On average, only 10% of employees in Western Europe are engaged at work. The figure is 33% in the US.
More engaged employees lead to increased productivity and profits, according to research.
*Source: Gallup’s State of the Global Workforce 2017 and State of the American Workplace 2017.
In fact, this is what employees want the most too. “60% of employees say the ability to do what they do best in a role is very important to them,” says Gallup.
Yes, it is! Organisations that establish processes that help employees do their best work lay a solid foundation for increased and continuous employee engagement – and increased productivity and profits.
Help employees do their best work
Employees reflect on – and map – their strengths, skills, expertise and the kind of work they really enjoy doing.
Each employee’s unique strengths are displayed in an attractive skills matrix that takes viewers – their co-workers or team leaders – less than five seconds to comprehend.
The organization implements processes for continuous skill development and strengths reflection so that the process of employee self reflection and growth never stops.
Individuals who use their strengths every day are six times more likely to be engaged at work, 8% more productive and 15% less likely to quit their jobs.
Team members view each co-worker’s skills visualisation to understand their strengths, skills and areas of interest. They discuss how they can deploy these skills to tackle work challenges most effectively.
Team leaders hold reflection-based one-on-one meetings with each team member every quarter. The purpose of these one-on-ones is self-reflection so that team members build awareness about their strengths and weaknesses, and set themselves a growth development plan. MuchSkills Playbooks outlines exactly how.
Team leaders plan check-ins with team members to discuss work progress every week or fortnight. Check-ins are proven to increase employee engagement. MuchSkills Playbooks outlines how team leaders can hold regular check-ins.
Every employee has a goal for growth and development – and a plan to achieve it – which they share with the team leader during the quarterly one-on-ones. Team leaders keep track of the plan and set aside time and resources to ensure the employee is given the opportunity to reach their goals.
Organisational leadership or team leaders create new cross-functional teams based on the strengths, skills and expertise available within the organisation.
Any individual within the organization can search for co-workers with specific skills needed to solve a problem or challenge.
Teams that are aware of each other’s strengths relate more effectively to one another, boosting group cohesion and productivity, says research.
The organization reviews its overall skills pool and the skills pool in each department or team to better understand in what areas the organization is strong and what skills and competencies are missing.
Some employees do better at certain jobs than others. Analyze the strengths of your high-performing employees to understand what type of skills you should look for as you recruit new employees for similar work or roles.
As the organisation identifies skills and competencies that are missing, it specifically recruits individuals to fill these skills gaps.
As more and more of your employees do what they do best and what they enjoy, the number of engaged employees will increase.
For the organization, this means higher productivity, increased sales, and profits.
The world’s best organizations have around 70% employee engagement.
