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Employee Engagement Is The Key To Competitive Advantage

StrategyDriven Managing Your People Article |Employee Engagement|Employee Engagement Is The Key To Competitive AdvantageEmployee engagement is often confused with the satisfaction or happiness of an employee. This is not the case. Employee engagement is when an employee genuinely cares about a business – it is their emotional commitment to the organisation in question. They genuinely want the company to succeed. This is imperative if you are to achieve a competitive advantage, and effective employee engagement software can help you to get there.

Why should you focus on employee engagement levels?

There is no better reason to focus on improving employee engagement than the fact that it will drive your business to greater success. If your employees are committed to the success of your firm, you are naturally more likely to succeed. This is even more significant nowadays due to a number of factors, including the fact that people have become the key source of competitive advantage and there is a war for the talent that is out there, with businesses becoming more serious in their efforts to attract and retain the best employees.

Using software to boost and manage employee engagement

So, where do you start? Well, first, you need to select employee engagement metrics, so that you can determine how engaged your employees are. Metrics include the likes of personal growth, feedback, recognition, happiness, wellness, relationship with managers, ambassadorship, satisfaction, company alignment, and relationships with colleagues. After you’ve done this, you need an employee engagement platform, which will ensure that initiatives run consistently and that cadence is maintained if things start to slip. The employee engagement platform will gather feedback from employees and crucial data that can help you make critical decisions on how to improve engagement.

What about remote workers? Can you make sure that they are engaged?

More and more businesses are embracing remote workers at present. This is a trend that was already starting to get more and more prominent. However, the recent pandemic has accelerated this trend further, and now more people are working on a remote basis than ever before. If you hire remote workers at your business, you may be wondering if you can keep them engaged at your business without seeing them on a day-to-day basis. The truth is that you can.

There are a number of ways you can go about this. Ensuring that communication is regular and easy is important. You should also look for different ways to bond and get to know your remote workers, such as virtual team building activities. Aside from this, it is important to make your remote workers feel just as valued as those who go into the office every day. Bonuses and small gestures can go a very long way, as remote workers often struggle to feel included or like they are part of a team.

The best way to unlock the true potential of your business is to invest in employee engagement software. This will help you to strengthen your employees’ emotional commitment to the business, which will have a positive effect on the overall profitability and success of your firm.

Team Building Tips for Entrepreneurs

StrategyDriven Managing Your People Article |Team Building Tips|Team Building Tips for EntrepreneursBoost your brand’s bottom line, boost your productivity and bring your business to another level.

Championship teams cite playing together as the key to success. The same is true in business. Successful brands have high-performing teams working cohesively together to achieve their company’s goal.

The big question is, ‘how can I bring a winning team together?’ Winning teams don’t just happen when you bring in qualified employees. Instead, they are built together through team building activities.

The activities involved are designed to bring out individual skills and characters and make them work in a cohesive manner. As a result, the team will be able to work efficiently and harmoniously with each other.

Are you ready to bring your business to another level of success? Here are some essential team building tips for every entrepreneur.

1. Value each team member

Success in business or any other industry doesn’t come because of your strength as a leader. In fact, each and every team member played an important part in generating success. Without their individual ability, you cannot grow as an organization.

This is why recognizing each team member’s contribution is essential for sustained success. Praising them both in public and in private will do wonders for your organization. You have to let your team know that you appreciate their hard work.

It will also help if you put team members in leadership roles. This will empower them to find or create solutions autonomously. It will also free you from being the one to give guidance whenever a problem occurs.

In addition, virtual team building activities are a good way to know your team members. Since most of us work at home because of the pandemic, these activities will help you understand your team’s individual cares, concerns, even their dreams and aspirations.

2. Maximize their skills

There’s no team member that’s exactly alike in terms of skills. Each member possesses different skill sets and personalities. As the leader, it’s your responsibility to determine how to pair each member that their skills would eventually compliment each other.

One person’s strength can abate the other person’s weakness. This is the best way to reduce the deficiencies of the team’s overall performance. Effective leaders understand each member’s strength and place them in a position where they can succeed. With that being said, you as the leader need to develop emotional intelligence. This is the best way to effectively communicate with a wide variety of personalities within your team.

The key is to develop a good relationship with every team member. This will help them open up with you which will help you identify how you can help them succeed and do their tasks in the highest quality possible.

3. Support and protect your team

Effective leaders are protective of their team. That’s because they understand that each member of the team is helping their business succeed. Great leaders treat their employees like family.

They make sure they know their hard work and the sacrifices they make. From there, they see to it that every member is well taken care of. With this combination, every team member understands that they’re standing on a good ground where they can succeed and be their best.

As the leader, you are the authority figure. That doesn’t mean you have to be egotistic. Instead, you must give them the guidance and lead them to succeed. Always provide a path to the right direction. Your team would eventually realize this and replicate your effort through increased productivity.

4. Avoid micromanaging

Micromanaging suffocates your team’s performance. This managing style will scare your team to make mistakes. Eventually, your team will become complacent and will never step up to their fullest potential.

Remember, the only way for your team to succeed is to let them handle the work in autonomy. However, this should also be coupled with responsibility and accountability. This often requires you as their leader to back off and let them handle the task according to their abilities.

While this can be a tough decision to make because you will put your business on the line. However, when you put constant pressure to your team it will have negative effects which will eventually affect your business.

As the leader, you should learn to relieve control and allow your team to do their work to their utmost potential. This is often surprising when you realize that your employees can manage the tasks without the need for you to be constantly looking over them.

5. Develop clear communication

Don’t expect your team to read your mind. Clear and open communication is the key to prevent resentment and frustration. As the leader, you need to be clear and blunt with your team that they know exactly what you expect them to do.

Clear communication will lead your team to produce the kind of results that you need. This will ensure the success of your team instead of letting them operate in the dark.

6. Appreciate them

Your team drives your business’ success. That means, you never take them for granted. Always give them the appreciation they deserve. Also, learn to acknowledge their contribution and their results.

Studies show that people tend to work harder and boost their productivity when they’re appreciated. This often leads to higher motivation which will push them to aim for a higher level of success under your leadership.