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Team engagement must be priority for managers to reach targets
Some concepts in team dynamics are very subtle but have a hard bottom line impact. Team engagement is one such intangible factor that has high effect on employee morale, productivity and turnover. Therefore it is important for every manager to keep a close watch on team engagement levels. There may be several factors that influence team engagement but nothing has more pernicious effect on team motivation than an employee getting away with below par performance. While worki
ng in a group setting every employee has a natural tendency to observe the output of his fellow employees. Both slacking and over work are equally contagious.
If high performance is an integral part of the work culture present, all the team members make an endeavour to excel. On the other hand if sub par performance by some of the employees is tolerated, gradually the productivity of the entire team comes down.
If some of the employees are lagging behind for some reason, it is important for the manager to take action immediately. This is because commitment of fellow employees to do a good job has a direct impact on employee engagement. Also a manager is only as good as his team is. Poor performance by the team directly gets reflected on the manager. The superiors tend to associate the efforts of a lagging employee to the manager. There are probably only three reasons for an employee’s poor performance. Either he doesn’t know how to do the job, he doesn’t care or he is simply taking advantage of a lax work culture. Whatever the reason it is necessary for the manager to take corrective steps in time. Otherwise he will have to pay a heavy price later on in terms of lost productivity of not just one employee but the entire team. A manager may initiate the following actions to maintain high performance standards in his team:
Conduct frequent performance reviews: Reviews say once in a quarter in addition to the traditional annual appraisals allow a manager to closely monitor the progress of each employee vis-a-vis goals set.
Chalk out plans to improve performance: Taking appropriate action to improve the performance of lagging employees helps a manager prevent the corrosive effect of poor performances from spreading across the team. A manager needs to assess the exact reasons for the poor performance of some of his team members. If lack of knowledge is the reason they should be imparted adequate job related training to enhance their competence. If arrogance or ‘I don’t care’ attitude is responsible for lacklustre performance they should be offered counselling to bring about positive changes in attitude.
Follow up action: A manager needs to follow up the corrective measures taken to see if desired progress has been achieved in the performance levels of lagging employees. In spite of giving enough chances to improve, the poor performers show no signs of improvement a manager should not hesitate to remove the dead wood from the team. In fact it is an action a manager must take to safe guard high engagement levels of other team members.
Keep a watch on free riders: In any work place some employee will slack if they find the manager to be lenient. Watching them, some others will be tempted to follow suit. Therefore it is important for a manager to strictly enforce work rules and make every employee accountable for the tasks assigned.
Take feedback on workload: Some work place policies may inadvertently require a few employees to shoulder more responsibility than others. Taking employee feedback can give useful insights into the workload distribution among the team members. Action can be initiated to correct imbalances if any to maintain a healthy engagement level in the team.
Team engagement is an understated concept, which needs deft handling by mangers. Every manager must make increasing team engagement a priority in order to spearhead organisational success.
N. PURNIMA SRIKRISHNA
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