Employee engagement for improved performance & productivity

Are you shocked to learn: “Less than 24% of Australian employees are engaged”.

What impact do you think this has on performance & productivity?

Better engagement means improved performance & productivity. Companies whose employees are engaged perform better than companies whose employees are not, by over 200%.

When employees are engaged at work, they feel a connection with the company. They believe that the work they’re doing is important and therefore work harder.

Let’s look at this week’s top tips for improving engagement by Paul Meshanko, a leading organisation culture change expert.

Guidelines for improving engagement

1. When you do disagree with someone, be clear, explain yourself fully, check for their understanding and remain curious. Say,” It may be that I haven’t fully understood what you are proposing. May I share with you the areas I am struggling with?” This is GOLD in my opinion!

2. Attempting to understand where the other is coming from taps into our cognitive empathy. When we are curious, dopamine is released in the brain (think of this as positive energy for your thinking part of your brain). People feel rewarded when they believe other people are interested in their ideas & opinions.

3. No two brains are alike. When we value different sources of intelligence we are paying attention to status & enhancing relatedness. We also stand to gain from a diversity of perspectives.

4. When someone’s speaking, how often are you already thinking about your reply? When you do this, your attention moves away from being present or fully hearing the other. Do you find yourself responding to a statement with ‘yes, but’? The word ‘but’ can elicit a threat response.