We don’t have to tell you that employee engagement is a hot topic these days. Why? Study after study shows it’s the preeminent way to increase discretionary effort among your staff. Employee engagement is the way your company inspires its people to commit to a shared vision, invest a part of themselves in those goals and push themselves that little bit further. Engagement can make the difference between being the first across the finish line and not making it to the finish line at all.
Where to start?
The question so many HR professionals ask about engagement is, “Where do we start?” Fostering employee engagement sounds great, yet the advice on how to do it is often vague. If you want employees to care about your company, your company needs to demonstrate that it cares about its people. There are lots of ways to do that: leadership communication of vision and objectives; frequent and spontaneous feedback; offering robust and highly flexible learning opportunities; achievement recognition; and the simple act of thanking employees for their effort. These are all great ways to go.
However, creating a culture of engagement starts with something even simpler: knowing each other.
Start by seeing your people.
How often do people in your company pass each other in the hallways without knowing each other’s names, departments or positions? (And what about those colleagues in far flung offices who don’t even get the chance to pass in the hallway?) How much richer could those casual encounters be if everyone knew each other? How many great ideas might be exchanged?
Imagine a tool that allows everyone in your organization to see each other—and visualize your reporting structure in real time. And yes, it even helps you remember what’s-his-name’s name.
We’re not talking about a static org chart sitting out on a shared drive, which no one looks at. We’ve had those for years and the problem is they become obsolete almost the instant they’re created. We’re talking about a real-time way for everyone in your company to see each other and understand how all the pieces fit together.
We are visual by nature.
To our brains, what we see takes priority. According to breakthrough research on learning styles, we learn most effectively through our eyes.
- 90% of the information transmitted to our brain is visual
- We process visuals 60,000 times faster than text
- 65% of us are visual learners
- 50% of our brain is active in visual processing
- 40% of people respond better to images than text
Visuals grab our attention, improve attitude, intensify emotions and yes, compel us to care.
This is why we at BizRun put the visual front and center. Our approach to human resources management is a real-time visualization of all your people which everyone can interact with. Your people can get hands-on with your organization, familiarizing themselves with their colleagues across the company.
Seeing your people does great things for your organization.
The simple act of making your entire organizational structure and the people in it accessible visually can be a game changer. Your people become the interface to your HR system. Placing your people front and center accelerates learning and makes it easier to build relationships at all levels. That includes helping leadership recognize and connect directly with their people. Here are some of the great things seeing your people does for your organization:
- Communicates the big picture
- Strengthens connections
- Highlights career paths
- Accelerates learning
- Builds relationships
- Increases empathy
Give it a try.
Getting started is easier than you think, if your organization uses Google Apps for Work (now G-Suite). BizRun is a quick and easy install, and we offer a free trial for 30 days. Check us out at BizRun.com to learn more about why employee engagement starts with seeing your people.
