Listicle: The 10 Cs of employee engagement in the Covid era Written by Professor Ajantha Dharmasiri CMgr FCMI Wednesday 24 November 2021 Share Share to LinkedIn Share to Facebook Share via email We need to update the way we think about employee engagement for the post-pandemic era. How is it different now? Organisations rely on their employees to achieve results. Engaged employees are the engine of the enterprise that they work for and, in turn, employee care is essential to engagement. It involves trust, respect and wellbeing, spearheaded by the leadership – as explained in Seijts and Crim’s ten Cs for employee engagement. The pandemic has been a strong disruptive force for organisations and for engagement. To keep driving employee engagement in the Covid era and beyond, we need to adapt and expand the key focuses of these ten Cs: 1. Connect Leaders must show that they value employees. In the pandemic era, this can be further enhanced by maintaining open channels so that employees can approach their superiors to discuss matters in a mutually beneficial manner. 2. Career Leaders should provide challenging and meaningful work with opportunities for career advancement. It may involve re-skilling, up-skilling, or multi-skilling depending on the requirements of the organisation. It will be very challenging in the post-Covid era to match employee aspirations and employer reality, as organisational growth is required for people to take up higher positions or more challenging tasks. 3. Clarity It is essential to communicate a clear vision, which could be affected by the uncertainty created by Covid. This is why it’s important to share and support a clear vision, inclusive of employee wellbeing; build an awareness of strategic priorities among employees; and ensure that staff are clear about why they are doing what they do. Want more? Find many more insights, videos, resources and ideas for boosting employee engagement in CMI’s Management Direct portal. Simply log in to get started. Log in now No log in? Become a member now 4. Convey Leaders should convey their expectations about employees and provide feedback on their functioning in the organisation. Perform or perish should be the slogan in the post-Covid era. 5. Congratulate Leaders give recognition to others – exceptional leaders do so a lot. Gone are the days of ‘employee of the year’, ‘quarter’ or even ‘month’. What matters is giving due recognition to the ‘employee of the moment’. The best way to do so is with on-the-spot feedback, with something as simple as a pat on the back or an appreciative comment. 6. Contribute Employees need to know how their contribution matters. This is key to motivation and engagement. It can be achieved by introducing transparent objective setting and subsequently connecting individual objectives to broader organisational ones. 7. Control Employees value control over the flow and pace of their jobs – and leaders can create opportunities for employees to exercise this control. Leaders need to set boundaries with the approval and involvement of employees so that they are a part of the decision-making process. 8. Collaborate Teams with trusting and cooperative relationships outperform those that don’t. Great leaders are team builders and create an environment that fosters trust and collaboration. By doing so, they ensure that teamwork is given due prominence with associated mechanisms such as team-based rewards to strengthen it. Such teams can be either physical or virtual in the post-Covid era. Good hybrid collaboration will be essential. 9. Credibility Leaders should strive to maintain organisational reputation and demonstrate high ethical standards. Leaders should demonstrate ethical decision-making so that employees will respect the organisation. Credibility can be compared to a glass tumbler, where a crack can be irreparable; it is a binary concept – you can either be credible, or not. 10. Confidence Good leaders help create confidence in a company by exemplifying high standards. This involves practicing ‘walking the talk’ at all levels so that employees have more trust and confidence in their superiors. This has far-reaching consequences, including better relationships and results. Image: Shutterstock/Chaay_Tee Prof. Ajantha Dharmasiri CMgr FCMI is vice president of CMI Sri Lanka. Like this article? Why not share it. 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