How to Truly Engage Employees
It’s always a good idea for lab managers to keep their employees up to date on things going on with their company, but it isn’t enough to just spout out information.
It’s always a good idea for lab managers to keep their employees up to date on things going on with their company, but it isn’t enough to just spout out information without getting workers really involved in any discussions about the organization. Employee communication expert Marcia Xenitelis has some great advice in her article “Are You Engaging or Just Informing?” on how managers can make sure their employees are truly part of the communication process and really understand the information discussed.
Xenitelis says three things need to be achieved before employees become really engaged in the communication process: every staff member needs to feel like they are part of any changes in the lab, really understand the issues being discussed, and those issues have to mean something to each employee.
So, how do you make sure your employees have all the information and understanding they need to be really engaged in your organization? Xenitelis has five tips for bringing employees up to speed and making them a real part of the company:
- Focus group research. Ask employees about their thoughts on the organization and its competitors.
- Identify the largest gap between what customers think and what employees believe customers think.
- Figure out what would create a paradigm shift in employees’ thinking.
- Can you measure the impact of the change in thinking?
- How significant is that change to achieving the business objectives?
In addition to these rules, lab managers can also get help from other departments, such as human resources, to help them create an employee engagement strategy as well as collect facts and figures from other departments to share with employees in order to help them gain a better understanding of things such as how the company is doing and how satisfied customers are.
Helping employees feel like they are part of company decisions and making sure they understand those choices leads to engaged employees who will work harder for your organization’s success.