Employee Engagement + Leadership = Business Results (Part 2)

October 24, 2012

Employee Engagement

Employee Engagement + Leadership = Business Results

Employee Engagement, Leadership, and Business Results are highly correlated–according to Gallup research done by Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman, authors of First, Break All the Rules: What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently. In our last post on this topic (you can read it here) we outlined the 12 employee engagement questions that Gallup uses to determine their level of engagement.

In this post, we’ll look at what it is that employees want and expect from their leaders–the things that help get and keep employees engaged.

Here are a few items that show up consistently when you ask employees:

  1. Trust
  2. Respect
  3. Autonomy
  4. Clear Communication
  5. Opportunities to grow
  6. Appreciation
Abraham Maslow published his results in 1954 in his book Motivation and Personality; today we often see his work in the form of a pyramid.  The pyramid signifies a climb to the ultimate height of self-actualization.
Employee Engagement + Leadership = Business Results

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

What correlation between Maslow’s Hierarchy and what employees need from their leaders do you see?

Work can be, and often is, the entry path into Esteem and Self-actualization. Employment provides us with safety–but what we get out of our work, the way we feel, the way we contribute to society, our ability to fully function with others–that is what we, as leaders, can help others discover within themselves.

If you want to develop your leadership pipeline then take a hard look at Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Develop a disciplined program to identify those that can fully function at the top of the pyramid then coach them to success.

What are you doing to boost self-esteem, confidence, achievement, and respect?

What are you doing to increase morality, creativity, spontaneity, problem solving, and acceptance of facts, and reduce prejudice?

 

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