Communication doesn't have to be formal.

Yesterday I sat in a workshop on e-mail marketing.  (Don't worry. This posting is not about e-mail marketing!)

I
believed I knew about what would be covered. I hoped I would learn a
few new things. I was surprised by how much there was for me to learn.
And not all of it was new.

It's ironic. Last week I worked with the Conscious Competence Theory; yesterday's experience smacked me with evidence of my unconscious competence.

For
just about anything except maybe emptying the dishwasher, I do not like
being in the unconscious competence quadrant. Unconscious Competence
lets me take things

for granted; taking things for granted prevents performing at the sharpest level.

Why
all that about unconscious competence? I'm offering you 4 suggestions
that may reside in your Unconscious Competence quadrant (yes, we all
have one). They may

be among the things you learned to do, you
know to do, you've done so long or so often that you've become
unconscious of doing them.

And so you just may not do them. Or not as often as you might.

Today's
economy demands consistent attention to engagement among your
employees, your managers, and your leadership team. Conscious attention.

Communication.
Commit
to some minimum amount of daily communication with employees. Doesn't
have to be formal presentation or meetings. Informal
how-are-you-doing-and-how-are-things-in-your-part-of-our-business
conversation is fine. Employees who see and talk to the business's
leaders have higher engagement. Always.

Opportunity.
Expect
your managers to generate opportunities in which their employees can
engage, learn about engagement, see benefits from
engagement…whatever. Be sure you clearly communicate those
expectations to your management team.
 
Resources.
Bring
in outsiders to engage employees (and managers) in learning situations.
Two key notes: 1. The learning does not have to be about engagement. It
can be about anything. You can be satisfied that employees engage in
the learning and in applying what they learn. 2. You can afford it.
There are plenty of experts eager to come in and talk to your people at
a lunch-and-learn. Most of them will do it gratis.

Engagement.
I'm referring to your
engagement. Implementing the three above actions is engagement.
Celebrate that. Congratulate yourself. Talk to others about what you
are doing because your managers and employees really do look to you as
behavior model.

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Tags: Employee Engagement, Leadership