25 ways to keep your team engaged

Surely, we all agree on the importance of leadership in motivating our teams, encouraging them to fulfil their potential, and exceed their expectations. We need to also understand that our style of leadership and management affects what we do to motivate them.

In the 1960s, social psychologist Douglas McGregor developed two theories demonstrating how our beliefs about what motivates our teams can affect our management style. This is still relevant today. Check Theory X and Theory Y if you would like to know more about this in details.

Put simply, some of us believe that in order to do their job, our teams need constant supervision, are not keen to take responsibility and need to be motivated through external factors such as pay rise, bonus and even perhaps the threat of losing their position (the latter I can’t recommend). Others believe that our teams want more responsibility and should have more opportunities to make decisions.

You can guess, I hope, which belief is mine; motivation should come from within, you can’t make someone be motivated, happy or engaged at work. But you can and must create a working environment, which promotes positivity, engagement and motivation.

According to Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace just 20% of the global workforce felt engaged in 2020. Down from 22% in 2019 but a substantial improvement on 12% in 2009. Nonetheless, these statistics mean that an incredible 80% of the world’s employees are not engaged at work!

So, it is essential we know our teams well and what genuinely motivates them in order to support them and manage the team most effectively.

Here are 25 ways to keep your team engaged:

1. Keep them informed at all times; tell them as much as you are able to.
2. Involve people as much as you can in your decisions, and create more decision-making opportunities for them.
3. Give everyone ownership of something; a project, a special task, a responsibility.
4. Give everybody challenges and regularly check that everybody has one.
5. Let people set their own objectives; they will aim high and will be more motivated to achieve them.
6. Conduct appraisals! They get rid of all misunderstandings.
7. Ask them for feedback. Be open to what they say, take it seriously and act upon it.
8. Listen to them; genuinely and openly, and show empathy.
9. Be honest, frank, but kind with them; respect is a two-way street.
10. Give them more autonomy in their work, so they have a sense of responsibility.
11. Make people feel secure by giving them information, feedback and spending time with them.
12. Praise good work and encourage them often.
13. Thank people, each and every one, once a week.
14. Coach poor behaviour, instead of criticising, which is negative and unproductive.
15. Adapt your management style according to their needs; more emphasis on challenge, support or security for instance.
16. Make sure each person is learning something new, and then uses those new skills.
17. Give them a feeling of progress towards results; have them work on a project where they can see the results of their efforts.
18. Involve them in their own development plan, so that they can see the way ahead for them.
19. Are they fulfilling their potential? Are they being stretched a bit so they can grow and develop?
20. Keep things varied for them; rotate jobs, delegate unusual or different tasks every now and then.
21. Create a company culture where they can engage and feel part of a supportive team.
22. Have regular team meetings, team activities, provide a coffee area for instance.
23. The Big Picture. Do they have a clear vision of where the organisation is going in the longer term?
24. Money. Never mess with their money! Pay them on time, what is due and what you promised; for example, expenses and overtime.
25. Last but not least, it starts with you. Be a Role Model: Be positive, approachable, have attention to details and care about customers.

Do look around our website and see how Valentines Learning can help you and your teams with training courses and workshops. You can contact us through the website, by phone or even book a free 30-minute chat with us through Calendly.

Take care.