What does Employee Engagement have to do with going away for a weekend retreat?
I just got back from a fabulous weekend womens retreat-a time for encouragement, fun, inspiration and being with all my great women friends. After the event, I said to my friend, who had done much of the planning, what a great weekend it was and how was she holding up? She replied, “I’m doing GREAT-because this year, I got cured from “do it yourself”. WHAT? She told me that she had learned from previous years when she got burnt out, because she had tried to do it all herself. This year, though-she said she had built a team right from the start, had delegated, and organized her team in such a way that the tasks got done; she gave oversight, her team memebers were engaged and enthusiastic…and Sylvia finished the retreat having actually enjoyed it, completing her many tasks without being singed from getting burnt out.
“Do it yoursef” is great for home repairs, for self-learning on projects you can accomplish on your own. But for accomplishing a large project with a team, it is critical to know who to ask, how to delegate, which tasks you need to have a hand in and which you can let go of and let someone else complete it without micromanaging. The “Lone Ranger” team leader does damage to a project, department or the team itself. Without these key insights, the team leader can demoralize their members and actually endanger the project or goals to be accomplished. The “I’ll just do it myself!” or “I can do it better myself”–will ultimately destroy the team as the leader doesn’t know how or want to engage his/her team.
Key questions on engaging your employees or team in the process:
1. Strengths: what are mine and what are those of each team member?
2. Which tasks can I fully delegate-(and not micromanage) and which do I need to keep my fingers in?
3. How do I engage employees to accomplish tasks-and yet not “burn out”?
Knowing when to do it yourself-and how to artfully engage others is the art of leadership and successful team and project management.
Get CURED of DIY-when it comes to employee and team engagement. Keep it around for your weekend fix up projects!