Poor employee engagement could seriously cost your business — so what is your company doing to prioritize it?
According to a report by The Engagement Institute, disengaged employees cost U.S. companies roughly $550 billion a year. Another study by TechJury found that companies with a high level of employee engagement are 21 percent more profitable. Engaged employees are also more productive, healthier, and less likely to miss work.
Unfortunately, not every engagement initiative resonates with an organization’s staff. Too many businesses simply pay lip service to employee engagement, falling back on ineffective methods like open door policies. They fail to understand that engagement isn’t something you can cultivate overnight.
It requires a considerable shift in organizational culture and a specific management approach, both of which begin with an employee engagement training program.
What Is Employee Engagement Training?
Employee engagement training is a management-focused program that focuses on how to improve engagement in an organization. It provides managers with the knowledge, guidance, and strategies necessary to build deeper relationships with their people and enhance wellness, happiness and job satisfaction. Through this training, organizational leadership becomes better equipped to create a culture of learning, innovation and support.
The Benefits of Employee Engagement Training
In addition to strengthening relationships between employees and managers, an effective training program can help managers:
- Improve their employees’ quality of work
- Increase workplace productivity
- Reduce employee attrition and burnout
- Encourage healthier behaviors and improve employee wellness
- Support professional development and growth
- Increase their organization’s overall profitability
Employee Engagement Training for Managers
Engagement is a two-way street. In order to keep employees fully engaged, managers must not only provide them with clear direction but also give them the tools and support their need to thrive. To help them accomplish this, employee engagement training should focus on the following topics:
First, managers must know how to provide constructive, valuable and actionable feedback to – and receive feedback from – employees. They must also understand how to express genuine appreciation and encouragement, inspiring employees to be at their absolute best while showing them that their contributions and efforts matter to the company.
Active listening techniques are also a must:
- Recognizing verbal and non-verbal cues.
- Eye contact.
- Open-ended questions.
- Patience.
- Non-judgemental dialogue.
- Being fully present.
Managers also need to understand the importance and impact of training and development on employee engagement, particularly at the onboarding stage. Emphasize the value of mentorship and how to ensure it’s done right. Lastly, encourage managers to lead by example, embracing learning and development in their own careers.
Building Your Engagement Program
If you lack the time or experience to develop your own employee engagement training, there are several online and third-party training programs you can use instead.
A Manager’s Guide to Sustainable Employee Engagement
Created by Dale Carnegie, this six-hour, three-session seminar that explores the actions managers can take to inspire greater effort from employees.
Employee Engagement Training Workshop
Taking place over two days, LSA Global’s two-day personalized course helps organizations lay the foundation for greater engagement through Accountability, Change-readiness and Engaging purpose (ACE).
The Positive Workplace: Building Employee Engagement and Satisfaction
Hosted by Harvard Professional Development, this two-day in-person workshop focuses on helping workers through times of stress and building relationships and company culture through conflict resolution and effective communication.
Engagement Magic
A single-day course that can be completed either in-person or online, Decision Wise’s Engagement Magic focuses on the relationship between employee engagement and autonomy, meaning, growth, connection and impact.
Cornell’s Strategic Engagement Course
This course teaches a data-driven approach to employee engagement. Taking place entirely online, the program totals two to five hours per week over two weeks.
Creating an Engaging Workplace for Engagement Champions
Hosted by Gallup, this course focuses on teaching high-level leadership how they can help middle management nurture engagement, with a multitude of practical takeaways for both HR professionals and managers. It can be completed either in-person or online and takes place across two days.
A Foundation for Better Engagement
Employee engagement isn’t something that can be cultivated overnight. It’s not something that can be automated, relegated to an algorithm, or achieved with a few empty gestures.
Engagement requires an active, conscious effort from organizational leadership. It demands that you understand each employee’s wants and needs, and more importantly that you demonstrably care about them. Employee engagement training represents a critical starting point.
An effective training program helps managers develop understanding and empathy. It helps them become better communicators and listeners while also providing them with the right techniques to encourage both personal and professional growth for their people.
The lessons learned through this training can be applied to other areas as well, such as overcoming the challenges associated with keeping virtual learners engaged and creating more effective virtual training programs.
Recommended for you
Blog
