First, You Need a Foundation

An employee engagement program will not go far without first establishing the management infrastructure required to support its objectives. This means integrating your objectives into the overall business strategy, with clear vision, goals and metrics. It means having strong executive sponsorship and a collaborative structure for decision making and resource allocation. It requires a rewards and recognition program to support and reinforce objective behaviors. You will also need to put in place a project management structure to execute your strategy, and allow your initiatives to scale throughout the business. With such an infrastructure in place, you will be able to develop a strategy that fully engages employees, while fully realizing the benefits of their contributions.

Motivating

• Inspire/energize employees to commit to the strategy; show its benefits and the importance of their contributions.
• Solicit and address questions and concerns.
• Reward behaviors needed to support your objectives.
• Celebrate accomplishments.

The Bottom Line

Without fully engaging employees in your initiatives, you lose one of your most dynamic and powerful tools to build a culture of commitment, and potentially a competitive edge.

Motivation on a Budget

Many businesses find they aren’t just struggling with lagging revenue during the persistent recession. They also are forced to combat sagging employee morale. Here are some tips on how to keep spirits, and productivity, high.

• Communicate clearly. Be accessible, address concerns with openness and transparency, recognize effort frequently and offer appropriate, small rewards.
• Show employees respect and their value to the company. Find simple, cost-effective ways to acknowledge that they’re doing more with less, such as with an in-person thank-you.
• Build career paths. Employees understand that raises, bonuses and training might not be in the picture this year, but nurture growth in other ways, such as with new assignments or projects to let them shine.
• Remember recognition goes a long way. In the wake of Wall Street bonus scandals, incentive-based compensation is drawing more scrutiny, and moreover, hefty bonuses are not considered politically correct.
• Recognize everyone — not just top performers. Recognizing employees equally shows that “Everyone is in it together.”