Pay it forward...

You want your employees to be engaged with their work, co-workers, and customers. That probably won’t happen unless you’re engaged with them.

 

·      Engaged in your work

·      Means active involvement.

·      If you want employees to act that way

·      Then you should act that way with them.

·      That’s like ‘what you sow, so shall you reap’.

 

Employee engagement is a big topic these days – companies want employees who will be engaged in their work. They hope that will happen because it says so in their handbooks and value statements. But it would be better if you modeled it for them. Meaning: you be engaged with your employees. Make time to get to know them beyond their job title and employee number, work with them to set expectations and objectives, learn what they need to be able to perform effectively, ask them for their suggestions, listen to them, catch them doing things right, and coach them when it’s needed. It's a two-way street: what you put into your employees is what you will get back from them. If you want them to smile: smile at them first; if you want them to treat customers right: treat them right first; if you want them to trust you and the company: trust in them first; and if you want them to act fairly: treat them fairly… first. What goes around comes around today.

 

Anthony Trollope (1815 – 1882): English novelist and civil servant of the Victorian era.