Engaging Employees : Learning from our favourite teacher

EE

or Employee Engagement is the ‘art’ of ‘Engage-ing’ ‘Men’ ‘T-actfully’ to further the goals of the individuals and thereby the organization. Plainly said, it evinces how involved the employees are with the functioning of the organization and the sense of ownership and belongingness that they have for the organization. EE has become the talk of HR circles across industries in varied sectors. With a small analogy let us try to understand what could be the probable ways of keeping employees engaged and thereby drive their motivation and dedication.

Let us for a moment keep everything aside and think of one teacher/professor we admire/admired the most and wouldn’t miss a single session. Now let us analyze what would make us love every session of the most admired teacher. Some of the major reasons would be:

·         The persona of the faculty (Culture of the Organization)

·         The interest the faculty evokes among students (Kind of work and challenges at work place)

·         Induce enthusiasm and vibrancy in the class ( Work Environment)

·         A pat on the back for excellence achieved (Reward and Recognition à Motivation)

·         Open to views and opinions any time (Open Communication Channels)

·         Cater to each individual’s learning needs (Training and Development)

·         Providing inputs for improvement (Feedback Mechanism)

·         Building emotional connect with the students ( Caring for the employees/ empathy) 

 These are some of the major traits we would identify with one of our most admired teacher and the impact that he/she have had on us is humungous. Comparing the faculty to an organization or the CEO of the organization, we can draw analogies to derive on the factors associated with keeping the employees engaged in an organization. What is required is being cognizant of these basic motivators stated above. Highly engaged employees can help the organization stand up to its vision and mission. Small things matter a lot and can help immensely to motivate an individual. Motivated individuals stretch themselves and strive hard to achieve organizational goals. They identify themselves with the organization and become brand ambassadors of the organization. Issues of Talent retention are resolved and so are the costs associated with the same. Let us take cue from our most esteemed teacher and imbibe traits to keep the students interested and committed. Let us engage our employees.