes than usual. The strategy should be to motivate them by having a fair performance based incentive that will help in motivating them to perform better rather than taking a disciplinary action, which might have an adverse effect. Similarly a good manager recognizes and picks the ones who are ambitious and have the necessary talent to better themselves and promotes or trains them accordingly.
Effect of a good manager on employees
An effective manager makes sure their workers get on with each other and continue to be interested in their work. If employees come to work knowing that their colleagues are friendly, the work is interesting, the hours and pay fair, they will do a good job and stay longer in the company.
Motivating good employees to stay is essential, as it is much easier and cheaper to keep existing staff than replace them with new ones. A good manger will ensure that the employee remains satisfied and motivated by focusing on key variables like specific job goals, level of job difficulty and work-efficacy.
Excerpts of this article has been published in Times Ascent - http://timesascent.in/article/1/200912082009120812011466159fcdc34/What-good-managers-mean-to-their-employees.html
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