Page 106 - Build a Culture of Employee Engagement with the Principles

77
The RESPECT Model: Building a Culture of Employee Engagement

then you know how de-motivating this can feel. For people to
respect their work they must find it challenging, meaningful,
and rewarding. The more that a task requires an individual to
utilize his or her full complement of skills, the more challenging
and engaging that person finds the work. Successful completion
of challenging work engenders feelings of pride and accomplish-
ment. This is why hiring someone who is overqualified is a bad
idea; almost invariably they resent doing work beneath their
qualifications, are bored, and will quit as soon as they have a
better opportunity. It is also the reason that supervisors and
employers must continually look for ways to keep their employ-
ees challenged. Cross-training is an excellent way to keep team
members challenged and engaged, increase camaraderie and
collaboration, and create a more flexible and efficient team.
The extent to which an employee finds a task meaningful
can be increased in a number of ways. First, their assignment
must be aligned with organizational goals. If corporate march-
ing orders have everyone working on X and you are asked to
work on Y, then you’re going to wonder how what you’re doing
fits into the bigger picture. Employees want to know that what
they are doing matters and that it is relevant to the organiza-
tion’s mission. Second, tasks become meaningful and employee
pride increases when supervisors explicitly assign tasks to indi-
vidual employees because they trust that they are best suited for
the particular work. Hearing your boss say, “Barbara, I’m asking
you to do this because I think you’re the best person for the job”
trumps, “Yeah, everyone else was busy.” People also tend to have
greater respect for a task when they teach it to others. Thus,
asking team members to cross-train one another can increase
task value and also the respect felt by the employees doing the
training. Finally, the task becomes significant when successful
completion leads to additional opportunities.