Try four proven engagement boosters that work.

Research suggests that training can encourage workers to be more engaged. But it takes time and the last thing you need is to be taking time away from work—right? But is it?

It could be time well spent. Let me explain.

Imagine you could delegate more, knowing that your team members were fully committed and motivated, not just overwhelmed by more work. How much difference could that make?

We know that some people deal with pressure better than others. Why? Because they are special or gifted? No. What they probably have are personal resources that others lack.

Four inner resources that make the difference

Research shows that people with psychological capital are more engaged workers who cope with pressures and perform well.

Psychological capital is a combination of four resources...


Hope—believing you will find the way through (not just wishful thinking).

Efficacy—believing in your ability to successfully achieve a task (not just inflated self-confidence).

Resilience—believing you can grow from challenges (not just battling-on regardless).

Optimism—believing your efforts will eventually produce good results (not just relentless positivity).

Spotted the acronym? HERO

What psychological capital means for leaders

With psychological capital, your team will believe they can meet demands of their jobs and experience good outcomes.

The good news is that you can do the training and coaching yourself. Make it a natural part of your leadership role to develop their sense of hope, efficacy, resilience and optimism. Make it part of your conversations with your team, as a group and individually.

For example, with psychological capital, hope is the belief that we have the will and we will find the way. In practice, that involves the skills of setting and phrasing goals, parcelling goals into manageable chunks and considering multiple pathways to accomplish those goals.

Take each element of HERO and focus on those specific beliefs and the skills that flow from them. Watch your team's engagement grow and your workload ease as you delegate with confidence.

 

Interested in a workshop on engagement for your leaders or teams?