There are few ingredients as powerful as pride at work for engaged and happy employees.
Most companies ignore “Pride” when working on employee engagement strategies. As is the case always with low hanging fruits. In our quest to achieve higher goals, we look too far ahead and miss the magic of low hanging fruits.
The most passionate advocates for any cause are the most proud men and women. This is a universal truth.
Pride of association (with your country, university, sports club, music band or your company), catapults your engagement and loyalty to the highest levels.
There are two elements of Pride at Work
1. Being proud of what we do at work
This is about the job role, our individual performance and contribution. Also, the compensation and recognition for what we do.
2. Being proud of who we work for
This is taking pride in being associated with the organization (Visualize the image of a soldier dressed in uniform walking down a crowded shopping area. You could sense the pride he or she has being associated with the armed forces).
The first, pride in one’s own work, is equally important. That drives productivity, efficiency and satisfaction at work.
The second element is a powerful, secret ingredient to drive employee engagement and happiness.
So first introspect – how many of your employees take pride in working for your company?
Second – how can you drive “Pride at Work”?
Now, there are some non-negotiable guidelines – having a clear mission statement. Believing yourself in the mission statement as a leader. Ensuring the mission statement is at the core of how the company functions – operations, customer experience, manufacturing, vendor relations, employee relations, community service etc.
So you need a distinct answer to “Why we do what we do” and employees need to experience that when they work for you.
Now let’s talk about two tactics – smaller doable actions to install “Pride”.
- Make employees brand ambassadors
- Celebrate and appreciate employees, in and out of the work boundaries
One, Make employees brand ambassadors
We defend and promote what we represent. That’s human nature.
We defend our country. We defend our religion. We defend our food, our school, friends, family, culture, phone brand.
Make employees represent your company.
How?
Let them represent your company, wearing a company branded shirt, at industry exhibitions, road shows and trade events. Do not restrict this opportunity to the sales and product teams.
Let employees from HR, accounts and other functions meet visitors when you participate in a trade show. As they meet and greet customers, they highlight everything that is good or great about the company.
- They become brand ambassadors of the company.
- They become promoters of the company.
- They take ownership, accountability and pride.
Introduce employees with enthusiasm to clients and visitors to your office or factory. Let a prospective or reputed client executive meet your accountant. Praise the young employee and highlight his or her contribution for the company.
Two, Celebrate and Appreciate Employees
Employee recognition is a common practice. Some do it well, some need a separate lesson on how to plan and execute rewards and recognition for employees.
However, here I am talking about celebrating and appreciating employees outside work boundaries.
Go social.
Use your company profile on LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram to appreciate and thank one employee each week. “Champion of the week”, “Service Superstar”, “Sales Rockstar”, “People’s Manager” – use motivating titles and rewards.
Tag the respective employee and include a short video testimonial from the person, his or her manager and colleagues. If you can and you should – get a surprise video testimonial from the employee’s parents.
Make them a social media celebrity – appreciate, recognize and celebrate their association.
These are simple ways to drive pride in the workplace.
Recognize people and their contributions. Bring them together. Form a core team of proud employees. Drive engagement and happiness at work.
Simple strategies work wonders! Try this and share your feedback. And, do subscribe to receive email notifications for all new posts.
