TIE This Together and Watch Your Workforce Become Engaged and Creative

There are several reported secrets to helping leaders increase employee engagement and influence their success levels, such as:

• Giving employees more flexibility. The idea is to give your employees the freedom to adjust their work schedules or location to better suit their needs.
• Encouraging your employees to take short breaks from their desk, stretch their bodies in an effort to ward off stress from tirelessly focusing on a taxing project that requires their full attention.

Management consultants and coaches have a plethora of secrets for bringing out the best that employees have to offer.

In my professional success at leading teams within two of the largest financial institutions, I’ve worked with great leaders and ordinary leaders.

Moreover, I observed it was their intentional actions and specific behaviors that sparked movement and tapped into the discretionary energy of the people who report to them.

What stands out from these experiences is leaders who themselves were engaged were surely in the best position to influence the engagement of others.

Indeed, from the actions and activities of these strong leaders and by studying the behavior sciences, I developed (and still utilize) my own formula of what it takes to inspire others to engage and reach their true potential in the workplace.

Engagement is critical to leaders and organizations alike if you want people to give their best efforts at work.

My engaging leadership philosophy that has successfully proven positive for me is what I call the “TIE approach to professional advancement” ─Trust, Include and Engage Emotions.

Here’s how they can benefit you as well.

Trust. Everyone wants to work alongside of a leader they can trust. Employees depend on them to look out for their best interest but when this fails, people aren’t willing to open up, take chances and do more. For me, trust breaks down the traditional walls between leaders and others giving employees a sense of competence. While according to Gallup, managers account for at least 70% of the variance in employee engagement scores across business units. Stephen M. R. Covey’s The Speed of Trust views trust as a dividend that pays well─individuals work harder for each other and things happen much faster. Trust is the backbone to inspiring engagement and creativity.

Inclusion. Most often consultants harp on inclusion with regard to gender, femininity and ethnicity. While this is needed, my approach is involving others to create a win-win situation for everyone. Employees want to be partners to the solution, have a meaningful input and trusted with quality assignments. Including them in the day-to-day processes means being intentionally attuned to their needs and desires to feel valued, be involved and make decisions. Make them accountable which shows that their work is important and valuable to you. It is your responsibility to find ways to share opportunities for growth and influence.

Engage Emotions. Emotions drive engagement and smart engaging leaders are fully aware of this. The traditional analytical type of leadership won’t infuse creativity and most likely will adversely affect people’s wellbeing. These best working environments have been for me where positive emotions are alive and present. The research of Carl Thoresen et al found consistent and strong evidence that employees who reported experiencing positive emotions had higher job satisfaction and greater commitment to their organizations. Who we are in life and who we are at work are not mutually exclusive. When leaders learn how to take advantage of opportunities to engage individuals emotionally, others feel emotionally connected and are encouraged to give their best work.

Organizations are full of untapped potential. Don’t be a lazy leader. Follow this TIE philosophy to encourage your people to fully engage and be more creative. They truly want to give the best they have to offer but it’s your responsibility to let them.

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At DecisionLab, we are here to support you with operating an effective organization and reducing financial waste. We have worked with leaders at all levels to optimize performance, build strong leaders and modernize growth. You can start by identifying the causes of your own personal patterns. Download our free high-performance wellbeing exercises that build morale, improve communication, boost productivity and optimize growth.