A Single Shift in Focus Can Dramatically Impact Results
By Leadership Expert, Keynote Speaker and Author Connie Podesta
What do we mean by engaged? Listens. Observes. Communicates. Offers ideas. And solutions. Appears happy most of the time. Enthusiastic. Works well with others. And likes their job. Most of the time me. 
Is that all? No way. One, they are more fun and easier to work with. Two, they contribute big time to a company’s bottom line. And three, they keep the energy rolling and the workplace on fire. How cool is that?
Why are some employees engaged and others not? An isolated disgruntled, uncommunicative or disengaged employee here and there could be the result of many things: A quick-hire whose positive interview was their last positive performance. An attitude gone wrong. Someone whose personal life took a turn for the worse. Or the wrong person in the wrong job. But an entire team of disengaged employees is a huge warning sign that points directly to leadership and the overall culture of an organization.
How do leaders contribute to the negativity? When they are focused on the wrong things. The bottom line over people. Short term over long term. Hidden agendas more than transparency. Bossing people around rather than leading them to success. Amazing teams start with leaders who model passion, purpose, clarity, resilience, accountability and a vision to help their team be successful. and insightful direction of their leaders.
What should be a leader’s number one priority? To eliminate all obstacles that stand in the way of their team’s unbridled success. To be their advocate at every turn. To give them credit when due. To encourage, motivate and inspire them to achieve more than they thought possible!
What should leaders never do? Boss instead of manage. Criticize instead of coach. Patronize instead of building confidence. Focus on themselves instead of their team. Keep secrets instead of getting feedback. Issue orders instead of collaborating. And forgetting to model all the behaviors they expect from their team.
So how does focus create more engaged employees? The direction of your focus—is it on them or on you—says it all. Bottom line: No matter HOW good a leader is, they can’t ever be a true success story without a POWERFULLY ENGAGED team beside them.
Reality: Great leaders constantly check to make sure their team knows that their professional success is measured by their team’s success.
Great leaders understand intuitively that their team’s accomplishments are a reflection of their own success as a leader. And accomplished teams are engaged teams.
If you’d like to learn more about creating a more engaged team, and powerhouse leadership, book me to come in and take your team to the next level! It will be fun, dynamic – and a big boost to your bottom line productivity!
