No rings here, but have you ever felt adrift? At work, not just daydreaming, but long-term, on a project, or when you should otherwise be focused on achieving a goal? This feeling likely comes from a lack of engagement and ill-defined goals. Engagement needs to start from the top in a professional setting, meaning leaders must feel confident and competent enough to be the first in the leader-subordinate relationship to establish a connection. Don’t be afraid to set the tone and standard from the beginning. Without this, many team members will simply do what they feel is necessary, which likely is not enough to build team success. In Special Forces, I often heard “the mood of the team follows that of the leaders.” If team members are confident, high-spirited, and motivated, likely the leadership had a lot to do with it. I also heard “leave nothing to chance.” So leaders who set standards early, and effectively engage their teams regarding those standards will have greater control of achieving their goals.
“Engagement is a holistic approach to conveying ideas and emotions, not just spoken communication.”
Don’t step into a leadership role if you are not willing to engage by setting goals, enforcing standards, and driving your people to achieve these. If you do step into the role unprepared, you will only be the person in charge. Respect is earned, not acquired; this goes for the individual, as well as for a group. Effort and forethought go into building an environment of respect and effective engagement facilitates this.
Case in point: an employee is arriving to work in business casual attire, but the requirement is that the employee dress more formally (and everyone else does). Have you established the standard in a formal manner that the only acceptable attire is formal business attire? Or have you just assumed that this employee knows to wear what you want them to wear? Certainly, without definitive guidance, nobody is going to do exactly what you want them to. As a leader, your job is to inspire your people to do things they wouldn’t otherwise do with the intent to achieve things greater than they otherwise would. Further, even though the idea of formal business attire is implied, this employee continues to wear business casual, but why? Well, maybe the COVID times allowed for more relaxed dress, maybe it’s a logistical hassle to haul several bags over long distances between car and building in the heat and it’s simply more comfortable to wear slacks and a polo instead of a suit that doesn’t breathe. Nevertheless, if the subordinate is a professional, and if the leader had set a standard from the beginning, none of this would matter.
The leader, however, doesn’t need to be belligerent and should always take employee concerns into consideration. Some things could be up for negotiation, but ultimately job requirements are things that need to be done.
“Understanding who you work for on a human level will drive team members to feel more compelled to achieve the goals laid out in that leader’s vision.”
Engagement is a holistic approach to conveying ideas and emotions. Not just spoken communication, these conveyances contribute to building trust and interest in belonging to the group. For the guy who prefers the business casual, make wearing the suit fun – create a calendar of events related to the suit/ Tuesdays are funny tie bar day; Thursdays are silly sock day, and Friday is casual (cheesy I know, but better than Lumberg’s effort). Of course, this is not enough; it’s only part of the engagement puzzle. Follow up each day by pointing out colleagues’ participation and their unique spin on the funny tie bar to generate verbal interaction. This way people can see the boss’ humanity at a time when their ass isn’t on the line for a presentation. This is where subordinates will begin to understand who they work for on a human level and then feel more compelled to achieve the goals laid out in that person’s vision. When this sort of approach to doing business becomes habitual, the environment you create will facilitate success.
Without goals and standards, engagement is hindered. Those who meet and then surpass standards will feel a sense of accomplishment, pride, and a part of a team. This gives further reason for management to interact with employees to congratulate and highlight accomplishment. Turning that daydream into a dream-come-true for your team’s job satisfaction is absolutely achievable with planning, effort, and a little creativity. The creativity will inspire and those inspired will engage.