Connecting with your employees in a meaningful and personal way is one huge way to drive employee engagement. “Leaders care about their employees and show it,” is how I describe and encourage leaders to reach out and touch an employee’s heart…connecting with them on a personal level. It’s not just about work performance; it is all about connecting to the human that is your employee.
This is hard for many leaders to understand and do. I admit I struggled with it for years. I was raised by parents who grew up during the Great Depression. They were “traditionalists” with the “pull yourself up by the bootstraps” mentality. In several places of work, many older supervisors I had clearly drew a hard line between managing employees and staying out of their personal lives. I understand why many baby boomers as leaders struggle with the “leaders care about their employees and show it” approach.
Look back at an earlier blog post about the major drivers of employee engagement. Number one on the list is: Senior management is sincerely interested in employee well-being. Of the components that comprise well-being, leaders who truly care about their employees has the most impact.
Don’t over-think this and make it harder than it really is; showing you care about your employees can be done in many simple ways. Here are my top two personal favorites and the ones I encourage most often in my executive coaching:
1) Hand write a note to one of your team members.* Maybe it’s about their son’s recent graduation, the loss of a pet or congratulations on completing their flamenco class…but make the note about something personal. Keep work out of it…connect to the person.
2) Ask them about a recent “personal” event in their life. This can be something as simple as “how was your weekend,” or “what was the most special memory about your vacation,” or simply asking about a recent illness or the illness of a child. Do it with sincerity and focus only on the employee. If it comes across as anything less, you lost your chance to connect to the person. Listen with both ears and be patient. Show the employee you care about them as a person.
Reach out and touch their heart! There a million and one ways to show you care about the person that is your employee. Once your folks know you care about them and you can “ lead with your heart”…their engagement and alignment with your mission will follow.
*Note: rather than a handwritten note to a millennial, you might want to consider sending them a text message. Either way, make it personal!