I speak with thousands of global business leaders and employees every week, and a pervasive line of thinking has emerged: re-engaging employees is difficult, if not impossible. However, it’s simply not true. Why do the vast majority of people think this? Because traditional approaches to employee engagement do not work, yet organizations continue to cling to them. What is the most popular traditional approach to re-engage employees? Outsource the initiative to Human Resources (HR).

A Better Way
The truth? The people who have the greatest impact on employee engagement are your managers. However, HR doesn’t “own” managers – your CEO does – and he/she can get managers to do things that HR cannot. Hence, in order to drive enormous levels of employee engagement, your CEO must get involved in your journey and communicate to your managers specific actions they need to do to re-engage employees. Then, your CEO must hold managers accountable for executing. Your managers are the frontline to your employees, so they (not HR) are the people who must go to market consistently, repeating specific actions in the trenches, which are proven to increase engagement.

Now I’m Curious. Where Should We Focus?
We know that engagement levels increase when employee’s individual values match the organization’s values, when employee’s goals are aligned with the CEO’s goals, when leaders ask for input from workers, and when people feel recognized for a job well done. Therefore, this is a good place to start as you create your strategic employee engagement plan.

But what may surprise you is that your journey does not have to be slow, cumbersome and manual. Extraordinary digital workplace solutions and tools exist that can help fast-track your employee engagement journey, and inspire workers to re-engage faster.

Tools that ensure a world-class onboarding experience. Tools that enable employees to interact and connect, which is one of the greatest human needs. Tools that keep everyone in the loop – all in one place. Tools that align people with your culture and strategic objectives.

Why leverage technology? Because when your “Digital Workplace House” is in order, employee productivity, agility, efficiency, communication, knowledge sharing and collaboration rise. Additionally, it sends a message to employees that you care about their success and are giving them tools to better meet customer’s expectations. The outcome of all of this? Increased employee engagement in a shorter time span.

Creating a world-class culture isn’t an option, it’s a business imperative and differentiator. And it certainly isn’t difficult. Create a strategy to re-engage employees which is focused on the four areas above, ask your CEO to communicate the plan with managers, empower managers to execute, and hold them accountable for their results, which you can – and must – measure. And finally, engage technology in your journey to fast-track your results, and prove to employees that you are serious about creating a world-class culture that inspires them and enables them to soar.

Jill Christensen is an employee engagement expert, best-selling author, and international keynote speaker. She was named a Top 100 Global Employee Engagement Influencer, authored the best-selling book, If Not You, Who? Cracking the Code of Employee Disengagement, holds a Six Sigma Green Belt, and works with the best and brightest leaders to improve productivity and retention, customer satisfaction, and revenue growth. Jill can be reached at +1.303.999.9224 or jill@jillchristensenintl.com.