There is a considerable amount of attention being placed on employee disengagement in the workplace. And it’s no wonder, disengaged employees are the biggest challenge facing business leaders around the globe, costing millions of dollars each year in low productivity and high employee turnover.
There are several factors that contribute to employee disengagement, and organizations are starting to investigate which of these factors need to be addressed first in order to have the greatest impact on disengagement. The reason for disengagement can range from distractions in the workplace to unclear goals and expectations.
However, regardless of how your leadership team addresses disengagement, there are some strategies that employees can initiate once they start to feel disengagement creeping into their daily performance.
Turning to the world of high performance athletics for some insights and new perspectives on performance disengagement, an athlete would be asked a key performance question (usually by a coach) about their poor results.
Do you want to know what it is?
Are you ready to take action?
The key question, “Who owns your performance”?
The secret engagement solution: “you own your performance”.
It sounds simple, and it is. A simple shift in a person’s mind-set towards taking ownership of their performance, regardless of the challenges and workplace imperfections surrounding them, starts to improve performance and mitigate disengagement.
If you find yourself distracted from reaching your full potential, or frustrated with your current review process system, and feeling yourself becoming less engaged in your daily work, start to own your performance. Remove those distractions that keep you unfocused and start recording your daily and weekly accomplishments as well as the challenges you need to overcome. You will soon start to feel more engaged in the work you are doing and will appreciate the valuable role you play in your organization. You may even discover hidden talents you never knew you had which may help you seek out new opportunities for professional growth; and those opportunities do exist.
Regardless of what we hear about employee disengagement, waiting around for someone else to solve the issue is not a solution. Owning your own performance will empower you to do great work, not just for yourself, but the team members you work with and the clients you serve. You will then find yourself in the elite category of fully engaged employees.
All the best in achieving your highest performance.
Paul
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