Let’s go back to communication. That’s what I will always believe is the most important employee engagement tool a manager utilizes.
I remember one of my favorite managers. I reported to Tom for a couple of my 20+ years in the telecom industry, long time ago but still clear in my memory.
Tom could never be blamed for not ensuring his employees were fully informed. He talked with us. He brought outside resources in to talk with us. Here’s what I think he did the very best: he asked questions.
Tom asked us lots of all sorts of questions. But the one that jumped up in my memory this morning was this:
Do you have any questions for me today?
Maybe Tom did not ask that every day, but often enough that it kept our communication with him–and his communication with us–wide open.
And because Tom wove more specific questions in to his answers to our questions, two-way conversation was always guaranteed.
Any questions
Sounds like a great reminder that simple actions (asking questions) make a big difference! Thanks for the story.
Comment by Cheri — July 9, 2008 @ 9:21 pm
Tim, thanks for stopping by my blog the other day. I’m still so new at this that I’m unreasonably thrilled when I get a comment!
I agree with you wholeheartedly about communication being a manager’s best tool to improve engagement. If only they knew it’s as easy as committing to conversations! If only they knew how powerful that question is: “What questions do you have for me?” I’m thinking a lot about this and will probably have a post on it in the near future…
Comment by soulmagnet75 — July 16, 2008 @ 3:25 pm