It’s amazing what an honest, heart-to-heart conversation can do to help you engage an employee and build trust and respect. Yet, so many managers avoid it due to lack of time, discomfort, apathy or feeling unsure of what to say. With all the turmoil and uncertainty in today’s workplace, it’s critical to get input from the people working directly for you. And if you don’t manage anyone, it’s important for you to express your views to people who truly want to hear them.
You’ve likely given or taken one of those anonymous staff engagement or climate surveys. Typically, after months of processing the data the results are given to management in a thick binder with plenty of bar graphs and recommendations. Typically little is done to encourage open communication between a leader and their direct staff. At High Definition People™, we believe savvy leaders go a step further. They want to initiate open and honest discussion with their team and each team member.
To make it easy for you to get feed back, I thought you might find the “mini-engagement quiz” below valuable to encourage feedback from your team and check your own engagement level.
I suggest you give the quiz below to each team member during a meeting, then leave the room for 30 minutes and ask your team to agree on 2-3 key areas they need to be more engaged in their job. Don’t ask team members to share their scores with you unless they volunteer. When you return, a few group leaders can share what they decided along with suggestions and any questions they may have for you.
In addition, let the group know you will meet with them, one-on-one to address each team member’s needs privately. Even if you are not a manager or leader, take this quiz to see how you score and identify what areas you need to be more engaged in your job.
(Note: The following abbreviated Engagement Quiz is provided compliments of Terri Kabachnick from her excellent book, “I Quit, But Forgot to Tell You”.)
Mini Engagement Quiz
(T = True, F = False, NS = Not Sure
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(T, F, NS) |
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(T, F, NS) |
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(T, F, NS) |
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(T, F, NS) |
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(T, F, NS) |
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(T, F, NS) |
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(T, F, NS) |
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(T, F, NS) |
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(T, F, NS) |
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(T, F, NS) |
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(T, F, NS) |
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(T, F, NS) |
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(T, F, NS) |
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Total # True’s ________________ |
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| 10 – 13 True’s – You are Truly Engaged 7 – 9 True’s – You are Mostly Engaged 6 or Fewer True’s – You are Not Quite Engaged |
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Let me know how you can use this tool. I’d like to hear your best practices to engage your staff!
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Applause
We are extremely pleased with your program and the value and results we received from our Employee Enrichment Day and Manager’s Retreat. You inspired our managers to be better coaches, departments to improve internal service and increased the level of buy-in by everyone to our culture change initiative. Our CEO commented, “I am excited that we now have more guidance and a road map to follow that will make Leaders a Five Star credit union”. You did an exceptional job at capturing what was going on in our organization. Our folks were glued to every word and your uplifting and entertaining style made the day breeze by.
~ Leaders Credit Union
Your keynote presentation at our National Sales Conference was more than enlightening — it was incredibly motivating. Our account executives commented you not only gave us practical tools and specific ideas to connect with our Realtors, but you inspired us to be confident and know we have it within us to succeed. We all agreed your motivating Dream Big! message and book was the best part and a great way to end the program. Thanks for teaching, educating, encouraging, entertaining and inspiring us. Your participation was invaluable in making this meeting a success!
~ American Home Shield (a ServiceMaster Company)
Excellent article.
Great article and valued information. I will be giving the quiz to my employees to make sure I’m as engaged as I think I am. Thanks.