An engaged team should be the goal of every leader worth their salt, it takes time and effort but it’s more than worth it. Now as we are in an era of lockdowns and working from home, this becomes even more important and more of a challenge, and a bigger differentiator for business success.
Why?
Because highly engaged teams will go the extra mile, and will often be the difference between success and failure on a project or in a business.
But how do you know when you have a highly engaged team, what are the traits and qualities that highly engaged teams exhibit?
Here are seven signs that will tell you if your teams are highly engaged.
Attitude tells you everything you need to know about a team. How they will react to being given a tough challenge, and how they will respond when things start to go against them. Highly engaged teams have a strong belief that they will be successful no matter the difficulty, they will embrace the goal and show good ambition, often challenging the leader to be bolder.
Proactively Prepare
Proper preparation prevents failure and good teams know this, and also the better the start the higher the probability of success. Good preparation shows a good understanding of the challenge and a strong desire to be successful.
It’s hard to fake enthusiasm and it’s a great indicator of engagement, the higher the enthusiasm the higher the engagement. It’s also worth remembering that enthusiasm is infectious and the it often starts with the leader.
When your teams can keep going late into the evenings and still come back looking eager the following day then they have great energy, as well as enthusiasm. Teams that are hungry for success will find that second wind, and will continue to push, but we need to make sure that we protect them and not become burnt out. This shows great compassion and we need to make sure that we save that energy for when it’s truly needed.
Highly engaged teams will surprise you by showing you what they can do without even being asked, especially if they have been empowered. When you give them the vision they will look for additional ways to help move the team forward towards the goal.
I know that this might sound trivial, but it’s the lack of punctuality that will show your teams are disengaged, they are making a point to you that what you are doing isn’t that important to them, or that they feel it’s not a good use of their time. That’s no a mark of an engaged time, they will want to show their eagerness both to be involved, and also to make sure that they do not miss anything.
This is a bit of a chicken and egg situation because teams who are given opportunities to develop will become more engaged and engaged teams will show a willingness to learn new skills especially if it will advance the teams towards the goal. The more development opportunities you give, the more your teams will engage, and show you their commitment.
When your teams show these seven attributes you will know that you have created the right culture and that good results will follow.
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