Today's competitive landscape demands a fully engaged and committed workforce if an organisation is to succeed. And as is so often the case in business, the place to start is at the top. The benefits of a fully engaged workforce are numerous, including limiting staff turnover, increasing productivity, enhancing the organisation's brand, and improving execution of the business strategy.

However, to leaders and staff alike, engagement can seem like an abstract concept. Difficult to implement and even harder to measure. That's why it requires a clearly defined strategy to succeed. Based on the vast collective experience we have accumulated over many years in the industry, here are our top tips for boosting executive engagement in your organisation.

Engage employees in setting realistic goals

Why should an organisation's leadership engage teams in the goal-setting process?

Having set objectives for teams to achieve within specific timeframes is a vital component of any organisation and a major driver of productivity. However, the most important point to grasp is that unrealistic goals degrade morale, resulting in decreased productivity and increased staff turnover.

Even the most productive employees often dread performance reviews when executive engagement has been lacking. Furthermore, from a management perspective, goals not only directly affect the employees, but frequently employees are more familiar with the process and better able to judge what is realistically achievable, so engaging them in the entire process makes good sense.

The most effective strategy to maximise successful outcomes and overall commitment is for leaders to engage their teams in developing goals that are both actionable and measurable, taking care to communicate the link between the team's goals and the greater objectives of the company. Studies show that commitment and accountability are exceptionally high when staff can directly link their performance to the company's big picture.

Provide frequent and constructive feedback

Executives must master the art of giving constructive feedback if they are to successfully improve employee performance. Human nature craves feedback following the accomplishment of a particularly important task and how a leader responds has a major impact on the employee's level of engagement going forward.

Positive feedback is the pat on the back we all desire. Negative feedback is the slap on the wrist we all dread. Both are vital when it comes to optimising performance, yet the appropriate balance is rarely achieved as even the most experienced executives feel discomfort when providing negative feedback and thus tend to avoid it.

Constructive feedback is the balance. It's neither wholly negative nor wholly positive, but a careful blend of praise, critique and corrective advice that is future-oriented and designed to adjust behaviour, motivate continuous learning, and inspire a desire to improve.

Executive engagement

Executive engagement is critical to the success of any organisation. Fundamentally, it is about leaders demonstrating to their teams that they are committed to providing the support they need. This in turn promotes employee engagement and commitment as well as job satisfaction and enthusiasm about the organisation's future and their own within it. 

Regardless of how you choose to source your leadership, with the right high-performing executives in place, fully engaged individuals capable of demonstrating trust and constructively communicating desired outcomes, your organisation will reduce staff turnover, increase productivity, and deliver on objectives more effectively than ever before.

//Birn+Partners