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can open your eyes to seemingly small accomplishments that would otherwise go unnoticed. No matter how small, the roles and responsibilities of every employee are a critical factor in the overall success of an organization.

      ✔ Ask employees what they want and/or need. Don’t assume you or your management team knows automatically. For employees that have been with you several years, don’t assume what they wanted five years ago is still the same; encourage open and honest dialogue.

      ✔ Be available for questions from employees. Managers have to be available and approachable to get employees to talk with them. Whether that means dropping into the break room, holding “office hours,” or having a beer with the team after work or to celebrate finishing a project – face time is critical. I know of one manufacturing plant that even invested in an electronic deli type of sign that said, “Now serving number … ” Employees who wanted face time with a visiting executive got a number and made their way to the main office as that number got close to being called.

      ✔ Show understanding and empathy. It’s important for all employees to feel that their managers are on their side, rooting for their success and seeking to help them succeed in any way possible. When employees face life changes, tragedies, or circumstances that demand more of their time than usual, employees need to feel comfortable discussing their situation with their managers or employers. If they’re met with understanding and a willingness to help, they won’t ever forget it. And the happier and more stable your employees, the better your business fares.

      

Best, Best and Krieger – a large law firm in Southern California – promotes an open door policy wherein anyone who has questions or concerns regarding personal or professional security is free to discuss those worries with the firm’s managing partner. Employees are facing some very real fears, and ignoring these can only make them worse.

      ✔ Support employees when they make mistakes. Employees need their manager’s support more than ever when they (the employees) make mistakes. Finding fault and openly criticizing employees is easy – sometimes even in front of their peers. But if you take that approach, your employees will lose a degree of self-esteem and a willingness to act independently – and you may never get those attributes back again.

      

To help employees sustain necessary levels of motivation, work with them to identify potential barriers to their success. Don’t simply assume that there are no obstacles or that all the obstacles are evident. Look to employees for guidance and input, and allow them to point out barriers to accomplishing a task, completing a project, or merely going about their daily duties.

      Establishing effective lines of communication that involve and support all employees is especially imperative if managerial or other staff changes occur – new managers are put in place, project groups are reassigned, departments are downsized, and so on. No matter how small the changes, employees will feel as though they’ve lost some sort of control over their situation.

      

Regardless of the approaches you ultimately decide to take in your efforts to increase employee engagement, remember the following points:

      ✔ Encouraging initiative starts with taking initiative. Everyone has an idea that can improve his or her job, department, or even the company overall. Find a way to get those ideas out! Do something different, experiment and learn along the way.

      ✔ Set up a system for eliciting employee ideas and fostering employee engagement that is simple, doable, and fun. If the suggestion program becomes a boring burden, it isn’t likely to continue for long.

      ✔ Stick with it. The best idea may not always be the first one, but the process of valuing your employees’ ideas will lead to more and better ideas.

Investing in people at Edward Jones

      Edward Jones makes every effort to make its employees feel valued, and the results are evident in the longevity and positive attitude of the company’s employees. A survey of Edward Jones employees conducted by Fortune magazine revealed that 96 percent of its employees considered the company a friendly place to work, and more than 89 percent felt that managers followed through on what they said or promised. But the most telling statistic is that 83 percent of employees have every intention of working at Edward Jones until they retire.

      The vast majority of employees cited their reason for holding the company in such high regard as a sense of truly being cared for. And even though the company has grown rapidly over the years, the culture has remained the same. Employees who have been with the company for decades felt as though principles and values remained intact throughout all of the growing pains.

      The personal and professional growth of the company’s employees is of utmost importance to managers at Edward Jones. Employees are encouraged to explore new opportunities within the company, which combats the threat of employees becoming bored and looking for new experiences outside the company. Some employees are asked to directly lead or participate in new ventures, ranging from moving within the office in which they’re based to traveling overseas to launch new departments, projects, or offices. The philosophy behind this practice is centered on Edward Jones’ culture, which strives to develop initiative and drive in all employees. Employees are given the autonomy to forge ahead with new roles or projects they identify, assuming the fit is right. If the employee is lacking in a few key areas, he or she is provided the training necessary to effectively move into the desired role.

Continuing to Focus on Career Growth and Development

      Managers need to support their employees in learning new skills and allow them to participate in special assignments, problem-oriented initiatives, and various other activities that expand the employees’ knowledge and expertise. They should develop yearly and/or project-specific learning goals with each employee and discuss what was learned, either at the end of the year or in the debriefing of the completed project. Periodically, managers should also hold career development discussions with each employee, perhaps as part of his or her annual performance review, to discuss career options and potential career paths that are available to each employee.

       Taking stock in your employees

      If you haven’t already done so, take time to meet with each employee to discuss his or her job interests and ambitions and create an “inventory of readiness” for your staff. Ask questions such as the following:

      ✔ Who has skills that aren’t currently being utilized in the department?

      ✔ Who is interested in learning more about other areas of the business, its clients, processes, products, or services?

      ✔ Who wants to get into a management position some day?

      ✔ What does everyone want to be doing five years from now?

      With this initial baseline of information about your team, you can evaluate who might fit emerging needs, tapping the hidden talents of all employees and expanding traditional roles to help move the organization forward.

       Linking needs with employee interests

      Although development opportunities are traditional motivators to most employees, during crunch times, such opportunities take on a new sense of urgency. When a needed position is frozen or another position is terminated, how can the work that is left best get completed? When a new project emerges, who in the group is ready to help out? As organizational needs arise, ask, “Who can best benefit from that opportunity?” and approach that individual.

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