{"id":101860,"date":"2014-05-06T00:00:55","date_gmt":"2014-05-06T07:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.watermarkconsult.net\/blog\/2014\/05\/05\/a-surprisingly-simple-way-to-engage-your-employees\/"},"modified":"2014-05-06T00:01:22","modified_gmt":"2014-05-06T07:01:22","slug":"a-surprisingly-simple-way-to-engage-your-employees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/customerthink.com\/a-surprisingly-simple-way-to-engage-your-employees\/","title":{"rendered":"A Surprisingly Simple Way To Engage Your Employees"},"content":{"rendered":"

For all the talk about the importance of employee engagement in the workplace, there are decidedly few specifics to act on.<\/p>\n

When management gurus extol the benefits of engagement, they tend to speak in platitudes:\u00a0 keep employees informed, involve them in decision-making, instill pride in the company, etc.<\/p>\n

Lost in these trite words of wisdom is any semblance of something actionable.\u00a0 What, specifically<\/em>, can you as a business leader do to make your employees feel more valued and engaged? \u00a0Well, here\u2019s one example:\u00a0 Sit down on the job.<\/p>\n

In a fascinating study<\/a> conducted by the University of Kansas, it was found that hospital patients were markedly more satisfied with their doctor\u2019s care if the practitioner sat down<\/em> when conducting their rounds, instead of standing.<\/p>\n

In the study, patients felt that doctors who sat down to speak with them actually stayed in the room longer\u00a0than doctors who stood (even though, in actuality, standing doctors spent slightly more time in the room than sitting ones).<\/p>\n

Patients felt that doctors who sat took more time to listen to their concerns, understand their needs and answer their questions \u2013 which made them happier and more satisfied with their care. \u00a0In a word, they were more engaged<\/em> by their doctor.<\/p>\n

While this study was conducted in a healthcare setting, it\u2019s not a big leap to see how the findings apply to a business setting.<\/p>\n

Time-poor managers and executives, if they even visit employees at their desks, typically do so in a flyby fashion.\u00a0 They poke their heads into an office or swing by a cubicle, and they do it all while standing<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Efficiency-minded business leaders might think this approach makes perfect sense, but they overlook how it makes employees feel<\/em>.\u00a0 Standing signals urgency and impatience.\u00a0 Sitting signals approachability and attentiveness.<\/p>\n

Creating a better experience for those you serve \u2013 be it your customers or your employees \u2013 is as much about shaping perception as it is about shaping reality.\u00a0 As this hospital study illustrates, small gestures can have a big impact in how people perceive interactions with one another.<\/p>\n

So, this week, abandon the usual employee engagement platitudes in favor of some more actionable advice.\u00a0 Walk around, check in with your employees, and make them feel valued \u2013 but no matter how brief the visit, grab a chair while doing so.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no better reason to sit down on the job.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For all the talk about the importance of employee engagement in the workplace, there are decidedly few specifics to act on. When management gurus extol the benefits of engagement, they tend to speak in platitudes:\u00a0 keep employees informed, involve them in decision-making, instill pride in the company, etc. Lost in these trite words of wisdom […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6822,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[128,92],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/customerthink.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101860"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/customerthink.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/customerthink.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/customerthink.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6822"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/customerthink.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101860"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/customerthink.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101860\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/customerthink.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/customerthink.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/customerthink.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}