Engagement Requires Clarity

There is no doubt that engagement requires clarity. How could it be otherwise?

If we expect the people who work for us to be engaged, we have to give most of them a reason. I say most of them because there are people in all of our workforces that just are engaged no matter what. However, if we as leaders fail to take the normal steps to engage our teams these people who are naturally engaged and producing strong results for us will leave and find a place where their contribution is appreciated.

Where does clarity start? It starts at the top of the communication tree with the mission, vision and values. If it?s not clear to the workforce what the company stands for how could they possibly feel like going the extra mile? The next step may be the strategy and company goals. If the team don?t know the goals how do, they know what to do? Without clear goals there isn?t anything to strive for so why not just hang out.

Clarity around company goals sets the foundation for creating a solid?Contribution Management Program.?Contribution management is a more appropriate name for performance management. What we all want as leaders is the discretionary contribution from our team. Discretionary contribution is what engagement is all about. When you have discretionary contribution, if you have been clear in defining your?Contribution Management Program, the result will be stronger performance results on all of your key metrics.

If the company goals are clearly established and shared the entire organization has the opportunity to establish goals that support the overall company goals at every level of the organization. Clarity around goals supports alignment from the top to the bottom of the organization and back to the top.

The establishment of clarity around mission, vision, values, strategy and company goals sets the stage for the next opportunities to engage the team. With the goals in place its then much easier to talk about performance feedback, comp and benefit programs to answer the ?what?s in it for me?? question and then assure that the team has all the tools they need to performant their maximum and that they are supported in their continued learning and growth

Start with Clarity in everything you do and your chances of having an engaged workforce are greatly enhanced.