Leadership and Employee Engagement in 2013

Employee engagement should be a top priority for every leader in 2013. Studies have shown that engaged employees perform better at work. If you and your leadership team have not thought about your employee engagement strategy today and made steps to implement it then you are hurting your own bottom line. Take a look at your team as they finish up their day to gauge their well-being and make note of it. Do this for a week and then examine what you are seeing and contrast it with each individual's workload. Is there a pattern of stressed out employees struggling to finish a major launch? If so, action on your part is required. You, as a leader, owe it to your team to make their well-being a priority. Tony Schwartz discusses the benefits of employee engagement more below and at HBR.

What would contribute most to your being both happier and more productive at work? How about feeling truly taken care of, appreciated, and trusted by your employer?

More than 100 studies have affirmed the connection between employee engagement and performance, but the Towers Watson 2012 Global Workforce Study — 32,000 employees across 30 countries — makes the most powerful, bottom line case yet for the connection between how we feel at work and how we perform.

What's required now is something called “sustainable engagement.” The key factor, the study finds, is a work environment that more fully energizes employees by promoting their physical, emotional and social well-being. I'd add to that mental and spiritual well being — or more specifically, the added energy derived from the capacity for absorbed focus and a strong sense of purpose.

…More at New Research: How Employee Engagement Hits the Bottom Line …

Is your engagement strategy sustainable? Are you enriching your team's lives by providing a sense of purpose and promoting well-rounded employees who are physically, emotionally and socially well? Leaders act as the catalyst for change in an organization and must be fully engaged to inspire a sustainable engagement strategy. It is a demanding task but one that reaps many rewards such as better operating margins, lower attrition rates and healthier employees. All of these improvements will be a boon to your business. Leaders must show the way and actively work to provide sustainable employee engagement in 2013 and beyond.