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Attract the Right Job or Clientele:
How to Improve Staff Engagement for Business Growth
Sadly, many companies suffer from high employee turnover as engagement remains at all-time lows. Many companies have tried everything, including higher pay, better benefits, signing bonuses, tool/professional development allowances, inspirational events, better technology, and even new HRCMs—all of which are supposed to (at least) make things easier on the HR team! Yet, it is tough to see any discernible differences.
The repeat process for hiring, training, and letting go is referred to as ‘The Revolving Door Syndrome,’ and is costly to the company, being time-consuming and negatively impacting the bottom line. What can an organization do? Our guest blog offers insights on How to Improve Staff Engagement for Business Growth
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Improve Staff Engagement for Business Growth
Image via Geralt, Pixabay
We Know What It’s Like
When I began SML Consultive, I saw the scenario described above happening within the company where I was serving as Training Manager. We were doing everything we were “supposed to”. We genuinely cared about our people. Yet they were leaving as fast as we could hire them. This hit us hard when a mid-level employee waited for yearly bonuses to be distributed before telling us she would be leaving to work for the competition. Worse, we had no idea why!
Though we didn’t know what it was, we knew we had a problem. We were hell-bent on figuring it out! Thankfully, it didn’t take us too long. After several exit interviews and undercover climate-check conversations, we quickly realized we had a considerable gap.
It wasn’t our payroll. It wasn’t our benefit. It wasn’t our employee-appreciation days.
We were emphatically told that the staff LOVED what we were doing in these areas. The Christmas Party was the highlight of their year; they felt like the owners were fair in pay and generous in bonuses, and the training team was enhancing it all!
What Wasn’t Working?
It was during the 3rd interview I conducted that I had an epiphany! While we had enhanced our operational training, we lacked a MAJOR aspect of empowerment: relational training. We were promoting people who were either technical or subject matter experts and expecting that their operational excellence would translate into relational leadership excellence. When I was told, “When I ask him a question, he asks like I’m stupid for asking,” it all became clear to me. We’d forgotten about the front-line leadership of our organization.
We evaluated leadership capacity once at the executive level. Still, it had never occurred to us to ensure our front-line leaders were well-equipped to engage effectively with their teams. We would do team-lead training, but it was always operationally based—focused on what we expected them (and their teams) to DO and never on how we wanted them to BE.
We had never equipped them to communicate effectively or empowered them to empathize with their team. We had certainly never helped them navigate the tumultuous waters of remediation. We just expected them to be decent leaders since they were good at their jobs.
WE. WERE. WRONG.
Being Adaptable to Revision
Implementing a leadership development strategy for front-line leaders produced almost instant results! We saw numerous organizational changes, but one of the most dynamic was our culture and reputation.
The impact was felt outside of the company almost immediately. We went from hiring anyone who fit the most basic criteria to fill a seat, to having 20+ applicants every time we had two positions open. Our staff went from complaining about the culture to bragging about it.
One person came (fully trained from a competitor), willing to take a pay cut, to work with us. (Three years later, he still works with that organization and has become one of their most significant assets.)
Our approach to developing our leaders was different from what we had previously seen. We did not send them to a multi-day workshop, give them a book to read on leadership, or assign them “emerging leader” training in our HRCM or LMS.
We did engage in leadership conversations with them for 12 weeks. The 30-45-minute conversations were on guided topics and always included at least three components.
- A check-in for the leaders to bring their questions and challenges from the previous week to be addressed.
- A topic of consideration to discuss during the session.
- An assignment that would empower the leaders to return to their teams and implement the topic covered that week.
As the planned sessions were ending, we put out a random, anonymous survey to the staff who reported to these leaders, asking only two questions:
- Have you noticed any differences in your supervisor in the past 2 months?
- If so, what changes have you noticed?
The results were terrific! Comments like “Yes, they are more patient with me,” and “Yes, I feel like they are doing better at communicating” were among the many positive responses we received.
After we did the initial mandatory training with all those already in leadership positions, we offered the training again. The second time, we did three things differently.
1. We made the sessions more demanding.
2. We made the course voluntary.
3. We made completing the course a prerequisite for those who wanted to apply for promotion.
While we knew the initial group had a positive impact, we had no idea how much they felt empowered by the course…until the sign-ups started pouring in for the 2ndgroup. Over 60% of the company signed up to participate in the second training we offered!
We later found out that the initial group (some of which re-enrolled) had advocated strongly to all of their peers and subordinates that it would be one of the most valuable trainings they would ever have. Reports began to filter in about how it was helping them, not only at work but also at home and in their community.
Lessons Learned
Despite how it might look, this is not a whitepaper. This is a real example of how many companies are missing the mark, and how we fixed it.
I no longer work for the recently acquired company, which resulted in much turbulence that deserves its own article. But our lessons have been foundational to the company’s vision, and I have since started. More importantly, they have become a beacon of light to other organizations that, despite their best intentions, are struggling to understand why their people are dissatisfied.
The big lesson we learned and that I offer is that Front-Line Leaders are an organization’s lynchpins.
They are not necessary evils. They are not “just another employee”. They are the biggest influencers of culture, engagement, efficiency, and every other important metric of an organization. We are on the wrong path when we treat them like they are anything less. We are on the wrong path when we try to “fix” them via check-the-box solutions. When we assume they need more operational training or a “management retreat”, we are (often) on the wrong path.
Conclusion: How to Improve Staff Engagement for Business Growth
Our current performance, retention, and engagement strategies don’t work well because we ignore investing in developing those with the most significant impact on these factors.
Author Bio: Jon Antonucci can be reached on LinkedIn. His company’s goal is to help you make a positive impact that will be felt by both the front-line leaders and their teams, globally!
Opportunity: Patryk Wezowski, Film Director/Producer, is developing a full-feature documentary called Inspired. Several top influencers have already confirmed their participation in the film, including Brian Tracy (a Top Motivational Speaker), John Demartini (a Human Behaviour Expert), and Ivan Misner (the Founder of BNI).
‘Inspired’ is a full-feature documentary that empowers viewers to rewrite their past and live more inspired lives. The film debunks the teaching that people fear the unknown and demonstrates that we fear history repeating itself. Viewers will learn the principles and witness case studies to live abundant and inspired lives. The recordings will be around mid-2025. Apply today by clicking this link, as right now, the producers are selecting the people who are fit to have a central role in the film and sponsor the production.
Be Inspiring!
For more Insights, visit Elinor’s Amazon Author Page
Communicate to Attract Interest
Be A Story-Teller
“Believe, Become, Empower”
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Sales Tips: How to Improve Staff Engagement for Business Growth
- Commit to your long-term vision for accomplishment(s), and share with your staff to stay on track and enjoy business success.
- Always consider the greater good of staff, business connections, and your community so that everyone can feel the ‘win.’
- Keep goals, priorities, and values in mind when researching and revising what no longer works well.
- Test specific strategies, one at a time, and teach peers to do the same so that more people will experience career and business enjoyment.
- Never underestimate anyone’s novel ideas; remember that each person and country operates differently.
- Share favorite learning moments with staff, prospects, and current clients to improve client engagement and business growth.
- Always seek out new ideas to improve staff engagement for business growth.
- At the end of all communications, ask team members involved if they have questions to ensure clarification.
- ‘Don’t give up – find a better way!’
- Celebrate Success!
Today’s insights are provided to help you achieve the Smooth Sale!
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