Inspiring others: How a leader can increase employee engagement

Inspiring others is no easy task – but for a leader, it is a vital step towards increasing the motivation, engagement and job satisfaction of the people in their team.

A recent Gallup study showed that employees work 20% better when they are engaged and motivated, and that high engagement reduces absenteeism by as much as 40%. It also has a significant effect on resignations, with engaged employees being 87% less likely to resign from their roles.

According to employee engagement and workplace culture expert Corporate Crayon, leaders have a significant role to play when it comes to employee engagement. CEO and Creative Director of Corporate Crayon Evelyn Jackson says that a good leader is able to inspire the people around them, and when done well, this comes from a solid foundation of personal values, as well as a strong understanding of who their people are as individuals.

“What we’ve found through our research is that how authentic the leader is directly impacts how engaged the team are, and importantly, how open they are to sharing their own purpose and value system,” Jackson says.

“The most inspiring leaders are those whose personal value system also aligns with their company, and what they’re trying to achieve. This alignment makes everything they say and do more      genuine, and employees will be more willing to believe in and follow their leader. With meaningful work now being key to employees and their appetite to stay in an organization, organisations that invest in leadership capability in this way are more likely to build connection and engagement with their teams.”

“It’s important to put yourself in the shoes of those you lead, and one of the things we coach leaders on is how to really get to know the people they’re managing – and not just through the work they do,” she explains.

“We ask leaders to think about a person in their team, and to tell us what they think that person feels when they come to work, or when they get up in the morning. What might they feel at nine o’clock when the kids have gone to school? What motivates them to come to work every day?

“When you put all of that together, you can start to get an idea of who people really are and what inspires them.”                         

Corporate Crayon works with organisations to help increase performance with Employee Energy     , Connection and Capability, and Jackson says that this will always start with understanding the people who work at the organisation. Corporate Crayon uses a 5 step process based on design thinking, with ‘Discovery’ as the first stage. The first stage establishes what motivates them, and what their key values and drivers are, and then explores how that can fit with the organisation’s purpose and strategic goals.    

Jackson notes that for a leader to be authentic, it is also vital they have a strong understanding of their personal motivation. Leadership coaching will often start with self-analysis, before you can effectively get to know others.

“In coaching, we’ll often find that leaders are trying to do that leadership role without really having unpicked what it is that motivates them personally,” Jackson says.

“Understanding your own purpose and key values that drive motivation at work is essential as a first step because it requires you to be vulnerable and honest with yourself. Clear on what it is you are trying to accomplish and why. With this clarity, leaders are more open to being genuine and more open to ask the right questions of their teams.”

“It’s very difficult to inspire others if you’re not clear on what inspires you! If leaders don’t spend a lot of time talking to, understanding and developing their team, that can often result in the team feeling like they’re doing a lot of hard work and not getting anything in return, this perhaps more so now in a post pandemic world.” she adds.

“Employees are really looking for investment from their leaders and their organisation– and investment doesn’t equal a  training course. They want to feel a connection to their leader, with visible  investment of time and energy towards their development.”

For an organisation wanting to lift engagement, Jackson notes that strong internal branding and communication is also a key part of the puzzle. Companies should find a way to translate their purpose, vision, and values into a branding language that employees feel connected to and inspired by, and to establish a strong communication strategy based on what the employees want to see and how they want to receive it.    

Jackson says that putting all of this together will significantly lift engagement and motivation and will leave employees feeling more connected to the work they do day to day.

“You have to ask what kind of experience your employees are looking to get – and that might include everything from visual aesthetics, to the communication channels you use, to how often you communicate. In short, what will inspire people to connect with those messages?” she says.

“At the end of the day, authenticity and individual connection is the key. If your organisation and your leaders can pin this down, they will see significant results.”