It goes without saying that more engaged employees produce better results. But the topic of engagement often spawns a lot of generalizations and hand-wringing with only little practical guidance. How DO you execute in order to raise employee engagement? What specific behaviors can managers employ?
This topic often starts with admonitions about respect, empowerment, and encouragement. Some more advice follows along like: set clear expectations, provide more autonomy, and offer frequent praise and recognition. Ok, but then taking this advice to an operational, day-to-day level, what specific behaviors can managers employ?
I suggest one key lever is to focus on how managers communicate with their team; I mean specifically what words are used, what are the conversational patterns, what are the means of following-up and reaching closure on work requests, when and how feedback is delivered, etc. These are “systematic behaviors” that can be observed and strengthened with an eye to increasing respect and empowerment.
I refer here to the ground-breaking work by Drs. Fernando Flores and Terry Winograd who developed the model of a “conversation for action” that describes a new pattern of communication between work colleagues that goes right to the mechanics of elevating engagement.
First of all, each conversation for action begins with a “request”. Not an “assignment” that presumes a one-up and one-down relationship between the parties, but a “request” which acknowledges from the start the mutual dependency and the associated respect due to the performer. Just using the words “can you. . .” changes the mood of the following work delivery conversation.
The second stage of the conversation is equally powerful. The performer is provided the opportunity, as a respected equal, to “negotiate” their response to the request. The performer is explicitly invited and empowered to say what they can and cannot commit to. No more just assigning a task with a person’s name on it and a due date. Rather, an actual agreement is forged with a performer who is empowered to respond with what they can accomplish by when. This practice of an explicit negotiation achieves better clarity of what’s expected. Moreover, it reinforces a sense of the performer’s autonomy and control over their work. Note, also, that providing this measure of autonomy to the performer is the quid pro quo for achieving real task ownership and accountability for delivery.
The conversation for action closes the loop with a clear delivery of the agreed outcome followed by the requester’s acceptance and praise or critique. The closing of each task is an opportunity for praise and recognition. This amounts to real-time, all-the-time performance improvement conversations instead of end-of-year performance reviews. Each successful cycle inspires the next one. Trust, a key element of engagement, is built along the way from repeated cycles.
So, the next question is how do you instantiate these behaviors throughout the team or organization? One way is to use technology that has been specifically designed to guide and facilitate a “managed conversation” between requesters and performers. 4Spires has developed a new generation of social task management software that combines task and relationship management that goes right to the heart of the engagement question. It’s a specific and tangible intervention that can change the conversation content and dynamics between work colleagues.
The “CommitKeeper” software acts as a third party to the conversations between requesters and performers by prompting the use of specific words and responses and by assuring explicit closure of the conversation. The tool is an expression of new practices and new behaviors that can help build engagement.