Author: Jeevithan K

Jeevithan K is a Senior Solutions Consultant at Engagedly with extensive experience in HR technology, customer success, product implementation, onboarding, and training. He specializes in helping organizations adopt B2B SaaS and enterprise AI solutions effectively. His expertise also includes project management, account management, process improvement, and translating complex product capabilities into practical solutions that deliver meaningful value for customers.

Diversity and Inclusion In The Workplace: Benefits

Workplace Diversity and Inclusion or popularly called D&I, is one of the hottest topics of discussion for the Human Resource industry. In recent years, it has become the top priority for everyone. Employers are integrating it with their company’s core cultural values and strategic initiatives. It’s not only considered as one of the right things to do, but it is also helpful to the business. Moreover, it helps in employee growth and development. In this article, we have highlighted the benefits of D&I at the workplace with some relevant statistics. But before we learn more about the benefits, let us take a look at the definition of Diversity and Inclusion.

Also Read: 5 Employee Appreciation Ideas For Your Remote Team

What is diversity and inclusion in the workplace?

Diversity in the workplace simply refers to a workforce with diverse individuals. It includes individuals from different backgrounds, gender, political beliefs, race, age, ethnicity, culture, sexual orientation, etc.

But diversity alone can’t bring about the change organizations are looking for. Inclusion plays an integral part. While organizations often use the words diversity and inclusion interchangeably, they are different. Inclusion refers to establishing a work environment where everyone feels welcomed. They get a true sense of belonging and feel respected, valued, and heard.

Here’s a list of top five benefits of diversity and inclusion in the workplace.

Wider Talent Pool

Employees are not just satisfied by perks or compensation anymore, they are looking for much more than that. They are looking for a place to grow, learn and challenge themselves in whatever they do. COVID might have affected the way we work; it has forced most of us to work remotely. But on the other hand, it has given organizations the advantage to hire talents from the global forum. When companies open their gates to a diverse talent pool, they will get nothing but the best to choose from.

Employees are looking to work in a diverse work culture too. According to a recent survey by Glassdoor, 72 % of women, 62% of men, 89% of black respondents, 80% of Asians, and 70% of Latinos prefer a diverse work culture for work.

Greater Creativity and Innovation

Workplace diversity and inclusion lead to greater creativity and innovation. Employees from a homogeneous background tend to think and assess situations or challenges in a similar way. As a result, they fail to think critically or add anything new. They fall prey to the psychological phenomenon of Groupthink. But diverse employees bring multiple perspectives and experiences to the table. They do not think as a group and assess situations more thoroughly. Consequently, it leads to the generation of fresh and new ideas, and alternative ways to solve problems.

How Diversity Can Drive Innovation, an article on Harvard Business Review highlights the correlation between diversity and innovation. “Diversity unlocks innovation by creating an environment where ‘outside the box’ ideas are heard.”

Also Read: Performance Management Software: Here’s Why You Need It

Higher Retention And Lower Turnover Rate

Research by Gallup estimates that the cost of replacing an employee is between one-half to two times an employee’s annual salary.

Managing the employee lifecycle is a costly and tedious process for organizations. Employee onboarding to separation, each step has time and money involved. So the research result of Gallup doesn’t come as a surprise.

Workplace diversity and inclusion help improve employee retention and reduce turnover. Employees tend to stay with an organization for a longer time when they feel accepted, heard, valued, and respected. It makes them feel empowered and encouraged. They are happier and satisfied at the workplace. When employees have no reason to leave, it reduces the turnover rate.

P.S. Employees remain highly motivated and engaged too.

Better Performance

A culture of diversity and inclusion at the workplace promotes transparency and openness. This leads to an increase in the happiness quotient of the employees. They express their thoughts and opinions fearlessly,  are more collaborative and open to learning from others. This, in turn, improves the productivity of the employees and as a result, they find fulfillment and satisfaction at work.

Here are some statistics which to confirm the effect of diversity and inclusion on productivity:

  • Harvard Business Review highlights that companies with a culture of diversity and inclusion are 70% more likely to capture new markets
  • An article on diversity in McKinsey highlights that companies with racial and ethnic diversity were 35% more profitable than their competitors
  • It also highlighted that in the UK, EBIT grew by 3.5% for every 10 percent increase in gender diversity

*EBIT: Earnings before interest and taxes

Projects A Positive Brand Image

Workplace diversity and inclusion help promote a positive brand image for the company. Companies with a diverse workforce are perceived as forward-thinkers and socially responsible by existing and prospective clients. Not only this, employees consider diverse workplaces as a desirable place to work. In a Glassdoor study on D&I, 67% of job seekers and 57% of employees said diversity is an important element to them at the workplace. Additionally, your employees become torch-bearers of your brand image and attract more new and diverse talent.

Also Read: How Stay Interviews Can Help You Retain Top Employees

Are you encouraging Diversity and Inclusion at your workplace? Let us know in the comments.

Want to know how Engagedly can help you implement real time performance management? Then request for a live demo

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Importance Of Continuous Feedback In the Post COVID Era

“Don’t just criticize, condemn or complain, give a constructive feedback instead”- Dale Carnegie

Don’t we all like instant gratification? We all crave for it at various levels, both consciously and subconsciously. It is not only true for our personal lives but professional lives too. Employees love to receive feedback and recognition for the work they do. It gives them validation that they are good and keeps them engaged. Additionally, it also helps in enhancing productivity.

Continuous feedback is not a new concept or a different type of feedback process. It is the act of sharing feedback with your employees more frequently. Companies like Goldman Sachs, Adobe, GE, and Deloitte have already made this a part of the process long before the COVID era.  But the COVID and post-COVID era has made continuous feedback even more important and a necessity that every organization should adopt.

Also Read: Why These 8 Top Companies Redefined Their Performance Management Systems?

Working remotely, employees face numerous disturbances. So it can be quite common for someone to be stressed, disturbed, disengaged, or anxious at work. As a manager, continuous feedback acts as a great tool for you to keep a check on your remote employees. It opens up a channel of two-way communication between the employee and the employer.

Here are some of the common benefits of practicing continuous feedback.

Reduces Attrition Rate

A recent survey by McKinsey highlights that 74 percent of employees who were receiving continuous feedback and coaching from their managers have an effective performance management system. Additionally, they are able to control and reduce attrition.

When employees receive too little feedback, what happens? They leave. A lack of feedback is reason enough for employees to change jobs. It is also important to note the difference between feedback and constructive and meaningful feedback. Feedback can mean anything, even noise. On the other hand, constructive feedback not only takes into account the person receiving the feedback but also their skills and competency and the work they are doing. When feedback is given correctly it reduces attrition and improves retention.

Increases Engagement

One of the main benefits of having a culture of continuous feedback is, it increases employee engagement. Multiple studies and statistics reveal that employees are much happier when they receive meaningful feedback. It helps them stay motivated and work better. Here are a few statistics to take a look at:

  • 27% strongly agree the feedback they receive helps them do their work better.
  • Gallup found that only 21% of millennials and 18% of non-millennials meet with their manager weekly. The majority of employees say they meet with their manager as infrequently as less than once a month (56% of millennials and 53% of non-millennials)

Timely Recognition

Continuous feedback enables managers and the organization to reward their employees right away. Instant recognition brings a sense of satisfaction and fulfillment at work among employees. They feel that their hard work is not going unnoticed, and the company values them for their work. It instills a different level of energy in them and boosts their morale. They strive to work harder to fulfill business objectives and goals. They tend to remain continuously engaged and happy at work.

Also Read: Employee Rewards And Recognition For An Engaged Workforce

Benefits Everyone

Continuous feedback is not only for certain employees. The main motive behind it is to help the employees to improve consistently with time. Good employees become better, and struggling employees find direction for improvement. It need not be criticism or praise always. Instead, it can be small suggestions or feedback that will make their work easy.

Improved productivity

When there’s consistent feedback to rely on, there’s always room for improvement. There’s also the desire to improve not only performance but also productivity. Continuous feedback motivates us in more ways than one. Feedback encourages employees to keep trying new and challenging things. Feedback is a sign for the employees that their managers are paying attention to their work and want them to improve.

Also Read: People Development Goes Virtual And More Feedback Focused

Helps Track Growth Of Employees

Do you know which factor can have a marked impact on performance reviews? Documented feedback. Continuous feedback shows a trajectory of performance and indicates employee growth. It provides a representation of an employee’s work overtime. Moreover, it helps employees to identify where they made mistakes or what they could have improved.
Continuous feedback makes the performance review process a whole lot easier. It becomes easy to make performance-related decisions.

Want to know how Engagedly can help you with implementing continuous feedback? Then request for a live demo

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5 Tips For A Successful Peer Feedback

While we cannot stress enough about how important it is for employees to receive feedback from their managers, peer feedback is also important. In fact, its slightly underrated. Colleagues or peers know each other better than their managers do! They work closely with each other on a daily basis and have a better understanding of each other’s strengths and weaknesses than a manager can know.

In this article, we will share some tips to make peer feedback effective and impactful.

Why Is Peer Feedback Important?

Peer Feedback when done right has numerous benefits. It helps in the following:

  • Team Building
  • Multiple Sources of Feedback
  • Reduces Bias In Feedback 
  • Drives Employee Engagement
  • Removes The Fear Factor
  • Self-Evaluation and Development
  • Increases Job Satisfaction
  • Improves Morale Of The Employee

Here are some tips for you to keep in mind so as to reap the benefits of peer feedback.

Prepare On Time

If you are giving feedback to your peer, it is essential to prepare well for it. Feedback in any form helps your peers to develop and understand themselves better. A feedback discussion without preparation tends to be unorganized and ineffective for the recipient. It ends up being a waste of time for both the giver and the receiver of feedback.

Preparing ahead of the peer feedback process will help you stay focused and on track. Draft the points to be addressed before the meeting. Give them some real-life examples so that they can understand better. It will help them feel that you have put in efforts for the process.

Also Read: Remote Onboarding: Essentials To Know

To The Point

According to recent research by SAP, 76% of employees were motivated by positive feedback from their peers.

While the above statement is true in many cases but it is not always helpful. ‘Feedback Sandwich’ is often a great way to not let your peers feel overwhelmed and unmotivated. It is the art of delivering constructive feedback or criticism between two positive feedback. But in doing so, your colleagues tend to ignore the criticism and focus on the positive feedback instead. They develop a false opinion about themselves that they are doing good and need no improvement. Instead of the feedback sandwich, be direct and straightforward with your points. It will help them focus in the right direction. Give them examples of how they could solve the issues with their strengths.

Be Consistent

For peer feedback to have an impact, it should be a consistent and ongoing activity. It should be a part of an employee’s continuous or ongoing performance management process. When the process is regular, it will help you to share feedback on recent activities. It will help you to share constructive feedback about others. Moreover, it makes your peers more open and receptive to receiving feedback from others. The process is known to foster communication and improve collaboration, which leads to easier problem solving and higher productivity among teams. It also helps to track the growth, progress, and wins of everyone on the team.

A real-time feedback software will make receiving and sharing feedback with your peers easy and simple. It will help to keep the process ongoing and consistent.

Use Passive Voice

While using passive voice is not recommended in writing, it is useful while giving peer feedback, especially constructive feedback. Using passive voice makes the feedback non-personal and focuses on the action instead of the person. Your peers will be more open to receiving feedback that doesn’t criticize them. For instance, consider the below examples:

1) “You didn’t provide supporting data to the claims you made in the report.”

2) “The report would have been more useful with additional data.”

While both the examples want to highlight the same thing, the second one is more accepting and impactful as it focuses on the problem instead of the person.

Also Read: Top 7 Performance Appraisal Mistakes Managers Make

Summarize And Follow Up

At the end of the feedback session with your peer, summarize the points discussed. Formalize or document the points and create a plan of action for your peers. Email the points after every discussion or track them in a real-time feedback software. This will help your peers to understand the process better and remove any misunderstandings if any. It also helps them understand the expectations from the process.

Follow up with your colleague and discuss whether they need any help. It will help your colleagues to stay encouraged, motivated, and productive.

 

Do you want to know how Engagedly can help you with Peer Feedback? Then request a live demo.

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Recognition At Work: The Virtual Edition

There has been a profound shift in the way businesses function since last year. Not only virtual onboarding and video meetings gained popularity, but remote working also became common. With everything gone virtual and remote, it has added to the existing stress of the employees. So now more than ever, it has become important for organizations to recognize and reward their employees. It will help employees stay happy, engaged, focussed, and motivated at all times. But is your rewards and recognition program tailored for the remote workforce?

Here are a few ways in which you can reward and recognize your remote team.

Invest In A Software

The impact employee recognition has on employees cannot be undervalued. With COIVD19, it has become even more important for organizations to acknowledge and reward their employees. Multiple cloud-based employee rewards and recognition software are available in the market, which has made this job simpler. They allow managers and leaders to recognize and reward their employees in real-time from anywhere. It helps employees to boost their morale and keep up their productivity.

Many performance management tools such as Engagedly come with buil-in employee recognition software module. It also has gamification features and the option to praise your employees.

Also Read: Employee Engagement Software To Help Enhance Productivity

Promote Professional Development

One of the most common reasons for employees to leave their job is for career growth and expansion. It has been true even for remote employees. Give them a reason to stay, provide them opportunities for professional and personal development. Encourage your employees to take online training courses to enhance their skills and knowledge. Invest in the business versions of online training academies such as Udemy, Coursera, edX, etc. It will give them access to an abundance of courses. With everyone working from home, this is the right time for your employees to learn new skills and techniques to reskill and upskill themselves.

When employees see that the organization cares about their growth and development, they stay with a particular organization for a long time. It is a win-win situation for both.

Recognize Them On Social Media

Why not use social media and recognize your employees on a larger scale? Yes, you read it right! Praise and recognize your employees on the social media channels such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, etc. It will highlight the achievement not only to all the employees but also to a larger audience.

Focus on how the employee handled job responsibilities exceedingly well. Moreover, mention how valuable they are and how their contribution makes a difference. Since most of the employees are still working remotely, recognizing them socially will encourage them to perform better. It reflects the organization’s culture of appreciation and their value for the employee.

Also Read: Club Reviews With Social Recognition To Enhance Engagement

Virtual Lunch

If it had been a year ago, going for team-lunches, outings, or virtual dinners would have been a great option to appreciate your employees. But with strict social-distancing norms still existing in some countries, that might not be just possible. But that does not stop you and your team from enjoying  a virtual lunch or dinner. Getting food delivered to your employee’s house and having it over a virtual meeting would be a great option. It will help them to bond with each other and take their mind away from work. Additionally, it helps them to reduce the added stress of cooking for a day.

Note: This option is impractical when employees work out of different time zones.

Help Your Employees Stay Healthy 

According to a  survey conducted by the American Psychological Association found that 89% of employees are more likely to recommend their organization as a good place to work if the organization is committed to their well-being.

With the fear of COVID19 and other newer strains still being found, it has created additional stress for all employees. The uncertainty has taken a toll on employee’s physical and mental health. For employees to stay healthy and productive, organizations must invest in their wellness. In the current situation, nothing could be as rewarding for the employees as organizations investing in their wellness. Following are some of the ways in which an organization can take care of its employees well being:

  • Invest in their insurance – it is still an asset for many
  • Offer virtual meditation, dance, yoga, and other workout classes
  • Give them access to virtual doctor consultation platforms
  • Conduct sessions on mental wellbeing and its importance
  • Send health gears/kits to your remote employees

A happy and healthy employee will be more engaged at work and will be more productive.

Also Read: Understanding Employee Wellbeing In 2021

Gift Cards

Gift cards are one of the best options to reward your remote employees with. It gives them the option to buy anything and redeem it whenever they want to. Gives them the flexibility to choose what they want and what will be useful to them.

Currently, many organizations have shifted from the remote model of working to a hybrid model. But remote working is going to stay, and a large fraction of employees will continue to work remotely. This guide will help you to recognize and reward your remote employees effectively.

Want to know how Engagedly can help you with implementing employee recognition and rewards program? Then request for a live demo

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Was Your 360 Degree Feedback Program A Failure?

There is no feedback program that is as comprehensive as the 360 degree feedback program. When it is done correctly, it is both successful and useful.

But when it is not done right, the end result is a complicated process. This article works as a checklist of sorts. If you are carrying out a 360 degree feedback program at your organization, then you should consider all the points given below quite seriously.

1. Unnecessary Participants Make It to the List

It is one of the common issues when it comes to 360 degree feedback or multirater feedback. The main purpose is to give an employee comprehensive feedback from others who closely interact with them. So, the ideal people would be immediate colleagues, managers, customers, etc. Unwanted participants in the feedback program would be senior executives who do not interact with the employee or work in other departments. They will have nothing of value to add to the program.

Also Read: 7 Reasons To Set Employee Goals

2. Not Given Enough Importance

A feedback program, no matter what, will fail when employees do not take it seriously. The reasons for not taking the program seriously could be many different things. Maybe employees do not believe in its efficacy. Or even more alarming, they do not know much about the program. But once you identify the reason, work on eliminating it. Once employees understand the importance, they will take the program seriously.

3.Lack Of Information

Many organizations directly implement the 360 degree feedback program without passing on much information to their employees. When employees are not well-informed, they would have less interest in it. Ignorance about the multirater program can impact the purpose of the program and cause it to fail spectacularly.

4. Employees do not know the purpose

On its own, the phrase ‘ 360 degree feedback program’ sounds imposing. And if employees do not know the reason behind it or how it is supposed to help, then they are going to be nervous or worried about it and not take part in it properly.

Also Read: 5 Things To Look For In An OKR Software

5. Employees link it to other processes

Employees often link the 360 degree feedback program or multirater to other processes. They often wrongly link it to a performance review or an appraisal. It is just a way of getting comprehensive feedback about the employee that is supposed to help them develop professionally and personally.

6. Incorrect Or Vague Questions

This is one of the last but most important steps of the program. Even if you did everything right but mess up this part, the entire program will fail. The questions asked should not be vague and be related to the employee. It should take into consideration the competencies of the employee which are under evaluation.

Want to know how Engagedly can help you with implementing 360 degree feedback? Then request for a live demo

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5 Employee Engagement Activities to Revive Your Workforce

Employee engagement has different meanings to different people. Some say engaged employees means enthusiastic employees, while others believe it means happy or satisfied employees. But employee engagement doesn’t mean employee happiness; neither does it mean employee satisfaction. A happy employee will not necessarily be the most productive or hardworking employee. A satisfied employee might not go that extra mile on his/her own to achieve excellence.

Employee engagement is the emotional commitment employees have towards organizations that influences their behavior and level of effort in work. In other words, engaged employees care about their work and their organization.

Study reveals 81% of employees who do not feel engaged at the workplace would consider leaving the organization today if the right place calls. What is more staggering is, disengaged employees cost U.S. companies up to $550 billion a year.

So how do you create a work environment where employees care about your company? Following are some employee engagement activities to boost morale of your employees.

1. Create a Feedback Culture

One of the best ways to level up employee morale and create a positive work environment is by providing feedback frequently. According to Forbes, 40% of employees who hardly receive any feedback from their managers are actively disengaged. And 43% of highly engaged employees receive feedback at least once a week.

Feedback culture is a workplace culture that focuses on feedback between employees and employers. It’s a culture where every employee feels they have the right to voice their opinions and their work doesn’t go unnoticed. This culture is helpful in keeping employees motivated, active, and engaged.

Engagedly is a comprehensive employee engagement software that uses a 360-degree feedback system. It allows you and your employees to provide feedback and even ask for feedback.

2. Recognize Your Employees’ Effort

By recognizing your employees’ contributions you encourage them to bring out their best at work, every day.

Lack of recognition highly affects employee morale, productivity, and loyalty. A key finding of a survey, commissioned for OGO, states, 40% of employed Americans would put more energy into their work if they receive recognition more often.

Employee recognition activities engage employees in the workplace and change their behavior towards work for the benefit of the business. If they are appreciated for their efforts, they will work even harder to get that recognition.

Even a simple “thank you” can create the emotional connection your employees need to have with your organization.

Also read: Top 7 Performance Appraisal Mistakes Managers Make

3. Focus On Brainstorming Sessions

Brainstorming is the most effective technique to generate new ideas.

Though these sessions are loud and chaotic, and sometimes it doesn’t give any productive results, it remains one of the best employee engagement activities.

When structured the right way, brainstorming sessions can:

  • Encourage out-of-the-box ideas, because it allows employees to think without the fear of judgement
  • Helps in team building, because it encourages open collaboration to generate innovative ideas
  • Produce a diverse range of ideas as it introduces different perspectives from different people
  • Help teams generate a large number of ideas in no time which can be used to find the ideal solution

4. Fun Sessions Help Increase Employee Engagement

Fun sessions are a massive hit when it comes to employee engagement at the workplace.

Working continuously can be exhausting for your employees. A fun session, once or twice a month, gives them a sweet break from their hectic work schedule. It helps them to start again with a fresh mind. Not only that, it also gives your employees the chance to interact with other team members.

From fun games to silly trophies to creative activities, everything is allowed in a fun session.

Also read: Employee Turnover: Know Why Employees Quit

5. Emphasize Work-Life Balance

Today’s work culture revolves around the concept of work-life balance to a great extent. However, achieving a perfect work-life balance is still a dream for most of the corporate employees around the world. When your employees’ work-life is out of balance for a long time, employee engagement plunges.

To be highly engaged in the workplace, this balance is necessary. As Blake McCammon, Founder and CEO of WorkBoxed, put it, “Work-life balance is one of the most important things employers can do to help employees not only stay healthy and fit, but keep them engaged day by day.”

Provide your employees with work from home scenarios where they can enjoy life to the fullest, but still get their work done. Most professionals benefit from a blend of office-based and remote work environments. Various studies have shown work from home Wednesdays make teams collectively more productive.

Flexible work hours are also necessary to maintain employees’ work-life balance. When employees are bound by time, they spend more time looking at the clock than being productive; it affects quality and quantity of work. Offering your employees flexible work hours keeps them satisfied, productive, and is good for their mental health.

After all, one will never feel completely satisfied by work until they are satisfied by life.

Employee engagement and productivity are closely related to each other. Engaged employees are the most productive employees, and they make it easy to do your job well. So, set some time aside, decide your budget and resources, and incorporate these five activities into your employee engagement routine; you will have a more productive and happier workforce at your company.

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360 Degree Feedback Benefits For Leaders And Organization

 A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way. —John Maxwell

An effective leader is imperative to organizational growth and employee development. Moreover, they are the ones who are responsible for leading change and promote innovation. They are also the torchbearer of organizational culture. But often, these responsibilities can be difficult to handle and be overwhelming. On the other hand, some leaders might lack the necessary skills to be a natural leader. In order to fill the gap and help everyone be a better leader, 360 degree feedback has proven to be the most effective.

It helps leaders identify their blindposts and give them a unique and different perspective of how they work. The feedback they receive may not always line up with their thoughts. However, it gives them useful insights that help them perform better as a leader. But before we know more about the benefits of 360 degree feedback for leaders, let us take a look at ‘What Is 360 degree feedback?’.

Also Read: How Not To Be The Bad Manager That Everyone Hates

What Is 360 Degree Feedback?

360 degree feedback process is a modern feedback method, where everyone with whom an employee has worked shares feedback about the employee. It highlights a clear picture of an employee’s competency, behavioral skills, and competency. Organizations  such as GE, IBM, Amazon, PepsiCo. have adopted the process, and others are in the process of adopting it.

Here are some of the benefits, which 360 degree feedback can have for leaders.

Helps With Self-Awareness

Recent research conducted by Gallup among 65,672 employees highlights that those who receive feedback have 15.9% better turnover rates than employees who do not receive feedback.

Many leaders are often not aware of what they are good at or what they are not. Some of them doubt their abilities, while some have a high opinion about themselves. 360 degree feedback helps in bridging the perception gap. It helps them know what others think about them and the way they work. It opens up areas of improvement and self development.

Self-awareness is one of the best qualities a leader can possess. Through the lens of 360 degree feedback, leaders can see how they are viewed by employees whom they interact with on a daily basis, peers with whom they share an equivalent relationship and of course, any other higher-ups. For example, leaders might think they are a really good team player. But to their employees, it might seem otherwise. This highlights the skill that the leader needs to work on addressing and accurate 360 degree feedback can help a leader figure that out.

Also Read: Know How To Implement 360 Degree Feedback In Your Startup

Multiple Perspectives

360 degree feedback gives leaders an opportunity to receive feedback from multiple sources. Being broad and more comprehensive, it provides deep insights into the leadership practices of the leader. Based on the feedback of their employees, leaders adapt themselves. It is constructive and balanced when compared to the traditional one-on-one feedback process.

Enhances Skills And Behaviour

“According to the 2017 Skills Gap Report, nearly 80% of Americans agree there is a skills gap, and more than a third (35%) say it affects them personally.”

Professional and professional development is important for every employee to move ahead in their career, irrespective of their position in the career ladder. The 360 degree feedback process acts as a great source for identifying competencies, skills, and areas of improvement for the leader. As a leader becomes self-aware, they take up the responsibility themselves to hone their existing skills and build new ones. This helps in the growth of the employee and the organization.

Promotes A Progressive Work Culture

Good 360 degree feedback programs have the power to effect a massive change in the culture of an organization. Some of the benefits of 360 feedback include transparency, increased communication, and better insights. When leaders participate enthusiastically in 360 feedback assessments, employees too see why they should participate. Often, if the attempt to better organizational culture starts from the top, it has more of a chance of succeeding.

Shows Leaders Are Open To Change

Often, feedback from a leader can ring hollow if they are not practicing what they are preaching. But when leaders show that they are open to receiving feedback and listening to feedback that might be not pleasant, and furthermore, are also willing to make the attempt to change, it sends a strong message.

If leaders show that they are willing to change, employees will then happily follow suit or even be more open to critical conversations themselves. They begin to learn which kind of behavior is rewarded, and which kind if not. Employees themselves will solicit critical conversations or learn to be open to criticism.

Also Read: 6 Stay Interview Challenges To Be Aware Of

 

Want to know how Engagedly can help you with implementing 360 degree feedback? Then request for a live demo

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How To Conduct An Effective 360 Degree Feedback?

About 60% of top development companies are using 360 degree feedback for both development and decision making for high-potential identification, confirmation of potential, and succession planning purposes – Bracken and Church(2013).

360 degree feedback, also sometimes referred to as multirater feedback, is a process where everyone the employee has worked with provides feedback for the employee. In this process, feedback is not only collected from the managers but several stakeholders such as direct reports, peers, senior leadership, customers, vendors, etc. It presents an overall clear picture of an employee’s performance, behavioural skills, and competency.

A 360 degree feedback, when implemented in the correct way, works wonders for employee growth. It not only to improves self-awareness and enhances employee engagement but also helps in improving employee productivity and retention. Moreover, it helps in understanding the training and developmental needs of the employees.

But it is a tedious process since it involves collecting data from multiple sources and then analyzing it. Thus making it difficult for organizations to implement it till the end.

Here are some tips to make the process simple.

Know The Objective

Knowing the purpose or the objective is perhaps the first and most important step towards conducting a successful 360 degree feedback. The senior leadership and the HR managers of the organizations should be able to answer three simple questions before starting the process.

  • Why do they want to implement it?
  • How do they plan to use the results?
  • How do they plan to conduct it?

Once the leadership and management have a clear idea about the process, it would be easier to implement it.

Also Read: The Importance Of 360 Degree Feedback For Healthcare

Pre Decide The Competencies

As companies differ from one another in terms of employee size, value, work culture, and ethics, it is essential to determine the competencies to be measured in a 360 degree feedback. The best way is to make a list of competencies to be evaluated before the process starts. The 360 degree feedback survey should include questions based on organizational and self-improvement competencies. Some of the skills on which the survey questions could focus are:

  • Leadership skills
  • Problem-solving
  • Interpersonal Skills
  • Motivation
  • Efficiency
  • Engagement
  • Teamwork

Communicate To Everyone

Communication plays a crucial part in the success and effectiveness of a multirater or 360 degree feedback process. The leadership should clearly communicate to the stakeholders about the scope of the process, how they plan to collect the feedback and how they will use the results. Everyone who will be a part of the process should understand that it will be used for developmental purposes and not to evaluate performance. The employees should be given appropriate training on how to share constructive feedback.

Also Read: How Important Is Feedback In Today’s World?

Participant Selection

Participant or rater selection is as important as communicating the process to everyone. For feedback to be relevant and useful, reviewers or raters must have a working relationship with the reviewee. Reviewers can be someone who is working in the organization or someone from outside. They include a list of people such as managers, peers, leadership, subordinates, vendors, customers, etc. Additionally, there should be a good number of reviewers for each reviewee to receive comprehensive data for their development.

Test With A Pilot Group

If you are rolling out 360 degree feedback for the first time in your organization, conduct a pilot process. Conducting a pilot process with a small group will help you identify problems easily and nip them in the bud. Moreover, it will help in identifying the usefulness and effectiveness of the process. It reduces the chances of any issues cropping up in the future. Take feedback from all the members of the pilot group to improve the process.

Also Read: Why Every Should Practice Continuous Feedback?

Choose The Right 360 Degree Feedback Software

Selecting and investing in the correct 360 degree feedback software plays a crucial part in the success of the process. Here are some of the features which an ideal software should have:

  • Simple and easy to use so that employees don’t require training
  • Should support customization as per organization needs
  • Robust so that data stays secure and confidential
  • Supports easy integration
  • Round the clock customer support

Here’s an article in which we discuss a checklist for choosing the right 360 degree feedback software.

Report And Action Plan

Once everyone has shared their feedback, it is time to generate the reports and share them with employees. Based on the report generated, skill gaps and blindspots should be identified and discussed with the employees. For example, an employee might lack team-management skills. As a part of the action plan, employees should take up training, internal or external workshops, conferences, coaching exercises, mentoring programs, etc., to develop their skills. Without a proper action plan, the complete process of 360 degree feedback would be ineffective.

 

Want to know how Engagedly can help you with implementing 360 degree feedback? Then request for a live demo

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Here’s A Checklist For Choosing The Right 360 Feedback Software

Is your organization planning to get started with 360 degree feedback? While it is a great strategy to shift from the traditional feedback process, but you need to be a little careful while selecting a software for it. Choosing the right 360 feedback software is necessary for the process to be successful. In this article, we will focus on some of the important features. But before we take a look at the features, let us understand 360 degree feedback.

360 degree feedback is a relatively modern method of feedback where everyone with whom an employee has worked shares feedback of the employee. Managers, peers, direct reports, customers, and vendors share their feedback. So it is crucial that the 360 feedback software is selected carefully. It should seamlessly integrate with the current processes in your organization.

Let us take a look at some of the features.

Effortless To Use

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” —Leonardo da Vinci.

Many people are involved in the process of 360 degree feedback. They can be either internal or external stakeholders. At the same time, there are too many 360 feedback software available in the market. So it becomes a little tricky while selecting one for your organization.

For 360 feedback software to be effective, it should be simple and easy to use. Users should be able to understand and navigate around the software without any prior training. The interface should be user friendly and not cluttered with unnecessary information.

To test how your employees will adapt to a new software, using a trial or free version with a pilot group of users is highly recommended.

Also Read: Have You Set Effective OKRs For Your Customer Success Team?

Built-In Anonymous Feature

In most organizations, 360 degree feedback is conducted for all the employees as well as for the senior leaders. When 360 degree feedback is implemented for the first time in an organization, employees might not be open to review their manager and senior leaders. As a result, they are often not honest with their reviews. When 360 feedback software supports anonymity, employees are more open to sharing their feedback about their seniors. Additionally, it also prevents any unwanted tension in the team.

Offers Easy Customization

While selecting a 360 degree feedback tool, organization should check to what degree the tool offers customization. The tool that you finalize for the organization should support easy customization as per the needs of the organization.

For example, customizable questionnaire templates as per individuals, adding new competencies, etc.

Simple customizations like this will help in making work simpler and address specific issues for a specific group of users

Also Read: Customize 360 Feedback Survey Questions According To Departments

Reporting and Analytics

The 360 feedback software which you decide to select for your organization should provide the employees with a detailed report. The report should collect and tabulate information received from all the people involved in the feedback process. A good report should include the highest-rated areas, lowest rated areas, ratings, potential blind spots, and gaps. This will help employees in understanding their strengths and also the weak areas they need to work on.

Secure and Robust

One of the most important things to consider while selecting a 360 feedback software is how secure it is. As the tool will have feedback received from managers, peers, customers, etc., the information is highly confidential and sensitive. If the tool does not have proper security features, data might end up in the wrong hands. The minimum requirement is the 360 feedback software should at least follow the Information Security Laws of the country where the organization is.

Also Read: Know How To Implement 360 Degree Feedback In Your Startup

Round The Clock Support

Since it is the first time that 360 degree feedback is being implemented in your organization, look for a tool that provides 24*7 customer support. Some employees may find it difficult to fill the survey when at office, since it takes time to get used to new software. Instead of the office, they might choose to do so from home. So a support team should be available to help the employees at any time of the day.
In addition to that, the tool should have proper user documentation in place, which employees can refer to before reaching out to customer support.

Are you looking for a 360 feedback software? Then request for a live demo

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Know How You Can Build A High Performing Team

Everyone wants to create a high performing team for their organization. High performing teams are an asset to the organization. They are highly skilled, hardworking, known to perform exceedingly well, and they are what others want to be.

Often High Performing Teams are organically formed. But at times, managers and team leaders need to keep a keen eye on their team members so that they can work on building one. There are no specific ways or guide which will help you create a high performing team.

Also Read: 8 Easy Ways To Reward Your Work From Home Employees

Here’s What You Should Look For

High-Performance teams are not created within a day. They are formed not only by the right balance of skills but also by a little luck. We are stressing on ‘luck’ because when high performing individuals are made to work together, there is bound to be some amazing results. But the chance of it happening are less than the chances of it failing completely.

There are certain qualities to keep an eye for while looking for a high performing team.

Doesn’t Fail Under Pressure

The ability to keep cool in high-stakes situations, be they deadlines, project obstacles, failures, etc is a very valuable quality. Employees who possess this skill usually thrive in high-performance teams. They do their best when working within constraints, regardless of whatever they are. Instead of losing their cool, they immediately focus their energies on putting out immediate fires and then quickly moving onto the next aspect of work.

Also Read: Tips To Manage Stress Of Your Remote Team

Good Communication Skills

Employees with excellent communication skills are hidden gems who know how and when to use their words wisely and do not shy away from conflict because they realize that solving a communication gap is imperative to work well together. Oftentimes in high-performance teams, communication is necessary more than ever because the work that these teams do is of a high-level kind.

Adapts Easily

Adaptability is one of those skills that is not evident on the surface and only comes to fore when employees are working. In the broadest sense, adaptability refers to one’s ability to seamlessly adapt to whatever situations crop up. Employees who are adaptable can run with any situation, be it taking over a project, juggling additional responsibilities, etc. This isn’t to say that they do not make mistakes or struggle to find their bearings, it’s just that the incidence of them is low. And even if they were struggling to find their bearings, they find their footing in no time. In short, they require very little time to get up to see and quickly grasp what is required of them.

Also Read: 5 Creative Employee Motivation Ideas

Works In Collaboration

Employees who are open to collaboration, and who thrive when they work with others are often key to creating a good high-performance team. Why? Because they are not focused on individual glory or goals. Rather, they are focused on team goals and are keen on achieving them by working with the rest of the team.

 

Do you want to know how Engagedly can help you build High Performing Teams? Then request a live demo.

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Framing The Right Questions For 360 Degree Feedback

360 degree feedback, often termed as multirater feedback, is one of the modern methods of sharing feedback with employees. Due to its popularity, it has been adopted by organizations globally. Some of the global practitioners include organizations such as Amazon, GE, IBM, PepsiCo., etc. In one of our previous articles, we have highlighted the benefits of using 360 feedback. In this article, we will share tips on how to frame questions for the 360 degree survey. But before we delve deeper into the tips, let us take a look at what is 360 degree feedback.

Why 360 Degree Feedback?

In a 360 degree feedback or multirater assessment, numerous stakeholders share anonymous and constructive feedback about the reviewee. The stakeholders involved are direct reports and managers, peers, vendors, consumers, etc. It is a more comprehensive and unbiased process when compared to a traditional one. It helps reviewees to identify their strengths, weaknesses, blindspots, and gaps. Also, it improves working relationships, enhances employee performance, and increases self-awareness.

360 degree feedback acts as a great tool to identify training needs, opens up areas of improvement for the employees, and adds up to the overall employee experience. But often, organizations fail to get any actionable insights from these processes. Managers and HRs fail to ask the correct questions in the 360 feedback survey. The results of a 360 degree feedback depend to a great extent on the questions asked in the survey.

Here are three simple tips to guide you while framing questions for a 360 degree feedback survey.

Focus On Qualities

The questions in the survey should focus on the qualities/skills/characteristics which you want your employees to exhibit. It should align with the company’s vision, mission, and goals. Some of the skills on which the survey questions could focus are:

  • Leadership skills
  • Problem-solving
  • Interpersonal Skills
  • Motivation
  • Efficiency
  • Engagement
  • Teamwork

Here’s an example of a simple question using the skills ‘teamwork’ and ‘interpersonal skills’; ‘Does the employee exhibit teamwork and interpersonal skills while working with the team?‘.

The reviewer should have the option to rate the reviewee on a five or six-degree rating scale with the options such as: Never, Rarely, Occasionally, Often, Always, and No Opportunity To Observe. These distinct and clear options help in generating concrete and relevant data.

Also Read: The Importance Of 360 Degree Feedback For Healthcare

Create Structured Questions

Structured questions generate clear and definitive answers when compared to open-ended questions. Open-ended questions are vague, generate lots of information, and are entirely subjective in nature.

Here is an example of a structured question: Do you think the employee exhibits leadership qualities at work?
This question emphasizes a behavioral characteristic that impacts a person’s work.

And here is an example of a poorly thought-out question: Do you think the employee likes working with others?
While this question also focuses on behaviour, but is too vague to answer and is subject to interpretation.

Customized Job Role Centric Questions

To make the most out of a 360 degree feedback process, the questions of the survey should not only focus on skills and qualities but also on the job role of the reviewee. Using a standard survey template may save the time of the manager or the HR who is developing the process, but it will not be useful for many employees. A standard form may not be applicable for all. When creating a survey for employees of different designations, take suggestions or inputs from managers or team leads. It will result in the creation of a customizable and relevant template, which will be more useful.

Also Read: Know What Features To Look For In A 360 Degree Feedback Software

Do you want to know how Engagedly can help you with 360 Degree Feedback? Then request a live demo.

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Employee Turnover: Know Why Employees Quit

Employee turnover is a common problem for all organizations around the world. When an employee leaves an organization, it affects the team and the organization. A recent study by Gallup shows that the cost of replacing an individual employee can range from one-half to two times their annual salary.

As a manager, are you worried about the rising number of goodbye lunches in your team? Let us help you with the real reasons why your employees are leaving the organization.

Employees Don’t Feel Appreciated

According to a recent study, 69% of employees would work harder if they received appreciation for their efforts.

One of the many reasons why your employees leave is that they feel underappreciated or not appreciated for their work. Everyone likes appreciation for their hard work. When there is a lack of appreciation, employees don’t feel motivated, become disengaged, and the morale becomes low.

Appreciation can be in the form of simple praises, rewards, lunches or outings, promotions, gift cards, and hikes. It will make your employees happy and encourage them to work hard.

Also Read: Employee Recognition & Rewards During COVID19

Lack Of Autonomy In Work

Your employees need to know that you trust them. Give them autonomy and allow them to work on their own. When your employees are continuously micro-managed and scrutinized, not only their morale goes down, they also become disengaged. It ultimately affects their productivity. Don’t breathe down their back and allow them to work independently.

While some employees need autonomy, others might need a little guidance when they work. Conduct frequent check-ins and feedback for them and guide them and provide feedback whenever necessary.

No Scope Of Future Development

Employees often find themselves to have reached stagnation. They start looking for new opportunities as they don’t have any room to grow in the same organization. When they get a chance to leave the current organization, they do so in the first instance.

Conduct one-on-one with your team members to know their personal and professional development plans. Set up stay interviews to understand what they look forward to at work every day. Develop learning and training opportunities for your employees so that they can develop their overall skills. It gives them an impression that the organization cares for their development too.

Also Read: 5 Reasons Why You Need A Performance Management Software

Not An Open Culture

Often employees leave because organizations practice a close culture policy. In a closed culture organization, employee inputs and concerns are not valued and given importance. It makes them feel alienated and disconnected from the organization. To solve this, create feedback and communication channels for employees through which they can interact with senior leaders to give their inputs and raise their concerns. Conduct weekly or bi-monthly meetings, and make them part of the decision-making process. A frequent one-on-one meeting with your employees will help you understand their concerns, inputs, and grievances.
Many Real-Time Performance Management Softwares comes with built-in feedback and survey modules. They act as a great tool to collect information from the employees.

You Are Not Managing Well

“Most people don’t quit their jobs; they quit their managers,” says Wendy Duarte Duckrey, vice president of recruiting at JPMorgan Chase.

A manager might have years of experience to reach the position, but they often lack the people skills required to be a successful one. It is one of the most crucial factors which drives away your employees to other organizations. As a manager, focus on identifying your strengths and weakness. Conduct 360 degree feedback or anonymous surveys to know what your team members think about you. A manager who has the willingness to change can be a great asset to improve employee engagement and keep the motivation level of your employees high. But one who is not ready to change and resists taking inputs from others will harm the development of the organization in the long run.

Also Read: Tips To Manage Stress Of Your Remote Team

Missing Work-Life Balance

Overloading your best performers is not the solution to get your work done; you should know when to stop! Being overworked is one of the prime reasons why employees leave the organization, especially the high performing ones. Overworking leaves the employee tired and stressed. It results in lower productivity and engagement. Additionally, it not only affects their mental health but also their physical health. It will lower their self-esteem and will force the employee to quit the organization.

But when employees have to overwork, they should get an option to take paid time off and have flexible work hours.

 

Do you want to know how Engagedly can help you with Employee Retention? Then request a live demo.

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7 Ways To Curb Workplace Negativity

Nothing affects the employees and the organization more than workplace negativity. It drains energy and diverts the focus of the employees from their work. With time it creates disengagement, lowers productivity, and increases employee turnover. Moreover, it has a negative impact on their morale.

If you are an HR or a manager and feel that your workplace has become toxic or negative, then here are seven ways that you can consider to safeguard your organization from such issues.

Also Read: How To Retain Your Top Talent?

Trust Your Employees

“A study conducted in 88 retail stores in Canada by professors from York University in Toronto and the University of British Columbia in Vancouver indicated that when employees feel trusted, they are more likely to perform better.”

Trust and respect are crucial building blocks for a healthy work environment. As a manager or an HR, show that you trust and respect your employees from the day you hire them. On the other hand, when employees feel that they have to earn your trust and prove themselves, it creates a sense of cut-throat competition amongst the employees. When competition becomes unhealthy, it creates a negative work environment.

In organizations where the element of trusts exists, it leads to the creation of a healthy and friendly work environment and reduces workplace negativity.

Control Over Job Role

“As per research, 70% of employees complain of not having enough autonomy or control over their job role.”

Often managers, supervisors, and organizations tend to micromanage their employees. They end up deciding on their employee’s behalf without taking their inputs or consulting them. It leads to a sense of distrust and negativity between the employee and the organization. So to avoid this and reduce workplace negativity, employees should be trusted with their job roles and allowed to make their own decisions. This gives employees an opportunity to learn and gain confidence, even if they make mistakes.

Also Read: Tips To Manage Stress Of Your Remote Team

Opportunity To Express

Employees, at times, know more about the company than their HRs and managers might think. But often, their opinions and suggestions are ignored and not taken into consideration. When their opinions and thoughts are not valued, they feel oppressed. It results in a negative work environment.

As an HR manager, create a platform for your employees so that they can express themselves freely. Develop simple surveys so that they can express their opinions on work hours, salary, dress codes, working conditions, or other factors that impact their work. It will make the employees feel that the organization not only cares about the work but also about them. This will help in the creation of a happy and positive work environment where everyone is free to express their concerns and opinions.

Avoid Favoritism

Partiality and biases are quite common in the workplace. Managers and supervisors are biased toward their employees knowingly or unknowingly. But to avoid unhealthy and unwanted competition, HRs and managers should avoid any act of favoritism at all costs. Every employee should be given equal work opportunity and responsibility irrespective of their caste, creed, sex, religion, or orientation. This will ensure that the organization strictly follows labor laws and company policies.

Also Read: Want To Know Why Your Employees Leave? Here’s Why

Don’t Be A Part

As a manager or a leader, if you overhear negative conversations, avoid being a part of them. Steer away from the negative conversation to something positive that is more useful and valuable for everyone. When negative conversations and topics are encouraged, they spread like wildfire and affect everyone working in the organization.

Avoid Work Overload

Employees, when overloaded with work, become stressed, anxious, and disengaged. It results in a decrease in their productivity, lowers their morale, and affects their physical and mental health. It makes them grumpy and makes them have a negative outlook towards their work. To avoid this, leaders and managers should set realistic and achievable goals and monitor their employee’s progress. They should avoid their employees from burning out and motivate them whenever possible.

Recognize Your Employees

Make sure you reward and recognize your employees for their achievements. This makes them feel that their contribution is valued, and it will encourage them to perform better. It helps in giving a boost to their morale and has a positive impact on their productivity. Moreover, it drives employee engagement and retention. Employees work harder with greater dedication for rewards and recognition. They will have a positive outlook on the organization’s future and helps in creating a healthy work culture and reduce workplace negativity.

A simple “Thank You” or “You did a great job!” does a great job in making your employees feel appreciated.

Also Read: Employee Rewards and Recognition During COVID-19

Do you want to know how Engagedly can help you with your workplace culture? Request for a live demo!

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Busting the Myths of 360 Degree Feedback

Feedback is an essential for employee engagement and retention in every organization. It motivates the employees and boosts their morale. But, the top-down or the manager-employee feedback approach often seems to be incomplete and biased, so many organizations are opting for the 360 degree feedback process. Continue reading “Busting the Myths of 360 Degree Feedback”

A Guide To Share Effective Peer Feedback

According to a recent report by  SHRM/Globoforce, 89% of HR leaders agree that Peer Feedback is the key to employee success.

We cannot stress it enough that feedback is one of the most crucial factors when it comes to employee development. Feedback helps improve engagement, decreases turnover, and helps in professional development. Moreover, it is also known to increase job satisfaction and morale of the employee.

While most of us are familiar with the concept of manager-employee feedback or vice-versa, but might not be familiar with the idea of peer feedback. Peer feedback is a process in which an employee’s coworker or colleague shares feedback about the employee. To make peer feedback helpful and effective for everyone, here are a few tips to get you started.

Be Prepared

Feedback, whether from a manager or a peer, is crucial for employee development and improves employee engagement and retention. So in peer feedback, before you speak with your colleague or peer, it is important to go in prepared.

Preparing ahead will keep you focused and will help you to carry on the meeting smoothly. You will have a clear idea of what to speak about with your colleague and what not to. While preparing for the process, identify the goal of the meeting and how you can help achieve it.

Also Read: Virtual Onboarding: A New Reality

Focus On The Problem

While sharing peer feedback, focus on the behaviors that are a problem instead of emphasizing their character. Identify and highlight to them behaviours or skills which you think would help them grow in life and would help them succeed in the organization. Help them with actionable solutions to their problem. It is a much better approach to share feedback as they would be open to accepting feedback that is about their work and not about them. For example, instead of saying, “Emmanuel, your arrogance is causing a problem,” try saying “Emmanuel, when you interrupt me in front of a client, it causes a problem.”

Avoid Feedback ‘Sandwich’

The feedback sandwich is the art of sandwiching criticism or constructive feedback with compliments. It reduces the overwhelming effect of constructive criticism or negative feedback on your peer. But in doing so, your coworker tends to ignore the criticism and gives importance only to the positive praises and compliments. It gives them a false impression that they are doing good and that they do not need any improvement in their skills, actions, or behaviour. Moreover, it often leaves the employees confused.

Peer feedback needs to be specific and concise so that it conveys the exact details.

Also Read: 3 Things To Look For In A Goal Setting Software

Be Timely

Nothing is more valuable to an employee than well-timed feedback. While sharing peer feedback, do not wait for the correct opportunity to address your coworkers’ issues. Share your feedback as close to the event as possible. It will help them better correlate their actions with the feedback they receive. If not shared on time, top-performers go unrecognized, and those who need help, their mistakes continue to amplify over time. It results in low motivation and increases the disengagement of your colleagues.

Use Passive Voice

While we can say it clearly that passive voice is not impactful and effective in writing, it is useful while sharing constructive criticism with your coworkers. It makes the feedback productive and focuses it on the subject instead of the person. When feedback is non-personal, it is more likely that your peers will accept it and be less defensive about it. For instance, consider these two hypothetical examples:

1) “You didn’t support the details you referred to in the presentation.”

2) “This presentation would be insightful with more data to back the details.”

While both examples communicate the same thing, the second example is more effective as it revolves around the subject and doesn’t criticize the person.

Also Read: Employee Recognition & Rewards During COVID19

Follow-Up

Following-up with your peer is optional, but it is a good practice if you want your feedback to be effective. It will help you understand your colleague’s progress and whether they need any help. It will motivate and encourage them to work harder and stay productive.

 

Do you want to know how Engagedly can help you with Peer Feedback? Then request a live demo.

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5 Simple Ways To Build A High Performance Team

High Performance Teams or (HPTs) form the core of every successful organization. They are a group of actively engaged and goal-focused individuals who work collaboratively in a team with shared values and vision to produce exceptional results for the organization. They outperform other teams and are more valuable. Additionally, they are more engaged and highly productive at work.

Also Read: High Performing Teams In Healthcare

But creating a high performance team requires a lot of effort and perseverance. It is not a one-time activity, and they need to be nurtured over time so that they perform consistently.

Here are a few simple tips which will help you build a high performance team!

The Right Team Composition 

This is one of the most crucial steps toward building a high performance team. The correct team composition is instrumental in determining the success of every individual on the team.

HR, recruiters, talent acquisition specialists, and managers play a big role in building the right team. They identify and screen the right talent for the organization and are responsible for creating a diverse culture by selecting a unique mix of people based on their age, sex, race, skills, mindset, and backgrounds. In addition to this, they need to ensure that the team is of the right size.

A recent report by McKinsey&Company indicates that the ideal team size should be somewhere between 6 to 10. When the team is too small, they make incorrect decisions due to a lack of diversity and bandwidth. Also, it becomes a difficult job to choose someone during succession planning. On the other hand, when too many members are on the team, it becomes difficult to coordinate and reduces productivity.

Also Read: 5 Best Tips To Reduce Employee Turnover

Team Dynamics

“Coming together is a beginning, staying together is progress, and working together is success.” — Henry Ford, founder of Ford Motor Company. 

Putting together a high performance team is not just selecting a group of individuals for the team and wishing that they would perform their best. It is only the first step, and there is much more to that. For the team to collaborate well and work seamlessly like a well-oiled machine, team dynamics is critical.

Team dynamics give direction to the team and influence their performance and behavior. It depends on how well employees interact with each other and work in synergy towards achieving a common goal. Moreover, they should share the same vision, have effective communication, and should be willing to take risks and innovate. A dynamic team will not only make the team more productive but will also keep the employees engaged.

Conflict Management

Conflicts can be quite common among employees when working as a team. When individuals with different values, ideas, and experiences come together to work as a team, then disagreements and differences in opinions are inevitable. It can lead to conflicts. But what separates a high performance team from an average or poor one is the art of handling the conflicts constructively.

Conflicts should be acknowledged and resolved on time tactfully. If not handled correctly, it impacts team performance and reduces overall productivity.

Also Read: Teamwork Challenges Because Of Performance Reviews

Effective Communication

Communication is imperative for the success of a high performance team. For the team to work seamlessly, communication needs to be on time and effective. Managers must foster an environment where everyone is encouraged to interact and communicate with each other. Each employee should feel free to voice their opinions and express their concerns. When everyone communicates freely, there is an exchange of thoughts and ideas that leads to innovation. It helps employees to stay motivated and engaged in their work.

Identify Non-Performers

A high performance team will continue to function as one as long as all its members are performing well. But at times, it is normal for an individual not to do so well and their performance to fall. For managers, it is essential to identify those poor performers on time. If not identified, their performance will have an impact on the team dynamics and bring down the productivity of the team. Managers and leaders can follow a few simple steps to identify poor performers and help them improve their performance.

  • Have frequent check-ins with employees to track their performance
  • Conduct 360 degree feedback to identify blind spots and gaps
  • Share positive or constructive feedback on time
  • Motivate and encourage employees with rewards and recognition
  • Hear to employee concerns and issues and help them fix it
  • Organize knowledge sharing and training sessions for your employees

 

Do you want to know how Engagedly can help you build a high performance team? Then request for a live demo.

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Know How To Make Your Feedback Work

In a survey conducted by Harvard Business Review, 72% of employees agreed that their performance would improve if they receive feedback from their managers.

Feedback, although not always easy to share, is one of the most powerful tools in the managerial toolbox. Whether positive or negative, it arms employees with a guide that helps them to focus, shape, and direct their actions towards success. Employee feedback has numerous benefits, so if done right, it has a positive impact on the employee and the organization.

As a manager, you need to not only share feedback but also need to know how to share it. But before learning about tips on how to share feedback, let us look at some of the benefits.

Also Read: Tips To Manage Stress Of Your Remote Team

The Benefits of Sharing Feedback

  • Helps in improving employee engagement 
  • Feedback motivates employees
  • It is a tool for continuous improvement and learning
  • Feedback improves performance
  • Increases retention of employees
  • Helps in increasing self-awareness

It goes without saying that giving feedback to your employees is very important. So it becomes crucial that feedback is shared correctly and is useful to them. Here are some pointers for you to keep in mind while sharing feedback.

Avoid The ‘Sandwich’ Approach

Feedback, whether positive or constructive criticism, should be relevant and shared clearly with the employee. Often, ‘compliment sandwiches’ are used while delivering criticism so that the employee doesn’t feel overwhelmed. This strategy involves fitting constructive criticism between positive praises and compliments. But doing so not only undermines the value of the actual feedback but also leaves the employees confused.

Also Read: Now More Than Ever: The Need For Staff Appreciation

Focus on Behaviour

While sharing feedback, the focus should be on the behaviour of the employee or what they do instead of emphasizing their character. Identify behaviours or actions that you wish to reinforce throughout the organization that also resonates with your company culture. Elucidate its importance to your employee and what effect it will have on the team and the organization.

The Secret to Giving Constructive Criticism highlights two examples of sharing feedback.

Example 1: When you interrupt me in front of a client, it causes a problem.

Example 2: Your arrogance is causing a problem.

The first example is more impactful and acceptable to the employees as it focuses on the behavior and highlights the problem instead of personality.

Also Read: Know The Benefits Of 360 Degree Feedback For Educators

Share It Often

“Continuous improvement is better than delayed perfection”- Mark Twain.

Make feedback a regular activity at your organization for it to work effectively. Managers and leaders often treat feedback as a formal process and do it at the time of performance reviews. Feedback works best when it is given at the moment and as close to the event as possible. The fresher the feedback, the more impactful it is. While frequent feedback will help you praise good work, at the same time, it will help you guide those who need it.

Be Specific and Concise

As mentioned above, feedback should not only be shared often and on time, but it should also be specific and concise for it to be effective. When feedback is specific, it helps employees to understand what they should keep on doing and what they should avoid for the success of the organization. Specific and concise feedback is a lot more helpful to the employees when they receive constructive criticism or negative feedback from their managers.

Example 1: Manager: “Jack, your presentation could have been in more detail.”

In the above example, Jack’s manager expresses concern but is not clear about what the presentation lacked or what he could have done to improve it.

Example 2: Manager: “Jack, your presentation was incomplete. You could have included the marketing leads received from SQLs and MQLs and added graphs to make it more insightful.”

The example above clearly outlines how Jack could have improved the presentation. It is specific and concise.

Also Read: Employee Rewards and Recognition For An Engaged Workforce

Don’t Miss to Follow Up

Following up with your employees is one of the crucial steps for the feedback to be effective. Being a manager, you are not only responsible for sharing feedback but also instrumental in making sure that your employees work on it. From time to time, connect with your employees to understand how they are progressing and whether they need any help. It will help to appreciate those who have achieved success and help those who need it. It will motivate employees and encourage them to work harder.

Also Read: Employee Performance Management During COVID-19

Do you want to know how Engagedly can help you with Employee Feedback? Then request for a live demo.

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Employee Engagement Practices During COVID19

“Clients do not come first.  Employees come first.  If you take care of your employees, they will take care of the clients.” – Sir Richard Branson, Owner Virgin Group.

Employee engagement has been the topic of discussion, both pre-COVID and amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Engaged employees are motivated, happy, satisfied, and find fulfillment in their job. It results in higher productivity of the employees and the success of the organization. But employee engagement is not a one-time activity and needs to be worked upon. Before diving into the ways to improve employee engagement, let’s take a look at its definition and importance.

What is Employee Engagement?

When you would search for the term ‘Employee Engagement’ you would probably get multiple definitions for it, but Forbes defines it very simply and precisely. As per Forbes, employee engagement is the emotional commitment that an employee has towards the organization and its goals.

But often, employee engagement is ignored and not given enough priority by organizations. A recent study by Gallup(a global analytics and organization consulting firm, providing solutions to problems of the organization) highlights some significant statistics on employee engagement which reflects its importance and shows why it shouldn’t be ignored.

  • Their studies depict that 85% of employees are not actively engaged at work. These figures are a worldwide count
  • 70% of engaged employees understand better how to meet customer needs while only 17% of non-engaged employees feel the same
  • Almost 90% of employers think that employees leave for a better salary, but only 12% of employees actually do so

Also Read: The Importance Of Employee Engagement In Healthcare

It is crucial to keep your employees engaged and motivated now more than ever for the obvious reasons. Here are five key employee engagement practices or strategies that can be followed, not only during this pandemic but also once employees are back to work.

Employee Well-Being

According to Harvard Business Review, employers who invested in the well being of their employees saw three times the return of their money spent.

One factor which continues to be a high priority for all organizations is employee well-being. Not only physical health but mental health also needs to be given equal importance when employee well-being is in conversation. With the pandemic being around for almost a year, it can be pretty usual for everyone to feel stressed and anxious. When organizations care for the well-being of their employees, it results in improved employee engagement and increased productivity. It is because when employees are mentally and physically healthy, they remain motivated and there is reduced absenteeism.

Also Read: Work Stress? 5 Easy Ways To Tackle It

Frequent Feedback

Feedback drives employee engagement and helps in their continuous improvement. Both positive and constructive feedback are known to help them grow and keep them motivated. Encourage frequent check-ins and share regular feedback by connecting with your employees over an email or a video call.

Also, encourage your employees to share any feedback or concerns which they might be facing while working remotely.

More Emphasis on Recognition

As mentioned earlier in the article, it has been quite some time now that everyone is working from home. But not everyone has still adjusted to this, and with multiple distractions at home, employees are likely to get disengaged. One of the best ways to keep them motivated and improve employee engagement is by rewarding and recognizing your remote employees for their wins. It will show the employees that you not only care for them when they are working from office but also when they aren’t. Moreover, any form of recognition is said to have a long-lasting effect on the employees and improve manager-employee relationships.

Also Read: Employee Rewards and Recognition For An Engaged Workforce

Focus on Employee Development 

As per LinkedIn 2020 Workforce Learning Report, 94% of employees would stay with a company if they invested in their training and development. 

Apart from employee recognition and feedback, professional development and career training have a significant impact on employee engagement. With the economy not being so stable currently, it would be a sign of relief when they see that organizations are investing in their development. Employees will appreciate the efforts and will stay with the organization for a longer time.

Flexible Working

“We think, mistakenly, that success is the result of the amount of time we put in at work, instead of the quality of time we put in.” Arianna Huffington, co-founder of Huffington Post.

Organizations are no longer focussing on strict 9 – 5 working hours; instead, they have started providing flexible working hours to their employees. Flexible working hours give employees a sense of control by choosing when, how, and where to work. It improves their work-life balance and gives them a chance to attend to personal commitments in between work.

Although some of the customer-centric job roles are finding it hard to have flexible working hours, it has already become the new normal for others and is there to stay.

Do you want to know how Engagedly can help you with Employee Engagement? Then request for a live demo.

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Employee Engagement Software to Help Enhance Productivity

Given the current global scenario, most organizations are frantically trying to figure out how to hold and uplift employee engagement. Now that almost everything has gone virtual, working remotely while being cooped up at home is not a very pleasant experience for most employees. As a result, many have been losing motivation, dropping in engagement levels and conflicted on the edge of frustration and burnout. As an employer, how many times have you thought about your employees’ happiness and actually did something to make them happy?

You can say that you have had employee engagement activities and conducted employee satisfaction surveys to ensure employee happiness. But do you think these initiatives are enough to help your employees tackle a situation they have never faced before? No, its not. To top this, different people have different perceptions of happiness as well.

Also Read: Performance Appraisal Mistakes To Avoid As A Manager

Employee happiness is not just feeling happy all the time. It is feeling positive about work, being willing to fix problems rather than complaining, and accepting constructive criticism and constantly trying to improve oneself without feeling pressured. According to Sonja Lyubomirsky’s ‘The How Of Happiness’, 50% of happiness is genetically predetermined, while 10% is because of circumstances in life (Family, health etc.) and 40% is the result of your outlook.

As an employer, you cannot do anything about the first two but the last 40% of happiness is something you can help your employees with. Analyzing what makes employees happy is quite difficult, but changing the structure of your daily work pattern and prioritising employee happiness is more difficult.

We all know that improving employee satisfaction leads to a better work atmosphere and makes teamwork effortless. But it is not easy for an employer to suddenly change their perspective and work towards individual employee happiness. So instead, here’s a list of things that you  can do easily with the help of an employee engagement software and drive employee happiness and productivity.

Also read: Guide to Setting Employee Goals Through Engagedly

Be open to listening

Even before COVID-19, many employees struggled to be heard. Now that the world has gone virtual, most employees feel dissatisfied with their jobs because their opinions are often not valued. This behaviour leads to the disengagement of employees, eventually leading to dissatisfaction with work. Give your employees a chance to express what they feel and allow them to contribute their ideas at work.

Using employee engagement software allows employees to bring out their ideas and express their feelings on a common platform easily. This drives engagement and improves productivity in turn.

Recognize their efforts

Appreciation is the key to keeping employees motivated and engaged, especially when they are not getting the opportunity to be present in an office environment. They are losing out on many impromptu chances at receiving verbal recognition. Recognize the efforts of your employees and reward them. Reward doesn’t always mean money, because money is a short-term motivator. Many other things can be used as rewards to recognize good work.

Using an employee engagement software like Engagedly, which allows you to add features like employee recognition and rewards, allows users to recognize and reward their employees for their accomplishments.

Continuous learning

Training employees and providing them with the necessary resources makes them feel that their company is invested in them. The employees who receive training are usually better satisfied and are motivated than their counterparts who do not receive frequent training.

Continuous training or learning directly affects the organizational growth because of the changing economy. There are many employee engagement software which also include learning and development for employee benefit. Engagedly’s learning management system allows you to create, assign and take courses in various formats and reward them accordingly.

Also Read: OKR Examples For Your Finance Team To Balance Growth, Cost And Efficiency

Consistent priorities

Employees need to have direction and consistency when they are working. Does the line “drop everything and do this right now” sound familiar? Bad managers use it very often and it is quite annoying for their employees to understand why the task is so important that it disrupts their daily work pattern. If you want employees to prioritize certain tasks over others, then you need to communicate why. It is easier to disrupt your routine or shift priorities when you know why exactly you need to do so.

Having an effective employee engagement system for monitoring and prioritizing works could be a solution. With Engagedly’s OKRs and Ongoing Check-ins, it is easier to understand your employee priorities and assign them work accordingly.

Seamless communication system

We all know how the pandemic has affected our level of communication. When managers cannot communicate with their staff, it leads to a whole host of problems. Imagine an employer not being able to communicate company goals with their employees properly. The first ones to be affected by this behaviour are the employees. Employees feel happy and motivated to work only if their goals and responsibilities are clearly communicated to them. And this is just a small example. A lack of communication can seriously affect engagement, and productivity, and kill morale.

Communication does not always come easy. But it is something that becomes easier to do, over time. All managers need to do is start the conversation. Using employee engagement software allows employees to smoothly and easily engage in conversations with their colleagues and managers.

It is important to remember, that at the end of the day, managers cannot magically make employees happy. Happiness is a very individual concept and managers cannot fix all problems. Managers can try to make employees happy and lead the way, but ultimately, it is not the responsibility of the manager and the entire burden of employee happiness should not rest on their shoulders.

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