Disengagement of Remote Workers

September 18 2023
By: Shawn M. Galloway

The latest research from Gallup shows employee engagement has risen from 2022 numbers of 32% to 34%. However, remote employees' connection to their organization's mission and purpose fell from 32% to 28%. Gallup's advice? The manager must develop a habit of holding one meaningful conversation, fifteen to thirty minutes per week, with each employee to provide feedback and collaborate on goals and priorities. These conversations are important, and it is a shame any team leader, remote or in person, and at any level, needs to be reminded to have them.

The most important responsibility of a leader is to help those they lead perform to the best of their abilities every time, everywhere. This is what great coaches do, and leaders should be coaches. They should set objectives and targets, observe, provide feedback, and facilitate the desired performance.

Leadership Safety Coaching is necessary because excellence in any area of operations, not just safety, will only be achievable and sustainable when the workforce routinely provides discretionary effort, which will not occur without shared ownership of the mission and purpose of the team, and the organization they work for.

This week, set a daily reminder to visit in person, pick up the phone, or request a virtual meeting with those you lead. The investment of fifteen to thirty minutes per employee per week will pay itself back in improved performance, better alignment of objectives and behaviors, and nourishing the intrinsic desire of many to do a good job and feel recognized for their work. I hope they mean enough to you to have a meaningful conversation with them. If you aren't currently experiencing this with your own boss, how does that make you feel?

"Good conversation is as stimulating as black coffee, and just as hard to sleep after." — Anne Morrow Lindbergh

"The only thing that guarantees an open-ended collaboration among human beings, the only thing that guarantees that this project is truly open-ended, is a willingness to have our beliefs and behaviors modified by the power of conversation." — Sam Harris

"Conversation isn't about proving a point; true conversation is about going on a journey with the people you are speaking with." — Ricky Maye

Reference: https://www.gallup.com/workplace/509759/remote-workers-organizations-drifting-apart.aspx?utm_source=workplace&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=gallup_at_work_newsletter_send_1_september_09052023_test_b&utm_term=newsletter&utm_content=heres_what_leaders_can_do_textlink_1