Two Out of Five for Leadership Intimacy

Study after study has confirmed the connection between employee engagement and increased productivity, performance, and customer satisfaction, along with the reduction of absenteeism and turnover. Therefore any company that wants to compete successfully today must go beyond fostering job satisfaction and ensure that it fully engages its employees.

But is that enough? Especially after your competitors have embraced employee engagement?

The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) conducts an annual survey in an attempt “to identify and understand the factors important to overall employee job satisfaction and engagement.”

As a member of SHRM, you can see the most recent survey. But anyone can view the 2012 survey without membership. Either way it’s clear to see trends from when the annual surveys commenced in 2002. I’ll use the 2012 results to point out some interesting insights that strongly suggest how and where to go beyond employee engagement.

Relationships Rising

While the five factors contributing most to employee engagement deal with the employee’s connection and commitment to the organization, two speak specifically to person-to-person relationships.

1. Confidence in ability to accomplish work goals (83%)
2. Relationships with coworkers (79%)
3. Opportunities to use skills/abilities (75%)
4. Contribution of work to organization’s business goals (72%)
5. Relationship with immediate supervisor (71%)

 
The SHRM report observes that open lines of communication enable leaders “to respond more effectively to the needs and problems of their employees.”

The relationship an employee has with his or her supervisor is a central element to the employee’s affiliation to the organization, and it has been argued that many employee behaviors are largely a function of the way they are managed by their supervisors.

Beyond Communication

If your organization wants to compete with other organizations that have also become keenly aware of the need to enhance relationships, I suggest that you take your game up another notch—from merely communicating more effectively to instilling Leadership Intimacy.

Armed with an intimate and accurate understanding of self and others, your leaders can supercede the efforts other organizations have established.

To take your leadership development efforts beyond what all your competitors are doing, consider embarking on our CoachQuest Leader-as-Coach program, where Leadership Intimacy gives your leaders and your organization one powerful competitive advantage.

Learn more about CoachQuest.

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