Leading an engaged team in your nonprofit takes a bit of work. Here’s how to create engagement!
How many of your employees are engaged in the work they do?
I mean, are they actively looking to be involved, doing the work, moving the work forward, and helping the rest of the team do the same?
Or are they getting in the way of all of that?
The Engagement Research Gallup has been studying engagement for 20+ years. To learn more about their work and how they define engagement,
Gallup has discovered that about 85% of employees are disengaged to some degree! That’s a big problem! Consider this…
Engaged employees:
- Show up for meetings
- Look for ways they can contribute with their strengths
- Get involved in the conversations, offering their opinions and ideas
- Ask what more they can do, where they can help and who needs support
- See their role as part of something bigger than just day-to-day job.
Disengaged or actively disengaged employees:
- Are often sick, late or uninvolved
- Put up roadblocks, stall, and actively make a mess of things.
- Drag their feet, stir the pot, and fan the flames when things aren’t going so well
- To them, their job is just a paycheck — They are just putting in time!
You want more engaged employees! If you’re like most leaders, you want more engaged employees. Engaged employees positively impact productivity, impact and the culture of your organization. Therefore, you probably think that you want to get rid of the disengaged employees fast.
- You wonder what you were thinking when you hired them
- You assume there is something wrong with them
- You are eager to get some new blood on the team.
First, we need to look at what causes disengagement Here’s the deal: The reason most employees are disengaged is not them, not the work they do, nor is it the organization. Why most people say they don’t like their job is their leader.
Gallup found that 70% of the variance in team engagement is determined solely by the manager.
They are disengaged because of their manager! People say the reason they don’t like their job, don’t want to be there and are actively looking for something else is because they
- don’t feel supported by their manager
- are not finding their manager encouraging and motivating
- their strengths aren’t being seen and used by their manager
- don’t feel they are given the opportunity to contribute to something meaningful
Ultimately, they don’t like their boss.
And that’s you!
Please don’t take this personally. But do personally look at the impact you have on the people you lead.
Bottom line: Whether you realize it or not, people are engaged or disengaged at work and stay or leave a job primarily because of their next-in-line boss.
Disengaged employees are a problem in the nonprofit world Turnover in the nonprofit sector is a huge issue. And while there are many factors, one of the number one issues is that something goes wrong, and suddenly, the relationship between the employee and the boss turns sour.
My story I experienced this first hand when I was the boss when my relationship with employees turned sour more than once!
I wanted to get rid of them as fast as I could. And it wasn’t until my coach encouraged me to take a good hard look at how I was leading, the impact I was having, and the reputation I was building that I had to turn things around.
That’s when I knuckled down on doing the inner work.
- I started to look at my and how I was showing up, either aligned or not aligned with my values. That’s how my team was judging my integrity.
- I had to look at how my mental and physical well-being was taking a toll on me AND impacting those around me.
- I realized that I was a significant player in contributing to the toxicity of our workplace.
And then I had to do the long, slow and often very vulnerable work of turning that around.
But we did it! And as a result, I learned so much about myself, others, and what it takes to lead with confidence, composure, and integrity intact.
How do you create more engagement in your team?
- Be more intentional about how you are leading.
- Become more mindful of your impact on others. That’s your character.
- Commit to continuous personal development as well as the professional development
This week on the podcast, I talk to Maryann Kerr about nonprofit turnover. Maryann has been an impactful leader in the charitable sector for many years. However, Maryann also has been on both ends of the engagement experienced.
Maryann is currently writing a book for Civil Sector Press on turnover in the nonprofit sector. She’s drawing on her experience of being fired three times, working in a bullying environment, as well as countless interviews she’s completed with leaders and employees in the sector. In this week’s podcast, you’ll hear Maryann’s story, insights from the upcoming book and more.
I’ll end with a question: What are you doing to create engagement with your team? Put a comment below so we can all learn from each other!
Originally published at https://www.kathyarcher.com.
