Jay LeonardEvery year we see a new set of tools come out onto the market, or we hear of new strategies for business models, but how much of it guarantees success? Often, all these new gadgets and plans revolve around one aspect: your employees. It’s your team that will be the “hands” in executing these “new strategies” and “using these new tools.” So, the larger aspect we should be looking at is how to build a successful team — and that starts with engagement.
Cultivating Engagement from Your Team
As leaders and owners of our businesses, we often surround ourselves with the role of management. It’s always been the go-to method for driving your business to success. Henry Ford used the concept in coalition with his assembly line. It certainly was a success … in the early 1900’s. But today is the 21st century. We are no longer mechanical wheels in a machine. We are experts who want to use our knowledge and make a difference in today’s society.
We often use the term “Leave your personal life at home.” Old business models have always dictated that the work environment is a sterile place, void of emotion and personal matters. But it’s those personal motivations that drive your team to succeed. Why hire a talented team if you’re not going to utilize their expertise? Why ignore the fact that your team has other issues at hand, such as home mortgages or plans to expand their family?
Having an engaged team starts at the life level. Engaged people are really engaged with their own life. What engages us about our business is that our businesses are a vehicle for us to accomplish our goals, to take care of our dreams and our families.
To create an engaged team, you shouldn’t manage them. You should be leading them. For some evidence behind the success of an engaged team, here are some recent statistics Gallop released:
An engaged workforce is:
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21% more productive
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22% more profitable
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65% less turnover
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37% less absenteeism
Why not create a successful business around an engaged team? I’ve found that as a leader of RMG Real Estate ExpertsI build a successful team by doing 5 simple things, and so can any leader of any company.
1. Give Your People a Voice
As mentioned before, if you hire talented people for your business, why would you not want to hear what they have to say? Why would you manage them in their tasks and bottle them up? Your team is your council, so to speak. They are your trusted advisers. By giving them a voice, they will be personally driven to bring their talent and their genius to your business. They, themselves, are seeking a place that will use their knowledge. They want to make a difference, so provide them an avenue to do so.
2. Intentionally Create Culture
There are 3 parts of culture at the workplace: the head, heart, and hands. As a leader, you shouldn’t be all 3. You should focus on one and allow your team to carry out the rest. For example, I often compare myself to the head. I’m the one casting the vision for the business. I’m the one bringing up new ideas for processes. But I’m not the heart and the hands — the ones to carry it out.
Your office manager or any other employee can be the person to interpret your vision and establish a system that employs it. Or another person could be the first one to see someone is having trouble and gather the team to help them out. All these parts contribute to creating a company culture.
3. Regularly Demonstrate Appreciation & Gratitude
Who doesn’t like receiving appreciation and gratitude for their work? It makes your team feel great and creates engagement from them as well. From your daily stand-ups to regular meetings, take the chance to show your appreciation for their work. It will make you and your team feel better.
4. Commit to Open & Honest Communication
Transparency avoids conspiracy (metaphorically). Allow your team to be brutally honest with you. If something sucks, take it with a straight face. If you want to employ a new process, get their feedback on it. Let them panic first and see how their brilliance interacts with it. All this communication creates engagement from your team. And lastly, it builds trust, which is golden in our industry.
5. Support Career Path Development
To have a highly engaged team, you need to show a vision for their future. Your talent will leave or cease to bring it to the office if they realize there is no future for their career. Create opportunities for them. Expand your business and let them take the reins of leadership.
An Engagement Creates Success
By utilizing these points, you can create an engaged team and cultivate success for your business. By leading your team, they will bring their expertise to your business and help you achieve your goals in line with theirs.
This article was written for Business 2 Community by Jay Leonard.
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Love the article. It’s exciting to see leadership that can identify that success comes the people you work with, rather than methods or mechanics that are more about a program. Good leadership creates an environment for explosive growth for everyone.