How to Become an Engaging Leader
If you run a simple Google search for “How to boost or strengthen engagement as a leader,” you’ll find no fewer than 40 million results offering advice on how to become a more engaging leader or increase the level of engagement within your teams.
The leaders of the world clearly continue to struggle with achieving these goals.
In a Forbes article published on October 15, 2017, Brent Gleeson, in “5 Powerful Steps to Improve Employee Engagement,” highlighted the critical importance of employee engagement:
“According to Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace report, only 15% of employees worldwide are engaged in their jobs, meaning they are emotionally invested in contributing to their teams and organizations. Gallup research also estimates that employee disengagement costs the United States more than $550 billion annually in lost productivity. This makes engagement both a serious challenge for today’s leaders and a significant opportunity for organizations that master it.”
Learning to master the art of engagement… how can you do that?
The speed of change in workforce dynamics has dramatically increased, and leaders are facing a whole new set of challenges. As advancements in artificial intelligence continue to reshape the workplace, leaders and individuals must place greater focus on the human element of their business. After all, it’s about the engagement of PEOPLE. One way to do this is by working to develop the emotional intelligence of themselves and of their teams.
Engagement starts with the leader. They must empower and inspire their teams. They must be authentically and honestly invest in their people. A great leader values higher engagement levels, not because it means higher revenue, but because it means their people are happy.
The Genos Engaging Leader Program was designed to help individuals enhance motivation, commitment, and engagement of their teams. They do this by first taking a look at their own emotional intelligence behaviors, how they are “showing up” at work with their teams.
Instead of just focusing on a number from an engagement survey (that are often skewed as employees answer differently out of fear,) they complete a Genos Leadership 180 Assessment. During the assessment, they receive feedback from a selection of their colleagues on their EI behaviors in areas such as:
1. Self-awareness
2. Awareness of others
3. Authenticity
4. Emotional Reasoning
5. Self-management
6. Inspiring performance
The assessment encourages raters to answer how important certain behaviours are for that role, and how often this leader is seen to demonstrate them at work.
The leader (or group of leaders) then participates in the Engaging Leader Program, a one-day program personally facilitated by me.
First, attendees dive deeply into multiple areas of employee engagement and why it’s crucial for organizational performance. They gain insight, feedback and know-how on effective leadership competencies that motivate and engage people. Then they learn a practical and unique technique unique for raising the motivation and engagement of their team person-by-person.
Attendees on the Engaging Leader program can complete a time 2 assessment after six months and review their progress. They also receive guidance on responding to feedback from colleagues and development workbook for improvement.
If you’re interested in hosting a Engaging Leader Program in your organization, please click here.