Challenges When Team Members are not Engaged

Are you a manager struggling to engage your team? I work with leaders at all levels, and a common challenge I hear from my clients is that they are having difficulties engaging their team. Some managers say they struggle to get results from their direct reports, some say they get a sense that their employees don’t care or maybe they are just “checked out”. Whatever is signaling a disconnect, how do you react when you notice a lack of results or engagement from your team?

What is important for any leader to consider is what are they doing, or what are they not doing, that may be having this impact on their team. That’s not to say that the leader/manager is necessarily at fault, but as the saying goes, “it takes two to tango”.

When working with clients with high emotional intelligence, it’s easier for me to help them take a look at their own actions and consider different ways to engage with their team when experiencing this disconnect, to see if change can happen. They tend to recognize that they have some responsibility and realize it may be their actions causing this disconnect. For others, who are less self-aware, it can be a bigger struggle. Think about people you know who typically point the finger, place blame, or even criticize others. Even this dynamic can shift when they are deliberately challenged to look at the situations from new perspectives, and to consider different questions and strategies.

What is Your Impact?

The reality is, when working with other individuals, we all need to understand our impact on each other. Our attitude and behaviors make a difference, whether positive or negative. Taking time to self-reflect can be very beneficial if you are struggling to engage your team. Similarly, asking for feedback from team members, as well as colleagues who work with your team, can be very helpful.

Questions such as:

• What am I doing well/what should I continue doing?
• What should I stop doing?
• What should I start doing?

all can provide significant insight into how one may be impacting the engagement of their team.

Engage Early

I recently helped a client who mentioned she was having a really hard time getting her team to buy-in to a project that needed to be completed. She shared that she has never had an easy time getting buy-in from her team around anything. In reviewing some of the challenges she has encountered, I asked her how she involved her team from the beginning? She shared that they had not been involved in the planning for the project, rather her regular process is to develop the ideas and plan by herself, and simply give direction for her team to carry out whatever it is to be performed. I challenged her to consider how she might engage her team earlier on the next time? This created an “aha” moment as she realized her natural way of working was not one that created a culture of trust, nor did it empower her direct reports to participate in a collaborative way. Her challenge now is to engage from the beginning, ask questions of others and listen to them, and collaboratively develop plans. By empowering others to be part of the process and have a voice, “buy-in” comes more naturally.

What changes do you want to make to create a healthy team that delivers improved results?  

I hope the above gives you some insight for evaluation. If you are a manager who wants to learn more about how working with an executive coach can help you get more from your team, or if you are an HR professional looking to provide support for your leaders, let’s connect.

“The ratio of We’s to I’s is the best indicator of the development of a team.” – Lewis B. Ergen