In 2010 the Harvard Business Review did a study on Best Buy and their employee engagement rates. Best Buy had landed on something truly unique setting them apart from many other companies and upping their staff productivity by 35 percent.
They found that when they were able to increase employee engagement it increased productivity and revenue within the company. Employee engagement characterized as emotional attachment you feel to your work that influences your desire to further the organization’s interests. “An engaged employee gives you their discretionary efforts.”
While there are many ways to up employee engagement, I’d like to point out two specific ways to increase engagement:
1. Focus on results, not rules.
Best Buy manages their operations on ROWE (Results Only Work Environment). Eighty percent of Best Buy corporate employees come and go as they please, responsible only for the bottom line only. By implementing this high trust policy with their employees, Best Buy not only increased productivity by 35 percent but employee turnover decreased 50 percent with employees working longer hours with no additional pay.
2. Don't overmanage
Warren Buffet once told his leaders, “ Somebody is doing something today at Berkshire that you and I would be unhappy about if we knew of it” and yet he continues to lead with a “deserved trust” approach and as a result his company has done extraordinarily well.
When employees feel trusted and empowered they are more likely to not only put forth more effort but their best effort and everyone wins as a result.
What do you think? How do you increase engagement with your team?
