The topic of employee engagement is nothing new in the workplace, but it’s getting more and more attention these days. And with good reason. For an organization to succeed, leaders at every level need to understand and appreciate what makes employee engagement important.

For the last few months, we’ve delved into the “Big 3” of employee engagement: psychological safety, psychological availability and psychological meaningfulness. This month, we’re going to briefly summarize each and look at why they’re so important.

Psychological Safety: This is the belief that team members can be themselves and take appropriate risks without fear of being penalized. It enables them to:
• believe that they’re a valued member of the team
• admit and discuss mistakes
• ask for help and feedback

Why It Matters: Psychological safety plays a big role in decision making, healthy relationships among colleagues, greater innovation and effective execution. Research has shown that prioritizing psychological safety increases productivity, decreases employee stress and reduces turnover.

Psychological Availability: This occurs when employees feel like they have the physical, emotional and mental resources to do their job. Some of the main impactors include: support from leadership, ability to manage workload and stress and feeling like there’s a healthy work/life balance.

Why It Matters: A lack of psychological availability in the workplace is a key contributor to employee burnout. And, as we all know, burnout can be lethal to an organization’s productivity, morale and overall culture.

Psychological Meaningfulness: This is when team members feel motivated within their positions and believe they’re a part of something larger than themselves. While meaningful work looks different for everyone, these three C’s are a common component:
• Community: Team members feel a strong sense of belonging
• Contribution: They understand how their work impacts others
• Challenge: They believe they’re growing in a meaningful way

Why It Matters: Research from the American Psychological Association has shown that workers who perceive their jobs as meaningful report higher job satisfaction, are more engaged, have lower rates of absenteeism and even enjoy better health. It’s no surprise that team members feel more connected when they believe they’re making an impact and a difference.

Having all three of these employee engagement drivers in place can feel like an impossible task. But it doesn’t have to. Leah M Joppy and Associates helps you get to root causes of WHY team members are feeling disengaged. Then, we work with you to come up with ideas and strategies to address these problems quickly.

Learn more by calling us at 301-351-9523 or email us at leah@lmja.com.

Employee engagement is a hot topic these days, but when it comes to tackling engagement issues within an organization, leaders can quickly become overwhelmed and filled with questions. Improving employee engagement doesn’t happen overnight and there’s no ‘one size fits all’ approach. It starts with understanding your team members’ wants and needs and prioritizing their well-being.

Let’s look at some of the top questions surrounding employee engagement:

What exactly is employee engagement? Employee engagement is the degree to which team members feel connected to their work, their colleagues and the organization as a whole. Engagement isn’t driven by one thing. It’s the full picture, from how valued and supported they feel to understanding the impact of their work.

What does an engaged employee look like? An engaged employee brings their best self to work, often going above and beyond. For example, they identify areas where they can develop new skills, take pride in their work and are engaged during meetings.

What does a disengaged employee look like? On the flipside, a disengaged employee does the bare minimum and won’t look for ways to contribute to the wider organization and culture. Because they don’t see a future for themselves, they’re happy to maintain the status quo.

What are some of the top drivers of employee engagement? Engagement is different for everyone, but these drivers should be part of your organization’s strategy:
• Ensuring each employee is making regular progress
• Providing autonomy
• Promoting a culture where ideas are encouraged and shared
• Creating an environment of learning and development
• Building manager relationships based on empathy
• Prioritizing purpose, challenge and respect in the workplace
• Developing strong team relationships and a sense of belonging
• Keeping workloads manageable and avoiding burnout

What can leaders do to increase employee engagement? There are so many ways leaders can make a difference. Here are the top 3:
• Listen to feedback – and implement it where appropriate
• Model the behavior you want your team to emulate
• Advocate for your team

Prioritizing employee engagement has real, measurable impacts! Leah M Joppy and Associates offers a fresh approach and perspective, combined with experience tackling all different types of employee disengagement issues, to help you jumpstart your team’s motivation.

Call us at 301-351-9523 or email us at leah@lmja.com to learn more.

The World Health Organization defines burnout as “a syndrome resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed.” In other words, this workplace phenomenon is a reflection on leadership, not a weakness in team members. Telling employees to “be more resilient” or to, “hang in there” just isn’t going to cut it right now.

The last few years have brought a fair share of challenges, to say the least. Burnout isn’t something that just happens overnight. It takes time to develop and can slowly creep into the workplace. What are some of the signs that your team is dealing with it? Be on the lookout for these 7 big ones:

• Change in demeanor or attitude
• Low-motivation or energy to do things they were previously motivated to do
• Difficulty concentrating, remembering tasks or completing projects
• Increased absenteeism or non-responsiveness
• Lack of participation in team projects, meetings or events
• High sensitivity to feedback or inappropriate reactions to criticism
• Low productivity or difficulty maintaining a normal workload

In our last article that we said that psychological availability means employees feel like they have the physical, emotional and mental resources to do their job. There are a lot of issues that are out of the control of leaders right now, but there are ways they can increase levels of psychological availability and combat signs of burnout. Here are the top 5:

• Ask how team members are really Check in and practice active listening.
• Don’t micromanage, but empower. One of the main causes of burnout is a perceived lack of control.
• Recognize efforts. Expressing gratitude helps team members feel that their work matters.
• Make human connection a priority. A lack of social support can be a big driver of burnout, even if workers are back in the office.
• Develop a shared sense of “why” and communicate to team members why their work matters.

It’s a myth that burnout is simply from overwork. Burnout comes from basic needs not being met over time. But with the right leadership strategies, it can improve substantially. Leah M Joppy and Associates can help you combat employee burnout and disengagement before productivity declines and turnover increases.

Call us at 301-351-9523 or email us at leah@lmja.com to learn more.

When you take a good, long look around your office, what do you see? Are team members engaged in projects or are they simply “going through the motions?” Do they have the proper technology to do their jobs and, at very least, a proper area to work? Is the environment inviting or dark and depressing?

All of these factors are just a few drivers of employee engagement. Last month, we looked at psychological safety and its impact on engagement. This month, we’re looking at psychological availability and the role it plays in a healthy, productive work environment.

So, what is ‘psychological availability’ and what does it look like? In short, it means that employees feel like they have the physical, emotional and mental resources to do their job. Here are some of the main factors that impact psychological availability:

• Support from leadership
• Ability to manage workload and stress
• Having a trusting, comfortable team environment
• Access to necessary equipment, comfortable workspaces, etc.
• Feeling like there’s a healthy work/life balance

Making psychological availability a priority comes down to organizations creating a workplace where team members feel supported – both through a healthy physical and emotional environment.

We hear the term “burnout” all the time, but we don’t hear about “psychological availability” all that often. However, the two go hand-in-hand: a lack of psychological availability in the workplace is a key contributor to employee burnout. And, as we all know, burnout can be lethal to an organization’s productivity, morale and overall culture.

That’s where Leah M Joppy and Associates can help. We get to the root causes of WHY team members are feeling burned out and disengaged. Then, we work with you to come up with ideas and strategies to address these problems quickly.

Learn more by calling us at 301-351-9523 or email us at leah@lmja.com.

When was the last time you really observed and checked in on how your team is doing? Last week? Last month? Or maybe you can’t even remember. It’s no secret that the last few years have really taken a toll on motivation. Now, more than ever, it’s important that leaders are looking at how the workplace environment is shaping team members’ attitudes and perceptions.

What is Psychological Safety?

There’s an important component of workplace motivation and engagement that shouldn’t be ignored: psychological safety. You’ve probably heard this term thrown around, but what does it actually mean? It’s the belief that team members can be themselves and can take appropriate risks without fear of being penalized. It enables them to:

• believe that they’re a valued member of the team
• admit and discuss mistakes
• talk about problems and tough issues
• ask for help and feedback
• trust that no one on the team is out to get them

What Does Psychological Safety Look Like?

So, the big question is, “How do I know if my team has psychological safety?” The answers to these 7 simple statements, developed by Amy Edmondston, Harvard Business School professor and author of The Fearless Organization, can give you a sense of whether or not they feel psychologically safe:

• If you make a mistake on this team, it is not held against you.
• Members of this team are able to bring up problems and tough issues.
• People on this team often accept others for being different.
• It is safe to take a risk on this team.
• It isn’t difficult to ask other members of this team for help.
• No one on this team would deliberately act in a way that undermines my efforts.
• Working with members of this team, my unique skills and talents are valued and utilized.

How would you rate the level of psychological safety within your organization? Do team members feel comfortable sharing their ideas, questions and concerns or is there room for improvement? That’s where Leah M Joppy and Associates can step in and help. We can look at your current practices and help you craft new and innovative ways to communicate, problem-solve and engage with team members.

Learn more by calling us at 301-351-9523 or email us at leah@lmja.com.

Psychological safety isn’t just ‘nice to have’ within an organization. It plays a big role in decision making, healthy relationships, greater innovation and effective execution.

Need the data to back up why it’s important? According to Accenture, organizations that prioritize psychological safety enjoy:

• 76% more employee engagement
• 74% less employee stress
• 50% more productivity
• 27% reduction in employee turnover

Here’s what psychological safety is not: It’s not about “being nice” or creating an environment where people have to feel comfortable all the time. Taking risks can make people feel like they’re out of their comfort zone. Mistakes happen and need to be pointed out in order for learning to take place. The key is that these risks and mistakes happen in a safe environment.

So, how do leaders cultivate a psychologically safe workplace? Here are 5 ways to get started:

• Listen to feedback – and implement it: Commit to active listening (giving your full attention and summarizing what was shared) to understand team members’ feedback. And if it’s worth implementing, make sure you actually do it!
• Avoid pointing fingers: Team members won’t want to take risks or try new things if they think they’ll shoulder the blame if things don’t pan out.
• Model the behavior you want your team to emulate: Sharing your own mistakes and what you learned from them and asking thought-provoking questions in team meetings are a few ways to grow a more supportive culture.
• Advocate for your team: Be their champion and have their back, especially with fellow leaders.
• Celebrate lessons learned as much as you celebrate wins: Normalize having regular team meetings where you look back at recent milestones. Talk honestly about what went well and where you can improve.

It’s tempting to write off psychological safety as a feel-good, buzzworthy term that’s more focused on employee emotions than actual effectiveness. But plenty of research shows it isn’t a “woo-woo” concept. Psychological safety has real, measurable impacts! Leah M Joppy and Associates offers a fresh approach and perspective, combined with experience tackling all different types of employee disengagement issues, to help you jumpstart your team’s motivation!

Call us at 301-351-9523 or email us at leah@lmja.com to learn more.