Often times employees feel disconnected from the main goals or the overall brand of a company. They come to work, clock in, put in their hours, clock out, and go home for the day.
There is no real sense of belonging within a company, when there is no true sense of responsibility. Many employees are not even aware of (nor do they care about) a company’s business goals. If that sounds like your business, as an employer, it is your job to fix that!
Assuming you’re not the founder of one of those gems, here’s some tips to bring your team together, help everyone feel involved, and meet wider business goals by engaging your employees’ personal networks.
1. Hold regular and relevant company meetings
Your employees need to feel like they are a part of a cohesive unit–a family or a team. Hold short, but regular meetings (a company town hall of sorts) to provide encouraging thoughts, open praise and acknowledgement, goal reminders, and open up the floor to suggestions for improvement.
“At their best, town hall meetings are an opportunity for senior leadership and all employees to connect, collaborate, and share updates,” says Jamie Nichol with CultureIQ, an employee engagement platform. “At their worst, these company-wide meetings can simply be a waste of time, where it feels more like a one-sided lecture better served as an email.”
Bringing everyone together does not mean you have to spend an hour rambling about company pride. Make your meetings matter.
Forbes contributor Brian Solis shares additional findings from a Barco report, “Which reveals the biggest frustrations for workers, why it’s hard to get the most out of meetings and what can be done to turn meetings into a good use of everyone’s time.” According to their findings, companies should:
- Give meeting a reason and relevance and set a clear objective for every meeting – (51% of people said that they often attended meetings that where irrelevant to them)
- Hold fewer meetings and reduce their length – (26% of people said they attend 10-19 meeting a week that last just under and hour on average)
Meanwhile, “In the software development world, teams often hold daily “scrums” or standups–a brief meeting where the entire team gets together (often standing up) and shares their progress on current tasks, what they’re working on that day, and any challenges they’ve encountered along the way.” They are reportedly more efficient than standard meetings.
2. Visibly post company goals
Post company goals in visible places throughout your office space. Public goals become a more recognizable and higher priority.
Make sure your employees know the company goals and how they can personally contribute to achieving them. Ask your teams to share at least three things they can do individually to help impact company objectives.
In order to set smart goals, Mindtools.com reminds us that goals should be:
- S – Specific (or Significant).
- M – Measurable (or Meaningful).
- A – Attainable (or Action-Oriented).
- R – Relevant (or Rewarding).
- T – Time-bound (or Trackable).
3. Openly celebrate company and individual success, online
When employees reach their individual goals you should congratulate them and show your appreciation. When the company reaches a goal make sure you take time to celebrate that success. I’d highly suggest “popping bottles!”
But most importantly, highlight employee contributions, with quotes and feedback, in your internal and external communications and tag them (with permission) on social networks from the company’s main page. Big milestones for employees are also big news for their personal networks!
4. Encourage questions, ideas and input
Encourage your employees to bring new ideas to the table. If two heads are better than one, then surely 15 heads are even better. Also, open the floor to questions during your meetings. Create a culture of mutual respect that is open to the free flowing exchange of ideas.
5. Host social media contests
One way to engage employees is through social media. Are your employees actively involved in your social media profiles? Are they aware (or even care) that you publish a company blog? If not, they should be. In fact, your employees can collectively contribute to the growth of your social platforms.
Encourage employees to post, comment, and even contributing company blog posts or ideas.
Another way to involve your employees is to host an internal social media contest. Hold a contest on your Facebook brand page, for example, and whoever comments or shares a post within a certain time-frame can enter to win a giveaway or employee perks from a random drawing. Use an online random name picker tool to select your winner.
Create an engaged company culture
It is your job to create a work environment where people feel comfortable to collaborate and share new ideas. It is your job as a leader to instill a sense of pride and accomplishment associated with each position as you empower your employees to feel accountable and a part of your company, brand, and reputation.
Help employees feel like an integral part of your company and they, in turn, will represent your brand with pride and help you achieve our goals.
Matt “Handshakin” Holmes is an entrepreneur, speaker, author, and world record holder. He is the founder of the Handshakin Video Series, featuring top entrepreneurs on networking and personal branding strategies. After interviewing venture capitalists, members of Congress, and billionaires, Matt has been on numerous podcasts sharing tips on strategically making connections and relationship building. Today, he helps aspiring entrepreneurs implement networking and personal branding strategies.
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