Here are some methods we can use to foster engagement amongst our teams:
- Give our people the opportunity to contribute, every single day:
- Give people a problem to solve rather than a solution to implement.
- Keep reconnecting them to their purpose and mission.
- Admit we don't have all the answers, and we don't expect anyone else in the team to have them all either. Together we can discover what we need to learn.
- Empower our team to find the answers by asking a lot of questions. This both models the right behavior—they need to be curious—and also gives them the mandate.
- Don't waste their time.
- Celebrate success:
- Awards ceremony: Hold an annual awards ceremony.
- WOW Wall: Put together a survey that we can send out to our customers/stakeholders to get feedback for each team, then make it visible on a feedback wall. Kristen Hadeed, CEO of Student Maid, in her book Permission to Screw Up, calls this a WOW Wall; they put it in a location that everyone walks past every day.
- Shout outs: Publicly recognize and thank our colleagues for their contribution.
- Monitor team sentiment: Survey the team, particularly their ability to find the information they need to create solutions. Are we empowering them or impeding them? Monitor this for each team and track trends over time. Take action when action is needed.
- Give our teams the opportunity to grow: Create a safe-to-fail environment and challenge them in their day to day work. Institute a professional development program—provide them with space to learn.