Leadership Engagement

Did you know that company culture is a critical component to their job satisfaction? Did you know that it's so important that, for nearly half of all employees, it's more important to their job satisfaction than their salary?

When you think about it, this shouldn't be a surprise. Many people spend most of their waking hours throughout the week at their jobs. It makes sense that people value their work environment as much as the amount of money they're paid to be there.

Leadership engagement can play a major role in company culture and employee satisfaction. Employees take their cues off of their leaders. If the leaders aren't engaged in their work, the employees won't be either.

But what is an engaged leader? And how does an effective leadership engagement model affect your company's bottom line?

Read on to learn more about what leadership engagement is and how you can use it to benefit your company.

What Does Engaged Leadership Look Like?

While there are many leadership engagement models, there are a few key things in common among all of them.

Engaged leaders support their team members, both personally and professionally. They complete their tasks and responsibilities effectively. They positively contribute to the culture of their companies.

These qualities can show up in a lot of different ways. For example, engaged leaders are interested in projects happening in their departments.

Engaged leaders communicate clearly and openly with all their teammates. This includes their direct reports, their supervisors, and their peers. They balance the demands of the job with the well-being of themselves and their employees.

These leaders are creative and take initiative. They also encourage their employees to do the same.

Notice that many of the qualities listed above have as much to do with relationship-building as they do with job performance. This is because engaged leaders invest in relationships with their colleagues.

Through this foundation of support, employees feel valued and comfortable at work. This, combined with a willingness to take more risks in their work, leads to increased job performance.

Why Leadership Engagement Matters

No matter what industry you are in or how intentional you are about planning your projects, change will happen. In times of change, disengaged leadership leads to unnecessary stress and chaos. Engaged leadership will help your organization navigate change with assurance.

While you can anticipate some forms of organizational change, a lot of change is, by nature, unpredictable. This means that you need to do the work upfront of making sure your leadership is engaged. That way, when change comes, you know you have a stable and successful change management strategy in place, regardless of the nature of the change.

In addition to effective change management, engaged leaders contribute to your company culture. This is crucial, as it is one of the defining factors of employee performance and satisfaction.

This means that focusing on creating a supportive social and emotional environment is much more than a waste of time. It will improve the quality of the work done by your employees and can even boost their performance more than if you focus on the quality of the work alone.

Engaged leaders pay attention to their employees and their well-being. They notice whether their employees are engaged at work. They ensure that the work their employees are doing aligns with both the overall vision of the company and with the employee's personal values.

All of these behaviors lead to higher rates of employee satisfaction, increased productivity, and lower employee turnover rates.

Is Your Leadership Engaged?

Ask these leadership engagement questions to begin to determine how engaged your leaders are.

First, think about how aligned your leaders are with the company's vision and goals. Do they have a clear sense of where they fit into the company as a whole? Are they completing their work well and in a timely manner?

Next, ask yourself how your leaders interact with their projects teams and their direct reports. Do they genuinely care about how their employees are doing as people? Do they actively listen when their employees bring concerns or challenges to them?

Finally, think about how your leaders respond to change within the organization. Do they lean into change, remaining positive and leading with a solutions-oriented mindset? Or do they avoid change, only dealing with it when they absolutely have to?

Depending on your answers to these questions, you may already have engaged leadership. However, it's likely that your company and your team have at least some room for improvement.

It is possible to build an effective leadership engagement strategy on your own. However, working with a consulting service will give you access to industry experts. It will also streamline your efforts to engage your leadership.

When working with a consultant, make sure that they will take the time to be in a true relationship with you. Above all, they should be interested in truly understanding your goals. They should also be willing to work with you step-by-step to ensure that you are achieving the change you desire.

Starting The Journey For Your Company

While you now know the basics of leadership engagement, this is just the tip of the iceberg. Dive deeper into your leadership engagement model to improve communication among your team members, increase alignment between your team members' work and the company's goals, and elevate both leaders' and employees' well-being and satisfaction at work.

Interested in learning more? Contact us to learn more about how Ignite Consulting can support you and your leadership engagement process.