How engaged is your team? Engagement is tough to define. Some people believe it’s as simple as the amount of discretionary effort an employee exerts. Others consider it the emotional commitment the employee has to the organization and its goals.
One thing that is certain: Employee engagement is all about the relationship between the employee and the employer.
Engagement is NOT:
- Retention
- Motivation
- Happiness
Additionally, engagement is neither owned by Human Resources, nor is it something simply measured by engagement surveys.
Want to lead an engaged team?
There are many things you can do with and for your team to help drive engagement. For example:
- Focus on communication. We all have a responsibility to share information and guide colleagues toward a better understanding of our organization and the ways in which we work. Be a conduit for questions, provide context to help align your team’s work to the broader organizational goals and highlight work across the system that instills pride.
- Recognize employees. If you don’t know how your team likes to be recognized, ask them!
- Facilitate teamwork and collaboration. Discuss how your team’s work touches other parts of the organization. Invite members of interdependent teams to talk about their work at a staff meeting or send your staff to meet with other work groups. Clarify expectations and accountabilities across multiple teams.
- Ask for feedback. Seek opinions—including contrary ones—and suggestions of others. Listen well and follow up to close the loop on feedback, ideas and suggestions.
- Develop your leadership skills. Fairview offers a variety of classes for managers and supervisors, including some that are directly tied to engagement (e.g. Leading an Engaged Team, Committing to Communication, etc.)
- Use the Leader Wellbeing Toolkit: Enhance team engagement by creating a culture of wellbeing through team challenges, healthy and active meeting ideas and through role-modeling healthy behaviors at work.
Need more ideas? This action library—developed for a previous engagement survey—provides nearly 100 ideas to help you address opportunities for improved engagement.
How do we measure engagement? Every year we ask employees and providers to share their opinions about Fairview, our vision and the ways in which we work in the Employee & Provider Engagement Survey. To read about the current survey process, visit the survey intranet page.
You can also use this manager guide to convey the importance of the engagement survey with your team.
Contact for more information If you have questions about the engagement survey or employee engagement in general, contact Organizational Development & Learning.