LEADERS ENGAGEMENT

LEADERSHIP MEANING

A leader articulates and embodies a vision and goals, and enables others to share and achieve them

Leadership is a state of mind….leadership is about vision, spirit,

and character; getting diverse individuals to work together as a team

A leader's job is to rally people toward a better future

Leadership is based on a spiritual quality; the power to inspire, the power to inspire others to follow.

Current Scenario

Employee Engagement has become Every Leader's Imperative.

An engaged employee is someone who is motivated, finds personal worth in

his work and committed to the accomplishment of goals.

Regardless of tenure, position, title, etc., employees who

voluntarily leave, generally do so out of some type of perceived disconnect with leadership.

If leaders spent less time trying to retain people, and more time trying to understand them, care for them, invest

in them, and lead them well, the retention thing would take care of

itself.

Creating an engaged workforce requires ‘effective leadership’ to help associates realize their full

potential and value. The message is leaders have to do better at building employee buy-in

and job satisfaction.

TRAITS OF LEADERS

Drive

Desire to Lead

Integrity

Conviction

MagnanimityCoaching for

results

Makes people jobs challenging, exciting, and meaningful.

OpennessEmotional resonance

LEADERS ENGAGEMENT

With all of the talk about the need for employee engagement, let’s flip the coin over and see what’s on the other side? The backside of the issue is “leader engagement.”

When leaders are perceived as disengaged bad things happen.

If employees think that their leader is aloof, or distant, or not in touch, they check out as well.

Commitment compromised. Morale busted. All it takes is the idea that the leader is disinterested, in either the work, or the worker, to cause the disconnect.

3 RELATIONAL AREAS Leaders who prove to be most effective are fundamentally sound in three

relational areas: invitation, encouragement, and challenge.•‘Challenge

’ is a relational skill that assures no one becomes stagnant, too comfortable, or just plain lazy. That’s not good for any of us. Human beings are built for movement; leaders need to clearly show how to get ahead, stay interested-in and oriented-to the future.

Challenge

•“Encouragement’ is the practice of helping others succeed. It’s not just wishing for their success, or throwing a few words their way, but it’s an active effort to fully support them, see them grow, celebrate their wins and overcome their losses.

Encouragement

•‘Invitation’ is making sure everyone feels welcome to join in. Many of us like to keep our distance from others, and it’s communicated through the signals we send out through our body language, tone of voice, (lack of) interest in others, ego, etc. The leaders who are most successful attract others. It becomes their very nature to draw people in.

Invitation

Steps for Truly Effective Leadership Style

o Be Bold

o Be Strengths-Savvy

o Be “Going Somewhere”

o Be Follower-Focused

o Be Balanced

o Be True to You

WAYS TO ENGAGEMENT Listening The biggest mistake a leader can make is a failure to LISTEN! But, many people may believe they’re better listeners than they actually are. That’s the

problem. They’re blissfully unaware of a very glaring fault. These are a few of the fatal listening flaws: Thinking your opinion is better, or more informed,

than others, Not acknowledging what you heard, and the person(s) saying it, Ignoring what you don’t want to hear, Dismissive of feedback, Making decisions without input from others.

Listening is much more than hearing … it’s the origin of relationships. A “Listening Leader” attracts people – getting them “on-board” by tuning into them, and establishing a connection with them.

Communication There’s a direct linkage between being engaged as a leader and your ability to communicate.

Good communication expresses engagement. If your communication is all fact, and no feeling, you’ll miss the important aspect of getting to

know your people beyond their work product, and understanding them as individuals, with everyday cares, concerns, and interests.

Good, open, positive communication with the workforce offers great benefits: improved production, morale; elimination of confusion, frustration, and lack of motivation; consensus-building; trust; employee input; open-dialogue. The results are significant – generating confidence in your leadership, and ultimately, achievement.

Walk the Talk Good leadership takes strength of character and a firm commitment to do the right thing, at the

right time, for the right reason. This means doing what you say, when you say it. If your team can't trust you, you'll probably never lead them to greatness.

Tips about How to Walk Your Talk Model the behavior you want to see from others. If you make a rule or design a process, follow it. Act as if you are part of the team. Help people achieve the goals that are important to them. Do what you say you're going to do. Build commitment to your organization’s big goal.

When leaders don't "practice what they preach," it can be almost impossible for a team to work together successfully. How can anyone trust a leader who talks about one thing, but does another?

Then people are most unlikely to follow you enthusiastically. Everything you tell them after that may meet with suspicion and doubt. They may not trust that you're doing the right thing, or that you know what you're talking about.

Good leaders push their people forward with excitement, inspiration, trust, and vision. If you lead a team that doesn't trust you, productivity will drop. Enthusiasm may disappear. The vision you're trying so hard to make happen may lose its appeal, all because your team doesn't trust you anymore.

Coffee Sessions; round table chats Such meetings may not be conducted necessarily to discuss work related

matters but they indirectly help create a healthy work environments. Engagement in informal meetings makes it easier to connect and the flow of ideas and opinions is more honest from both sides of the table.

The seriousness of a meeting room is often very pressurizing for boosting team building and increasing productivity levels.

Meetings conducted informal settings away from the office, give employees a chance to forget their usual distractions of phone calls, emails and allow them to concentrate on the topic of the meeting to generate creative solutions.

Round tables work best as no one will be at the head of the table. The leader should break the ice by welcoming the group, and perhaps adding some personal information such as hobbies or family.

Encourage openness by telling the group that it is a informal session meant for an open discussion; a feedback session and that no one should be afraid to ask a question.

Storytelling Inspiring leaders tell powerful, memorable, and actionable stories. Incorporate

stories in your conversations, emails, and presentations to make the message more

lively and impactful.

Many companies even provides seminars to teach for crafting stories and giving

presentations with them. Few biggies has banned bullet points and replaced them

with a process of writing “strategic narratives”. And some of the storytellers also join

theater groups to hone their story skills.

The five most commonly used are probably these: inspiring the organization, setting

a vision, teaching important lessons, leading change, defining culture and values,

giving people coaching and feedback in a way that will be received as a welcome gift.

It can help bring out more of people’s creativity, or help them rekindle the passion

for their work & and explaining who you are and what you believe.

Self-knowledge is the root of all great storytelling. Great leaders are people with

enormous self-knowledge. They have self-insight and self-respect balanced by

skepticism; who understand their own masks as well as the masks of life, and this

understanding makes them humble. The more you understand your own humanity,

the more you can appreciate the humanity of others and dealing with them in a

compassionate yet realistic way. That duality makes for a wonderful leader.

Passion Talks Share your passion for work that you do, the benefits it brings to others, and most

importantly, for the employees that do it in a way that enables them to feel passionate, too.. Show that you are committed to them, and to their success.

The nature of the vision and mission is critical for enabling others to feel as if their work has purpose and meaning beyond the tasks they perform each day.

Communicating the big picture regularly will help reinforce the reason your organization exists.

Developing relationships to the extent where others feel they know you, they know what you stand for, they believe in your sincerity, integrity and motivations, they see you’re interested in them, and positively inclined toward them.

If on the other hand they have disagreements with you, mistrust you, or simply dislike you … they’ll hear what you say in a negative light, or simply tune you out.

Pizza and Problems Globally recognized experts on employee engagement and leadership suggests not to

undermine the impact of celebrating team achievements, performance and also discussing work related issues over pizza party.

MEASURABLE TOOLS

Standardized Employee Engagement surveys are also available that can help leaders identify and factors that influence an employee’s level of engagement.

Critical Leadership Skills Survey

CONCLUSIONExceptional leaders generate

more engaged employees.

If one believes that talent is one of the last sources of competitive advantage—and that motivated and productive employees are the make-or-break ingredient to successfully navigating the business pressures – engagement should be a top business imperative for all business leaders.

To ensure and maintain employee engagement, leaders must know what factors influence an employee’s sense of involvement, motivation and commitment to their job and to the organization.

Before stated suggested actions leaders can take to improve engagement levels and become better positioned for future success.

Employees are a critical component to every organization, and their engagement serves as a barometer of organizational health.

Engaging the right employees in the right behaviors remains the critical ingredient of how companies manage the diverse economic conditions facing their organizations today.