Servant Leadership and Employee Engagement

Lessons from March’s Servant Leadership Community of Practice

For more than 20 years employee engagement has been an organizational buzzword. 

It’s not a new topic, rather the opposite, as research shows a direct link to productivity, profitability and wellness in the workplace.  

So what is employee engagement, really?

How can we look at employee engagement from all the necessary angles – be it the lens of organizational culture or that of positional leadership? 

In our March 2023 Servant Leadership Community of Practice, we discussed the following questions and answers in relationship to servant leadership under the facilitation of Christa Williams, Executive Director and Learning Facilitator of Sophia Partners.

Q: What is employee engagement?

A: Employee engagement is when an employee feels emotionally committed to an organization and its goals.

Gallup defines employee engagement as: The involvement and enthusiasm of employees in their work and workplace.

The Problem?

In 2022, research from Gallup said:

• 32% of employees are engaged
• 51% of employees are not engaged
• 17% of employees are actively disengaged

Q: How do we as leaders increase employee engagement in the workplace?

A: Using servant leadership, we can look at employee engagement from the lens of organizational culture and positional leadership roles. 

Employee engagement requires a Both/And mindset.

1. The organization gets better at creating the conditions for employees to be engaged;
2. The employees are responsible and accountable for making a positive contribution to the organization’s success.

In his second essay, “The Institution as Servant,” Robert K. Greenleaf focuses on the role of organizations and positional leaders to create servant-led organizations. Some key attributes of servant leaders look like:

• Called upon to make tough decisions and take firm actions. 
• Have high expectations for themselves and others within their span of care.
• Hold team members to account in a fair and humane way.  

“Engagement is the product of civil and respectful relationships in an atmosphere of trust. In this environment, every employee is authorized to act and every employee is accountable for his/her actions.” – Linda Belton, the Senior Executive at Veterans Administration

Accountability and engagement go hand-in-hand. When we use a servant leadership lens to be accountable for our actions, our teams will notice.

Q: There are so many possible engagement tactics & next steps. What really works? Where do you start?

Get To Know Your People And Truly Care About Them!

This may seem obvious, but it can be hard to maintain and easy to let fall by the wayside. But this is the core of a successful employee engagement strategy—if you don’t understand your people, all your other efforts will likely fall flat.

Show a demonstration of care. Be there for them!

Thinking INSIDE the box is all about looking inward and changing the way you do business on a day-to-day basis which includes how you treat your employees. 

And how you treat employees on a day-to-day basis is what servant leadership is all about.

Ready to explore employee engagement from a servant leadership lens and Both/And mindset?

Here are some important reflections to help you explore an employee engagement plan that aligns with you, your team, and your organization!

Personal Reflections:

Take the time to ask yourself these questions then discuss with a coworker, supervisor, or in your next team meeting.

• When have you felt the most engaged in your role?
• What does employee engagement require to be authentic?
• If you are a positional leader, how much time do you think you spend on “engagement issues?”
• What’s keeping you from spending more time thinking about and acting on a culture that encourages high engagement? 
• How can you re-prioritize to free up more time to identify and work on highest priority engagement activities? 

Community Leadership Reflections:

Expanding on the takeaways above, our Community of Practice attendees also contributed their own leadership lessons on employee engagement. They shared the following:

1. Have an ownership mentality. Take an interest in what impacts your organization.
2. Get to know your team outside of work to build trust/relationships. This can even happen on a virtual level!
3. Do things beyond your job description. Employee engagement is demonstrated by the individual who says, “What can I do, how can I help support?”
4. Be part of the solution. If you give yourself time to think creatively then you have more time to be engaged.
5. Listen and give time to reflect. See the light bulbs go on for your team.

___________________________________________________________

What have you learned from this blog? Anything you’d add to our lists, contact us and let us know!

Don’t miss your opportunity to join our next conversation! Community Practice sessions are amazing opportunities for any and all leaders to gather and learn from one another in a supportive, comfortable environment, right from your computer. April’s Community of Practice will be a follow-up discussion of this session. To learn more about these upcoming events, visit our Events page.

Additional Resources:

1. “The Institution as Servant” – Robert K. Greenleaf
2. The Engaged Enterprise – Joseph Patrnchak
3. Gallup – How to Improve Employee Engagement in the Workplace
4. 5 Ways Servant Leadership Improves Employee Engagement
5. Does Servant Leadership Stimulate Work Engagement
6. Why Does Servant Leadership Create Employee Engagement

____________________________________________________________

This blog post wraps up March 2023’s Community of Practice events. To join us during the live discussion for future months, register online. Community of Practice occurs the fourth Tuesday of each month from 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. CT.