Why Employees Must See Where They Fit in Your Puzzle

To be engaged, employees must see that what they do matters.  They must see where they fit into the puzzle – the bigger picture of where your company is going.  They must see that they are a critical piece.  They must see that their purpose and your company’s purpose are aligned.  They must see that they are contributing and the business will not be as successful without them.  As a leader, it’s your job to help employees on this journey.

Success Factors, a leader in cloud-based Human Capital Management software, reports a mere seven percent of employees understand their company’s business goals and strategies, and what’s expected of them in order to help achieve company business goals.  The truth?  This statistic is both alarming and pathetic.

If employees do not understand the big picture and see how their piece adds to and completes the puzzle, they will be disengaged.  They will arrive at work every day and simply go through the motions, doing what they have to do to get by.  Imagine the negative impact this has on productivity, retention, customer satisfaction, quality defects and most importantly – the granddaddy of them all – profitable revenue growth.

How do you give employees a clear line of sight between their job and the company’s purpose?  Goal alignment.  Simply put, goal alignment involves ensuring that every person in your company has goals that support their chain of command all the way up to the CEO and that support the company’s goals.  This process is fluid.  Meaning, if there is a major event during the year that necessitates your company moving in a different direction, goals should be rewritten to support the new direction.

Goal alignment ensures that everyone is marching in the same direction and is only doing work that supports the company’s purpose.  It’s how employees see line of sight between what they do every day and where the company is going.  It’s how employees see that what they do matters.  It’s how employees see that they are a critical element to your company’s success.  It’s how you engage a work force.

WHAT CAN I DO?  In many organizations, it’s goal setting time.  Seek out the person or group responsible for this process, and share this blog with them.  Every employee should have 2020 goals that support their chain of command all the way up to the CEO and that support the company’s goals.  Employee engagement will increase if your employees see that what they do matters and where they fit into the puzzle.  Use goal alignment to show employees that their purpose and your company’s purpose are aligned, and the business will not be as successful without them.  This will make all the difference in the world.

 Jill Christensen is a guest blogger for EmpowerPoints, an employee engagement expert, best-selling author, and international keynote speaker. She is a Top 100 Global Employee Engagement Influencer, authored the best-selling book, If Not You, Who?, and works with the best and brightest global leaders to improve productivity and retention, customer satisfaction, and revenue growth by re-engaging employees. Jill’s Website | LinkedIn Profile