10 C's of Employee Engagement.

Employee engagement is quickly becoming one of the most important indicators in gauging work satisfaction. Employees today are looking for more than just a 9-to-5 job. They want to be involved in their work, enthusiastic about the organization they work for and committed to their fellow workers.

Academic researchers have defined employee engagement as ‘the harnessing of organization members’ selves to their work roles in engagement, people employ and express themselves physically, cognitively, and emotionally during role performances. (Kahn,1990).

Shaw (2005) defined engagement as translating employee potential into employee performance and business success. This means changing the way employees perform ‘by utilizing the tools in the armory of internal communication professionals.

Employee Engagement is the dedication, passion as well as commitment of employees and effective leadership skills with support from the top management to the employees. Human resource leaders set the drive and believe their company and spread that positive morale to the employees in the company. According to Ambler (2007) has listed 10 C’s of employee engagement and that can be summarized as follows.

                                   Figure 1 : 10 C's of employee engagement (Source : Online) 

1. Connect: Leaders should always show and make known that they value employees. Good employee engagement is only going to happen if employees feel positive and strong about their relationship with their boss. If they have a negative attitude towards their boss or feel that the boss has a negative attitude towards them, employee engagement is not going to happen.

2. Career: Management and leaders should provide work for their employees that’s not only challenging but also meaningful work. They should also provide opportunities for career advancement. Most people want to look forward to a new challenge or job title. For example, management should establish goals that lead to career advancement and high rewards. If there are no such opportunities for some positions, they should be created. A simply visual description of a career ladder would illuminate this as well.

3. Clarity: Leaders must communicate a clear vision. Communication is always important in any relationship. The clearer a leader or manager is about what they want from the employee as well as the overall picture of how that job affects the company, the better. If 11 the employee doesn’t have a clear vision of not only their job but also the goal of the company and its entire picture, there will be tension between employees and management as well as frustration.

4. Convey: Leaders need to clarify their expectations about employees and provide constructive feedback on their functioning in the organization and how that fits into the entire picture of the company.

5. Congratulate: Always make sure to give recognition to a job well done by an employee. Too often management and leaders focus on the negatives and mistakes of an employee and forget to congratulate them on a job well done.

6. Contribute: Leaders should make their employees feel important. An employee is going to be much more engaged if their manager asks their input on a job or function of the company. Let the employees feel like they are contributing to the company’s success and its future.

7. Control: Employees need and value control over the flow and pace of their jobs. Leaders can create opportunities for employees to exercise this control. A feeling of “being in on things,” and of being given opportunities to participate in decision making often reduces stress; it also creates trust and a culture where people want to take ownership of problems and their solutions.

8. Collaborate: Employees that work in teams typically have the trust and cooperation of their team members. These individuals will be overall better employees and outperform individuals and teams that don’t have the trust and strength in work relationships. Team builders end up being great leaders because they bring everyone together and build a good team that has trust in each other. Team building should be stressed.

9. Credibility: Leaders should always strive to maintain a company’s reputation and demonstrate high ethical standards. Once there is a lack of credibility or it gets out that a leader has been involved in some sketchy business, there is no order in the company. Employees and clients will not trust that manager and it will affect the image of the company severely.

10. Confidence: Excellent leaders help create and spread confidence throughout their company by being exemplars of high ethical and performance standards. If employees see their leader as a confident and ethical person, they will strive to be like their leader. 

It can therefore be concluded that organizations need to take care of their employees from day one to help build EE levels and it should be a continuous process followed at every aspect of management.

References : 

Kahn, W.A. (1990). ‘Psychological conditions of personal engagement and disengagement at work’, Academy of Management Journal, 33(4).

Shaw, K. (2005). Employee Engagement: How to Build a High-performance Workforce, Chicago, IL: Melcrum Publishing Limited.

Ambler, G. (2007). The ten C’s of employee engagement. The Practice of Leadership.

Available at :  www.thepracticeofleadership.net