Positive engagement is crucial to driving workforce productivity, reducing turnover, and ensuring adoption of new practices and tools. Having an engaged workforce is an important goal for any HR team, and a crucial element of modern management.

Demonstrating engagement means taking active steps to show that you care about employee well-being and engagement, on an individual level.

How to demonstrate positive engagement

Facilitate Good Communication

Clear and transparent communication between leadership and employees facilitates trust, understanding, and commitment. This means making clear goals linked to daily work, without HR terms and jargon. You need to communicate goals in ways that employees can see what is happening, and how it’s making a difference.

At the same time, creating open channels for real day-to-day communication is equally as important. Any member of a team must feel able and willing to come forward to discuss worries, problems, and obstacles with management, without fear or reprisal.

Offer Compensation and Recognition

Employees who feel respected and recognized for their efforts are more likely to continue to put in additional work, to feel motivated, and to remain passionate about their goals and objectives. The Harvard Business Review found that taking time to recognize and reward achievement and initiative can dramatically improve positive engagement. Good recognition involves a combination of personal “thank you’s” and team recognition, as well as compensation and benefits.

Create Room for Opportunities

Most people don’t want to be in the same role in 10 years. Nearly everyone has a career path or objective in mind. Most people also don’t want to work for a company that is stagnating. Focusing on growth (personal and corporate) both demonstrates and facilitates positive engagement while giving individuals room to move upward without leaving the company and moving to another. This boosts engagement because everyone who wants room to grow to can dedicate themselves to a career inside your company.

Develop Trust in Peers and Leadership

Trust is mandatory for any team to work and perform together. But, many teams either don’t trust their leadership or cannot rely on peers to perform well. SHRM found that 75% of employees in the 2015 Job Satisfaction and Engagement Survey listed trust as the primary reason for company loyalty and dedication.

Implement better communication, including meetings where everyone can contribute, social media, newsletters, and intranet. In addition, hold each person accountable for individual performance to help increase trust throughout the team.

Hold Leadership Accountable

Management and leaders are responsible for going out and engaging with employees. They are the front line between HR and the workforce and their performance and tactics will make or break employee engagement. Holding those in leadership positions accountable for adopting new practices, engaging with employees, and developing trust boosts engagement, and by up to 67% according to a Gallup poll.

Demonstrating positive engagement in your team means taking initiative and working to make individuals feel that they are valued, important, and recognized. It also means facilitating teamwork and upward growth, ensuring that leaders are performing well in their roles, and creating an environment where teams can trust each other.

Over time, this will boost productivity, reduce employee turnover, and increase the quality of work and of life for employees in your team.

About the Author: Jocelyn Pick