How to Increase Engagement in Times of Disruption

Rich Johnson

It’s likely no surprise that teams with high psychological safety and a healthy climate are more productive and engaged. With the onset of COVID-19, however, our remote and virtual work world has increased isolation and reduced our sense of purpose. It’s also challenged leaders to figure out how to build meaningful connections, strengthen team cohesion, and inspire performance. 

At sr4 Partners, our current work is focused on supporting organizations of all sizes as they redefine their strategy to address the chaos and uncertainty we are facing. As part of that effort, we developed a three-part forum on Leading Through Disruption where we are tackling the topics of communication, engagement and problem-solving.  

We kicked it off May 14th with The Call for Clarity, hosting more than 75 leaders from across North America to discuss how to create an effective communication strategy that focuses on clarity, consistency and vulnerability (see a recap here). 

On May 21st, we facilitated The Call for Connection, where we discussed 3 big ideas for engagement in the workplace: well-being, purpose and connection (watch the full video here).

Prioritize Well-being On Your Team

Next to financial security, health and well-being is the number one priority for an engaged workforce in today’s climate. While most companies are doing a good job addressing physical well-being, Gallup’s research offers five elements of well-being that employees need to succeed: 

1. Physical: strengthening our bodies and minds

2. Career: providing a fulfilling work experiences with opportunities to grow and advance

3. Social: encouraging strong relationships both inside and outside of work

4. Financial: compensation, benefits and the overall financial health of our employees

5. Community: connecting and contributing to the places your company considers home

When leaders commit to investing in all five of these areas, employees are shown to become more resilient, healthier and more loyal. 

Best practices to put the well-being of your company first:

• Model healthy self-leadership. As leaders, we need to practice the self-care we want for our people.

• Assess & identify opportunities. Use Gallup’s five essentials as a framework to measure where you’re excelling and where you’re falling short. 

• Create and empower an employee task-force. Utilize your employees to address well-being challenges and opportunities. Give them the time, resources and authority to bring new commitments to life.

Define (And Align) Your Purpose 

People desire to work for companies with a clear purpose. This will only continue to grow as the current crisis causes all of us to get in touch with our values and understand what’s most important.

Accenture’s recent report, “COVID-19: A brand. New. Purpose.,” explains that given the shifts in today’s world, purpose can’t be just a statement or an aspiration. It has to “permeate your entire organization.”

Best practices to bring purpose to life and engage your teams:

• Teach your why. Why your company exists is central to cultivating a powerful sense of purpose for your employees, customers and the world. Spread the word and teach it to every person in your organization.

• Align your people. Provide your employees with a line of sight from their daily work to the greater impact your organization is having.

• Provide meaningful work. Ask your people what kinds of projects or assignments are most meaningful for them, and make sure they get to spend some of their time on it.

Prioritize Connection (Even If It’s Virtual)

With COVID-19, we’ve come to realize how important connection is to the human experience…and in fact, there are physiological reasons that human connection is so powerful. As our outlets for in-person interaction decreased, it’s important to identify new avenues to cultivate connection when we can’t connect at the proverbial water cooler. While these aren’t new, these three keys to connection have an urgency about them in today’s new reality:

• Make sure employees feel Valued. Employees need to know, hear and feel that their presence and their contributions are valued. 

• Create an environment where people are Known. Gallup’s research shows that employees who indicate they have a close friend at work are more likely to be engaged and perform at their best.

• Establish a culture where people experience Psychological Safety. Make expectations clear. Help people understand how changes will impact them. Encourage people to be themselves and take risks.

Best practices to cultivate connection in times of disruption:

• Hold regular check-ins. With your team, ask people what they need and provide feedback to deepen the connection. Organizationally, do a pulse survey and respond in a timely and appropriate way to the results.

• Encourage time away. Let people know it’s okay to unplug. Put an embargo on lunchtime meetings or give employees an additional day of PTO.

• Have some fun. Create custom virtual backgrounds, a “Water Cooler” Slack channel, and encourage people to share a photo from their new at-home workplace. 

• Lean into healthy tech practices. Take a break from video and do a walking meeting by phone outside. Also, use breakout group technology for larger meetings so people can have meaningful conversations in smaller groups.

In closing

To apply the ideas we’ve outlined above, here are a few prompting questions to get you started:

• What’s one best practice your organization could adopt for increased engagement?

• How will you practice self-leadership as it relates to well-being?

• What important step does your organization need to take around purpose or connection?

Up next: 

Part Three on May 28 at 11am CT, “The Call for Creativity: Problem-Solving that Maximizes Opportunity”. Register here.

sr4 Partners is an organizational health consultancy focused on helping you lead. We understand the importance of high performing leaders and teams - especially in today’s challenging business environment. For over a decade, our work has helped organizations cultivate healthy leaders, cohesive teams, thriving cultures, and inclusive change. We do this through our consulting services and our Ignite Leadership Community.