EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT
WHAT IS EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT?
Employee engagement is pivotal in enhancing effectiveness, cultivating a vibrant organizational culture, and promoting meaningful behaviors. The ultimate goal for all L&D departments, learning technology companies, and training providers is behavior change. However, without employee engagement, you may witness short-term improvements in test results immediately after training, but these are unlikely to lead to lasting behavioral change.
Despite the widely acknowledged importance of employee engagement in fortifying organizations, few training programs make any effort to enhance it. Online learning has unfortunately earned a reputation for being dull and uninspiring.
Addressing the Issue
It’s essential to tackle the question: What does employee engagement truly entail? According to the American Heritage College Dictionary, engagement is described as being ‘actively committed‘ or ‘involving oneself and becoming occupied, participating.’ In a 2009 research paper on school engagement, Fredricks, Blumenfeld, and Paris outlined engagement in three distinct ways:
Behavioral Engagement
This is how our behavior manifests during the learning process. The greater our willingness to participate, the higher our level of engagement. Active involvement in academic, social, and extracurricular activities enhances the likelihood of training success while also reducing dropout rates.
Emotional Engagement
When learners establish an emotional connection with their learning experiences, they tend to exert extra effort. Emotional engagement hinges on human interaction, emphasizing the significance of incorporating social tools into any Learning Management System.
Cognitive Engagement
When employees willingly invest their time in training, it fosters a more thoughtful approach in our daily tasks. Furthermore, it encourages a greater willingness to exert effort in comprehending complex concepts and mastering challenging skills.
WHAT 'EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT' REALLY MEANS
When we discuss employee engagement, we’re delving into the realm of workforce enthusiasm and motivation. Companies such as Google, Twitter, and Facebook are renowned for their vibrant company cultures. However, their success is not solely attributed to having fun at work or offering monetary rewards, time off, and gift certificates.
To genuinely foster employee engagement, it’s crucial for workers to recognize their significance within the organization. As employees realize their role in contributing to the company’s mission, their engagement levels soar.
To ensure your organization operates smoothly and efficiently, every component matters, from part-time employees to the Managing Director. If you’re seeking to fine-tune your Engagement Engine, our workbook can guide you in identifying actionable steps.
WHAT MAKES AN ENGAGEMENT ENGINE?
Step 1:
The Operator
Without a driver, the engagement engine can’t change anything. The Academy manager/Admin is the unseen controller, bringing learners together and engaging them with their content. It takes a special kind of person to wield the Engagement Engine’s power –
- Someone who puts the learner first
- Someone who understands the importance of engagement
- Someone who wants to make a real difference.
Step 2:
The Fuel
When you’re powering an Engagement Engine, you don’t need to worry about your carbon footprint. This machine runs on an inexhaustible fuel source and it’s the same thing that powers your company’s growth
- Your Mission – the Epic Meaning that drives everything you do.
- Your Vision and Values – the principles that define you.
- Your Brand – this is the way the world sees you.
Step 3:
Gamification
It’s not enough to create a familiar environment –learners need an excuse to stick around. Gamification takes the elements that make people want to play games and it applies them in an online learning experience.
These ‘game mechanics’ include:
- Levels – to add meaning to the learner’s journey.
- Badges – to reward them for their achievements.
- Leaderboards – to leverage the power of competitiveness.
Step 4:
Social Features
Most of what we learn at work doesn’t come from manuals or instructional content – we learn it from those around us. Social learning brings everyone together, creating a learning community and unlocking the potential for behavioural and cultural change. With social elements on a learning platform, you can also:
- Find experts and identify internal champions
- Share Knowledge and find the hidden expertise among your learners
- Generate Discussion and encourage deeper contemplation.
- Retain Knowledge and build a growing, organic training resource.
- Create real change by bridging the gap between knowledge and behaviour.
Step 5:
Personalisation
An engaging LMS shouldn’t be just another site. With personalisation, your learning platform becomes a familiar environment built around the things that matter to you. Personalisation is important for the following reasons.
- Branding your learning platform gives you the power to reinforce your organisational values.
- A custom solution is a more relevant solution – learners can see how their goals are connected to the wider business objectives, giving them a sense of purpose.
- Customisable profiles let each learner add a touch of their own personality to their platform.
- With personalised, adaptive pathways, your learners experience their own unique learning journey.
Let's Get Engaged!
- Use Case Mapping: Tailored demonstrations in line with your requirements.
- Flexible Payment Terms: Payment options and pricing plans to suit your needs.
- Rapid Implementation Plans: Start making a real impact in weeks, not months.
- Build a Business Case: Achieving stakeholder buy-in is tough, but we can help.
