Creating an engaged team is key to promoting productivity, enhancing creativity, and retaining key talent within your organisation.
When colleagues feel part of the wider vision, they will bring their best to the workplace and help drive the organisation towards greater success.
However, with the rise of remote working and higher stress levels, this has become more challenging than ever.
Almost two-thirds of employees who work remotely are not engaged in their work, according to a poll published in the Harvard Business Review. But all is not lost.
By strategically implementing certain key actions, businesses can foster a greater sense of engagement and connection and in the process, improve job satisfaction, attain core business objectives, and continue to grow. Here are some of the ways they can achieve this:
1. Keep lines of communication open
Communication between employees and leaders is key to establishing and maintaining a sense of engagement and connection. By doing so, you’ll build trust and help your employees feel part of the organisation and feel like they matter.
This can be achieved by creating interactive digital resources, producing a printed company magazine, or simply encouraging team members to share their perspectives on key issues.
2. Recognise good work
To feel engaged and connected, employees need to feel like they are making a difference to the organisation and that their hard work is being recognised.
Ensure that you are providing feedback whenever possible, offering incentives that promote growth and offering suggestions for improvement.
Don’t forget, sometimes it’s the smallest gestures that make the biggest impression when it comes to acknowledging employee success and showing teams they are valued by the business. From a simple handwritten note of thanks to remembering to send each member of the team a birthday card from the business or rewarding personalised hampers to members of your sales team who go above and beyond to exceed targets. Every positive act of recognition enhances morale and supports a happy work culture, so do it well and do it often.
3. Set goals
Goals give us a sense of direction, help us to be future-focused and can be highly beneficial for our mental health.
For this reason, regularly provide your team with shared goals that help bring them together and drive their motivation. They should be challenging enough to spark engagement, yet attainable.
4. Build trust
An engaged and highly productive workplace is like a family - there needs to be a sense of community, belonging and trust if they are to reach their full potential.
By communicating honestly with your team and becoming more tolerant of mistakes, you can foster this environment and enable your team to feel more connected.
5. Schedule team-building activities
There’s a good reason why team-building activities have long been used in the workplace, especially with teams working remotely.
Working on a shared task or activity of this kind helps break down barriers between employees, encourages collaboration and enhances problem-solving skills that will pay off significantly in the workplace.
6. Interact frequently
Communication doesn’t always have to be work-related or productive. By showing your interest in the daily lives of your team members, you can deepen a sense of trust and build a sense of connection and community.
It all adds up to a happier, more productive workforce
The benefits of keeping teams engaged and connected are plain to see. Creating an environment of inclusivity, engagement, and recognition is good for employee wellbeing and productivity, and for business too. Ruddocks has several workplace initiatives in place which we’ve found to be instrumental in driving team engagement, you might want to consider them too. These range from departmental WhatsApp groups which help to promote cross-function communication and collaboration, daily team catch-ups, regular team briefings, annual staff awards, and of course regular social outings – having fun with colleagues is pretty important too.
At Ruddocks, we understand the complex needs of the modern business and can help you achieve your objectives with ease. Contact us now to discover how our services can help get your team engaged and connected for optimal growth.