Achieving employee engagement during times of transition by 6 Principles for gaining commitment from employees
What is the overall goal of employee engagement?
Quite simply: to maximize performance and profit. This cannot happen unless you know the rules of gaining commitment. Those days are gone when leaders merely informed their employees. Now a dialogue must take place.
People need to feel valued and listened to, and leaders need to inspire, win hearts and minds, and harness talent and potential. Successful transitions depend on gaining commitment. Without it, companies under-perform and strategy is harder to achieve.
John Smythe developed six principles to engage employees – releasing creativity, raising people to share ideas, you will build confidence, loyalty and camaraderie. Let us learn the principles for gaining commitment from employees
1. Develop the right plan and make sure that everyone agrees
Ensure that the senior team has explored all options and developed the best strategy. While teams often agree on a plan, some people may have held back ideas or not been on board. Making sure that everyone at the senior level is on board is critical.
One of the other methods to overcome the disagreement is to list down the list of excuses people can come up with. Let all those excuses be put into context and any doubts eliminated.
This would ensure that these hindrances are taken care of and people will not be able to come up with excuses.
2. Plan the transition process and prepare a timeline
When planning the timeline for implementation, consider the timing of all demands that will be placed on people, including emotional and motivational aspects.
The timeline must also be broken down into smaller milestone and monitored. Any deviation from the timeline must be accounted for and eliminated.
3. Decide who is to be involved – and how
Make sure that everyone is clear about who is involved and how and why they are involved – or affected. When people know what their role is and understand your strategy, they are more engaged, adaptable and committed.
4. Set standards (including role modelling and measuring progress)
Putting standards and timed goals in place enables people to measure progress. The key is to win and maintain people’s commitment: measures need to work with people; they should not demotivate. When setting goals, consider the people involved – ask yourself how they would respond.
This is one of the key steps in principles for gaining commitment from employees
5. Connect with each person as an individual
Include opportunities for people to reflect, learn and enjoy working for Include opportunities to celebrate past achievements – moving to the future without a nod to the past is discouraging.
You can also learn about how to build trust.
6. Tell and sell the new strategy
Tap into people’s desire to be part of something and interpret situations from their perspective. Empathy is an invaluable tool for generating enthusiasm and commitment. Remember: the version of change you are giving is not the only one people hear. Be honest, keep people informed, and offer a better, more inspirational and convincing explanation of events and strategy.
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