In 2021, U.S. employee engagement dropped for the first time in a decade. Thirty-four percent of full- and part-time employees surveyed said they were engaged, while 16% said they were actively disengaged in both their work and workplace. This marks a reversal of a 10-plus-year trend.
[Forbes/Gallup]
Employee enablement is now a big issue for companies to consider because engagement within companies has taken a big hit over the past few years, as we can see from the above Forbes/Gallup results.
When we talk about employee enablement, we're actually describing a solution to the question, "How do we successfully engage employees in our company?” The two concepts are inseparable. When people feel enabled, they naturally become more engaged, feel better about themselves, contribute more willingly, and believe in what they're doing. This becomes a win-win situation for companies, which will get the experience of seeing the best version of the employee every day.
We know that engaged employees are more productive, energetic, and more likely to go above and beyond. Plenty of data exists to support this claim. For example, Gallup has shown recently that engaged employees boost productivity by 17% and customer evaluations by 10%. If employee engagement leads directly to customer satisfaction, then ensuring that employees feel enabled in their jobs is key to developing a culture of company engagement.
So how can we encourage and develop employee enablement?
Company leaders can set the tone. They can encourage their people to learn new skills and generate fresh ideas. That is a healthy start, of course, but what specific action needs to be taken to engage employees?
One proven way is with an enablement program.
Enabling employees starts with making them care about business aims. You must show the link between their roles and company goals, highlighting the part they play in the big picture. Knowing your work matters really helps with motivation.
A second major step to enable people is to help them progress professionally. To do this, we need to listen to their needs and provide them with the correct tools and training. To aid employee development, teams with skills to share should also come to the fore.
One such team is the one that I lead at SAP BTP Design Comms. We are part of the Operations department dedicated to helping employees become the best version of themselves.
Recently, we received a request to help employees improve their video-making skills. Multimedia expert, Lukas Goennenwein, held workshops and created manuals and recordings to enable employees in this regard.
The training was aimed at helping an SAP BTP Design team to showcase their work to management and colleagues to provide updates on their latest work, demonstrate progress, and receive feedback for improvement. In other words, "Do Good And Talk About it"!
How did it go down?
Watch Lukas' entertaining video below to find out.
https://sapvideoa35699dc5.hana.ondemand.com/?entry_id=1_lgqhs8kc
Here are some of the takeaways that Lukas worked towards to enable employees:
The 5 C’s of a BTP Design enablement program:
- Clarify what training is needed.
- Create any assets required for training.
- Conduct an enablement session in person or over video.
- Consolidate all learning materials, tips, recordings, and links into a document.
- Cater for questions with an FAQ document containing all post-session questions.
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