Building Strength in Your Workplace

“True belonging is born of relationships not only to one another but to a place of shared responsibilities and benefits. We love not so much what we have acquired as what we have made and whom we have made it with.”
Robert Finch, “Scratching”, The Primal Place, 1983.

Organizations exist to accomplish tasks that are too complex, expensive or difficult for one person to accomplish alone. We come together as teams to pool energy, experience and expertise and raise support.

Ask yourself, and your employees, whether you are building strength and increasing engagement in your workplace.

To get started, take a few minutes to read “Marcus Buckingham Thinks Your Boss Has an Attitude Problem” by Polly LaBarre, Fast Company Magazine.

http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/49/buckingham.html

How it works

Step 1. Read the story from the link above.

Step 2. Generate a brief survey (try using www.surveymonkey.com) using the following questions that Marcus Buckingham and the Gallup Organization developed.

Possible questions to ask your employees:

1. Do I know what is expected of me at work?
2. Do I have the materials and equipment that I need in order to do my work effectively?
3. At work, do I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day?
4. In the past seven days, have I received recognition or praise for doing good work?
5. Does my supervisor, or someone at work, seem to care about me as a person?
6. Is there someone at work who encourages my development?
7. At work, do my opinions seem to count?
8. Does the mission or purpose of my company make me feel that my job is important?
9. Are my coworkers committed to doing quality work?
10. In the past six months, has someone at work talked to me about my progress?
11. This year, have I had opportunities at work to learn and grow?

Step 3. Distribute the questions to all employees that report to you. The objective is to get compelling answers to the questions about the day-to-day realities of their jobs.

Step 4. Talk to your employees and explain to them that you are handing out this questionnaire in order to help determine and assess the health of your organization. Explain to them what you intend to do with the information you gather.

Step 5. Collect and analyze the data. These factors will help you determine whether people are engaged, not engaged, or actively disengaged at work. From here you can better leverage making all of your employees engaged.

Important note: If you ask for the feedback, and don’t take action, don’t be surprised if your engagement levels decline rapidly as a result.

What it can do

Measure the core elements needed to attract, focus and keep the most talented employees.

Identify which workers are engaged, not engaged, actively not engaged in their work.

Help create more alignment between the dreams of employees and the drive of the business to win.