Employee Engagement Is Collapsing Under Leaders Who Were Never Trained for It

Every workplace leader knows that their role will always require some improvising, that no one can ever be fully prepared and trained for every challenge they will face with their team. But what happens when leaders are left to improvise on one of the most critical responsibilities of leadership at a time when alignment matters most?

This is what corporate leaders are facing in the decline of employee engagement across the workforce. According to Gallup, employee engagement has fallen to a 10-year low, with only 31% of employees reporting feeling engaged at work. To reverse this trend will take both sustained effort and thoughtful strategy. However, the recent Workplace Engagement Report revealed that more than half of leaders have never been fully trained in how to re-engage their teams, and only 17% say their employer provides effective tools to keep their team motivated. Consequently, 70% of leaders say their engagement efforts are not enough to meet their team’s needs.

Reversing the disengagement doom loop

This lack of preparedness and support for managers and other leaders is not only leaving employees disconnected; it is creating a disengagement feedback loop. In the report, the leading cause of manager burnout is, “emotional exhaustion from trying to motivate disengaged employees.” Essentially, when managers don’t know how to reconnect and motivate their team members, disengaged employees will lead to disengaged leaders, making it even harder for them to drive change. With managers accounting for 70% of the difference in a team’s engagement level, organizations can no longer afford to overlook their critical role or leave them without support to succeed.

How can companies empower their workforce leaders to be engagement champions? It doesn’t take reinventing the wheel. Rather, organizations should deploy a few key strategies that align with what truly drives engagement.

1. Re-ignite leaders’ engagement first

Before leaders can re-engage their teams, it’s essential that they feel engaged themselves. Leaders who are disconnected won’t be able to set an example for what being tuned in at work looks like, and won’t likely have the energy or motivation to inspire others. To help leaders rediscover this spark in their own roles, organizations should listen to managers’ calls for more creativity, energy, or fun in their day-to-day work, as well as more learning opportunities to grow and develop their skills. 

Leaders surveyed for the Workplace Engagement Report also say they feel most inspired to engage their team when they receive positive feedback on their efforts and their team is participating actively in meetings. By engaging their team effectively and seeing it yield results, leaders build momentum in a positive feedback loop, where managers and employees mutually energize and motivate each other. Leaders can start this process by using interactive digital tools that make it easy for employees to participate and give input throughout meetings.

2. Show that great work matters with recognition and feedback

Just as managers are inspired by positive feedback and recognition for their efforts, so are individual team members, and managers know this well. In fact, surveyed leaders say recognition and incentives would be the most effective way to engage their team. After all, when employees know that their achievements are seen and valued, they naturally feel more motivated to continue bringing their A-game to work. Recognition, however, is also one of the main tools leaders say is missing from their engagement toolkit, after access to better training.

To create more opportunities for recognition, start by looking for tech tools that drive engagement through interactivity. These can support a continuous, two-way flow of feedback between leaders and employees, making recognition a seamless part of daily work routines.

3. Foster collaborative learning to create a culture of connection 

Human connection and a sense of progress are two vital, yet often overlooked, factors in employee engagement. For employees to feel a part of a shared organizational mission and culture, a sense of teamwork is essential. Employees likewise need opportunities to learn and grow as professionals, to make progress toward their goals. Collaborative learning can hit both targets at once, enabling employees to connect more meaningfully with coworkers while building new skills. 

One of the most powerful forms of collaborative learning is game-based learning, where participants build teamwork through friendly competition, feedback is immediate, and recognition of achievements is built in. This can be an especially effective way to engage Gen Z employees, as many have grown up with gamified learning in school. 

By experimenting and iterating on these strategies, leaders can refine their engagement skills and learn what works best for their own teams. As leaders see employees actively participate, collaborate, and co-create, they also build confidence in their ability to engage their team members and create an environment where everyone can thrive.

---

Sean D’Arcy is Chief Solutions Officer at global learning and engagement platform company Kahoot!