Summary
Three Questions to Engage Employees Improve employee satisfaction and engagement with a guided conversation One study found that when managers encoura…
Work can be tough. With only 20% of workers feeling engaged globally, we need tools that can help boost engagement and well-being at work.
While some difficulty at work may always be expected, there are things we can do to take control of our work lives and bring more kindness, appreciation, connection, and trust into the workplace. For many years, researchers have been testing different practices that individual employees, managers, and teams can do to improve work life for everyone.
You can find some of these on Greater Good in Action, our library of over 100 practices found to improve well-being. Each practice includes:
Recently, we added four new practices that you might want to try in your workplace.
Let’s face it: We don’t always feel appreciated at work, even though appreciation seems to be a key need for most people. In this practice, you begin a regular team meeting with the simple act of appreciating the person to your left. You say something specific about one of their qualities or an action they took and the impact it had on you. Then that person appreciates the person to their left, and you go around the room (or virtual meeting) until everyone gets appreciated.
Years ago, I tested this practice in a meeting with a team I was working with. When we got to the third person being appreciated, she broke down into tears. She said, “I’ve been working here for nine years, and I didn’t know you guys appreciate me. . . . I didn’t even know you liked me.”
Appreciation Circle at Work
Help everyone on your team feel appreciated to boost connection and performance
While this was hard to hear, it’s also a problem that is pretty easy to fix. Appreciation Circles, which can be repeated regularly, try to establish a culture and ritual of appreciation so that no one has to feel undervalued at work.
This practice is designed for managers during their regular (and sometimes less than inspiring) one-on-one meetings with their direct reports. It recommends that you ask employees these three questions:
As managers, sometimes we don’t realize the impact of our time with employees. Research suggests that our supportive behaviors can go a long way to helping employees feel more engaged. So how can managers be more supportive?
Three Questions to Engage Employees
Improve employee satisfaction and engagement with a guided conversation
One study found that when managers encouraged, assured, and valued employee efforts, employees felt more engaged. These are the themes that the three questions in this practice address.
The question of how you build trust has always been a fascinating one for me, because trust is so foundational to getting things done and is such an important part of a healthy workplace culture. Studies suggest that high-trust work cultures are often higher-performing, but how do you actually earn trust at work?
In their analysis of hundreds of studies on trust, researchers found that there are three key levers for building trust: demonstrating your ability, benevolence, and integrity. In other words, people trust you more when they believe you can get things done, have their best interests at heart, and follow through on your word.
Forging Trust at Work
Demonstrate your trustworthiness to your coworkers
This practice helps you identify ways to show others that you have these qualities by considering three questions and then acting on your answers:
This practice is probably one of the more fun and feel-good practices because it encourages you to offer some random acts of kindness to your coworkers and see if this creates a multiplier effect in your workplace.
For example, you could bring a coworker a cup of coffee, help them with a project, or offer a handwritten thank-you note.
Acts of Kindness at Work
Do something nice for coworkers and watch kindness spread
Studies suggest that kind and helpful behaviors can be contagious to those receiving the kind acts, and that even bystanders see boosts in their well-being just from observing these acts.
We encourage you to try this low-risk and feel-good practice in your workplace soon—as well as the rest of them! Keep in touch and let us know how these practices land in your workplace.
About the Author
Kia Afcari is the director of Greater Good Workplaces at GGSC. He has over 20 years of experience helping leaders, teams, and organizations with collaborative change and has served as a consultant to a wide variety of organizations, including tech, biotech, and fintech companies, health care organizations, universities, NGOs, UN agencies, and nonprofits.
Source: Greater Good (Berkeley)
