Accelerating Employee Engagement & Growth
FI leaders: Do you want to build a culture that fosters motivated and engaged employees?
Of course you do! You also know that competitive wages and benefits aren’t enough to keep employees engaged anymore. Today’s workers want their personal, professional, and team growth to be nurtured by their employer. Employees deserve to be invested in and developed, but sadly only 30% of employees believe that someone at work genuinely cares about their development.
Employees who are given the opportunity to learn and grow within their roles – from frontline and back office staff to upper management – are more likely to work harder, be happier, and stay loyal to the company instead of job hunting.
Low employee engagement is a hidden cost—you don’t realize how much it’s affecting your bottom line until it’s too late. Beyond struggles with attracting and retaining talent, disengagement leads to reduced member or customer satisfaction, obstacles in adopting new technologies, and, in extreme (but not uncommon) cases, fraud.
Establishing a culture of engagement can seem daunting and making it an enterprise-wide transformation takes time. Here are four things you can start to shift your culture towards growth and engagement.
Develop Mature Leadership Qualities
Your leaders play the most important role in shaping your culture. Managers need to keep up with their own professional development while supporting their team’s learning journey. Strong, mature leaders should:
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- Identify current engagement level of each employee (disengaged, low engagement, moderate engagement, highly engaged)
- Leverage their own unique strengths
- Clarify leadership’s role in supporting employees’ goals and professional development
- Create bandwidth and dedicate time to become an even stronger leader through structured training and self-directed learning
Allowing managers the bandwidth to develop their leadership abilities is essential for long-term cultural transformation.
Remove and Improve the “Work of Work”
When it comes to implementing artificial intelligence (AI), what are your main concerns? If it’s data security, cost of implementation, or lack of employee adoption, then you are in good company among other executives who have cited these concerns as a hindrance to implementing AI. Whether you know it or not, desk workers experiment with AI for work during work hours, and without clear guidance, they may not be using AI effectively or securely.
There are a lot of “what ifs” that pop up when discussing AI. Instead of fearing AI’s impact, let us reframe the conversation:
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- What if implementing AI gave leadership a reason to establish clear guidelines and boundaries for how to use AI at work?
- What if AI could remove the work of work - tedious administrative tasks - so employees can focus on revenue generating activities?
- What if investing in AI-powered tools fostered professional development and helped employees feel valued and needed?
- What if AI allowed you to massively upskill employees in digital tools and automated technologies making them highly sought after internally and externally?
By removing unnecessary manual work and equipping employees with the right tools, you create an environment where engagement and efficiency thrive.
Right the Ship
Imagine your organization as a rowboat. Each employee’s engagement level determines the momentum of the boat:
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- Actively engaged employees propel the boat forward
- Disengaged employees create drag, slowing progress
- Neutral employees may coast on the efforts of others but don’t contribute to momentum
To keep your organization moving in the right direction, you must measure and manage engagement levels. You can’t improve what you don’t track. Strategies for measuring engagement include:
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- Encouraging goal tracking at individual and team levels
- Investing in goal-tracking software
- Regularly reviewing KPIs to hold teams accountable for learning objectives
- Providing additional learning and development support to struggling teams
Immerse your Organization in a Culture of Learning
Building a culture of learning isn’t a one-time initiative—it’s an ongoing journey. Think of it like visiting a new country. You could hire a travel agent to plan your trip, or you could find a local expert to help you truly experience the culture. For workplace transformation, the latter is much more effective.
A cultural enhancement program can:
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- Establish a common language around growth and learning
- Unite employees around bigger-picture goals
- Develop future leaders before they’re up for promotion
- Motivate employees to reach performance goals, regardless of their engagement level
Recognition is a cornerstone of a strong learning culture. Employees who are rewarded and incentivized for their development are more likely to stay engaged. Consider implementing a recognition program that celebrates learning achievements and contributions to the company’s growth.
What’s Next?
Creating a culture of engagement and learning takes time, but intentional action starts the momentum. Which of these strategies will you implement first to elevate employee engagement in your organization?