Improving employee engagement can be one of the most critical aspects to the success of an organization. When an employee loves their company and is positively motivated, their engagement reflects in their work. However, this is equally true for the opposite. When an employee is unengaged, their often under-perform in their tasks and projects.
Many organizations are suffering from the effect of low employee engagement. In fact, only 33.7% of US employees claim they are engaged in their workplace. While business leaders recognize the low levels of engagement, they may be taking steps in the wrong direction.
Solving the challenge of low employee engagement can seem difficult, but corporate coaching is a step in the right direction. Coaching is an effective path to improving employee engagement throughout an organization.
Here are a few ways coaching increases employee engagement…
Provide Development Opportunities
Employees want career development opportunities, and they expect their organizations to provide them. Organizations should do their best to accommodate this demand for development. This is because when employees are given the opportunities they want, they are generally more engaged with the organization providing them.
Providing these opportunities with corporate coaching is a great option to satisfy career development needs and increase employee engagement. Corporate coaching programs are a great career and employee development tool. Further, coaches are an excellent source of help for any developmental problem, from skill deficiencies to knowledge gaps.
Improve Emotional Intelligence
Employees and their leaders interact with each other and with clients throughout the day. This is why it’s so important that they can identify the emotions of those they are interacting with. These emotions affect employee engagement levels within the organization.
Coaching can improve this aspect of employee engagement by teaching individuals the proper ways to read nonverbal signs of communication. The coachees may also learn how to ask the right questions. That knowledge ensures that they understand the situation and how it impacts the other person.
By improving their emotional intelligence, individuals can be aware of how the person they are interacting with is receiving information. This increases the likelihood both parties are engaged and happy with the transaction.
Give Feedback
Giving and receiving feedback can go a long way when delivered appropriately. When providing feedback to an employee, you want to encourage development in their work. This can be done by providing recognition when an employee is excelling in their duties and being constructive when they need improvement.
When managers give feedback, their employees feel that their work is valued and that the organization cares about their development. This leads to higher levels of employee engagement and employee retention. However, leaders do not always understand the best way to give and receive feedback.
Coaching can help leaders and employees properly deliver and receive feedback by guiding them to be specific, personalized, and performance-focused. This will make the conversation more productive for everyone involved. Coaches can also go through scenarios with the coachee to practice the skill in a safe space.
Build Accountability
Taking responsibility for yourself and your team is a major foundation in building trust throughout the workplace. If an accountability culture is not nurtured in the workplace, no one will take responsibility for their actions. This leads to a decrease in the level of employee engagement. As a result, the growth of the organization is stunted.
Through coaching, an organization can improve employee engagement by preventing accountability obstacles such as “learned helplessness”. Coaching employees empowers them to take responsibility for their learning and development.
Along with preventing bad habits in the workplace, coaching helps leaders to develop strategies to push their employees toward problem-solving. It also encourages leaders to properly address employee concerns within the workplace. This accountability enables individuals to get the help they need from their leaders, increasing employee engagement with the overall organization.
Set and Achieve Goals
Goal setting is important on the organizational level. We often seen business goals involving increased employee engagement and employee retention, improved diversity awareness, and better company culture. However, organizations often don’t communicate these goals to the employees when they should.
In fact, 71% of employees feel managers don’t spend enough time discussing business objectives. Opening a channel of communication through coaching can allow these employees to feel included with their organization. Coaches can communicate organizational objectives to their coachees and help them contribute to these goals.
Goals are not limited to the overall organization, though. Individuals are also highly goal-motivated. Coaching is a great way to empower your employees to set great goals and actually achieve them. Coaching increases employee engagement because employees feel involved.
Individual goal completion is also beneficial to organizational objectives. It has been shown that 91% of employees’ goals align with overall business priorities. This means that helping your employees set and achieve goals will benefit the overall organization long-term.
When business and employee goals are aligned, and individuals are working diligently to achieve them, employee engagement and company culture flourish.
Insala has over 20 years of experience in talent management. To start a coaching program today or get more information, please request a demo.
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