There are 3 types of engagement with team members. They are actively engaged, disengaged and actively disengaged. One is desirable, one is fixable and one is workplace poison that must be removed. Let’s take a look at those types of engagement and what to do to improve engagement.
Actively Engaged
Employees who are actively engaged, show a passion and enthusiasm for their work. They show up everyday excited for what may come and gladly volunteer for new projects or even propose their own new projects. If you put them on a project team with another employee they will relish the opportunity to work together and take a lead role in driving the project forward.
Disengaged
Disengaged employees show up to work everyday and do what is expected of them, but that is it. They do not exhibit excitement or passion for their work. Disengaged employees are simply there to put in their time, get their tasks completed and get back to their personal time. They do not look for extra opportunities, do not propose new projects and do not volunteer for projects. They are like Peter from Office Space in that they are just trying not to get hassled.
Actively Disengaged
Employees who are actively disengaged are dangerous. They are disillusioned with the company. They hate their job and will actively seek out and recruit others to join them. They do less than what is expected of them, but often do a good job of hiding their feelings. They may work to take down or encourage those that are outperforming them to leave the company so that they can secure their own position and keep their paycheck.
You can see from these descriptions that you want only actively engaged employees. Disengaged are not desirable but you have an opportunity to improve their performance and reignite the spark of excitement in their work. Actively disengaged employees are workplace poison and you must remove them from your team as soon as you identify them.
How do you improve engagement?
Training: This one is easy. If your employees don’t know how to do their job they certainly won’t be able to do it. You must ensure that all of your employees have the training necessary to be successful in their roles.
Proper Resources: If your team has the training, they also need the right tools and resources. You must ensure that they have what they need to be successful in their role. A carpenter won’t be able to build a house without a saw and hammer. Make sure your team has the right tools.
Don’t Micromanage: Micromanagement is a productivity and engagement killer. Your team cannot be engaged if you are constantly looking over their shoulder directing every bit of their work. You must back off and empower your team to solutions by defining clear outcomes and letting them find the right way to get there for themselves.
Right Roles: Each employee has their own strengths and weaknesses. The strengths that make someone good at one set of tasks or role is not necessarily the same as another. For example someone who is a wonderful sales manager may not have the patience to be an excellent trainer. It is your job to identify your employees strengths and match them to roles that will allow them to demonstrate those strengths every day.
Transparency: You need your team to trust you and be willing to work for you. For that reason you need to be transparent with your team about what is going on in the business. If you hide things from your team they will realize that and will immediately distrust you. This can make even the most engaged employee become disengaged.
Handle with Care: Employees want to work for someone that they believe cares about them professionally and personally. Take note of the things that make your employee happy both at work and away from work and encourage them. If for instance they mention they are excited about something they’re doing over the weekend, be sure to ask them about it the next week and show genuine interest. Leaders that show they care have much higher engagement.
While you can rescue a disengaged employee and bring them back to active engagement, it is almost impossible to bring an actively disengaged employee back. For that reason if you identify actively disengaged employees you must work to remove them from your team as soon as possible. Even if you need to pay them a bonus to resign, help them get a job somewhere else or simply terminate them, you need to do it as soon as possible to avoid them poisoning the rest of your team. Ultimately you want actively engaged employees. By using the tips above you can help prevent employees from becoming disengaged or actively disengaged.
Have you ever worked with someone that was disengaged or actively disengaged? Have you ever been that person? I want to hear about it!
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