Employee Engagement

Imagine this. A carpenter is commissioned to build a very specific house for a client, but he isn’t given any plans or blueprints. This is a recipe for failure. Unfortunately, this is also what employees experience when leaders don’t provide them with clear team expectations. 

According to a study from Gallup, only half of employees say they know what their workplace expectations are.  And, according to our Officevibe software for managers,

Setting clear expectations is an essential management skill to build a culture of quality work and accountability. Uncertainty about roles and expectations leads to poor performance, high stress and turnover. That's why it's critical for managers to build the reflex of providing clear expectations for their team.

Different types of team expectations and why they’re important

Simply put: team expectations are what you anticipate and expect from your team. This can be in terms of quality of work, behaviours, and collaboration.  

Expectations offer direction, create accountability and unite a team or company around a  shared goal or objective. Lack of clarity around expectations is a fatal flaw in management. If people aren’t sure what to work on, you leave success up to chance, risking harming relationships along the way. Employees who don’t know whether they're on the right path can easily feel unmotivated and disengaged.

There are different categories of expectations, and each one is equally important for high performing teams. 

Categories of team expectations: 

• Team performance expectations are goals based on business objectives
• Individual performance expectations help employees develop
• Expectations for how people should behave with relation to team values
• Expectations regarding work quality, processes and methodology
• Expectations related to work hours, time off, meetings and tools

If any of these points are unclear, you'll run in to glitches. If, for instance, deadlines and key results are ill defined, the team is likely to miss deliverables. Alternatively, if norms around behaviour and values are not solidified, it can hinder collaboration. Consequently, employee engagement and performance risks decreasing. The most dangerous thing you can do as a leader is assume that what is clear in your head, is also clear to your team.

Examples of effective team expectations: 

• Be on time for meetings  
• Send a detailed agenda for all meeting invites
• Be accountable for your mistakes and share your learnings 
• Take initiative to review important information before asking a question 
• Work in increments and iterations to deliver value 
• Be respectful and clear when giving feedback (top feedback examples for your team)
• Have a learners mindset: seek out feedback from your peers 
• Be present during meetings; avoid checking Slack or your phone 
• Prioritize the team’s success before your own 
• Ask questions when something is not clear 
• Raise flags when you see a blocker 
• Seek to understand a point of view before challenging it 

How to set clear team expectations 

Below, we unpack some key ways to help you build the management skill  of setting clear expectations. We also offer impactful tips to communicate clear goals and expectations.

Document your team's purpose and role

Remember that your team has a mandate. Treat the team as an employee of the organization and give it a job description  Doing this helps define your team's general goal as it relates to greater business objectives. Write out a clear reporting structure for roles, tasks, and core duties. Give your team access to this so that they have a point of reference.

💡 Tip: Officevibe's one on one software provides you with space to clearly outline your team's goals. These then appear in each team member's account, acting as a guide for their own individual goals and helps them keep their North Stars front of mind.

Collaboratively outline team principles and values

Have your team reflect on a set of values to live by. Solidify behavioural expectations within the team to solidify cohesion.

“I think the best expectations are those that come from the team itself. Instead of just coming up with the expectations yourself and communicating them to the team, have team members take the leap and write down what they feel or think is expected of them.

Do the same exercise on your own, and then regroup with the team to share your perspectives. This process will help highlight similarities and differences, which fosters empathy, accountability and alignment!”

For example, a value our team agreed to was: “call out the elephant in the room”. This encourages employees to prioritize difficult conversations, and embrace the discomfort. It allows team mates to feel less conflict averse and look out for each others' best interest. Having this shared responsibility enables the team to perform with cohesion and connection.

Here's an example of team expectations during meetings:

Define your expectations around quality

It’s one thing to ask your team to deliver a project to a client, it’s another to outline your expectations and quality standards. If you aren’t clear about this, your team may need to redo the work to fit your vision. Work smart by explaining your expectations clearly from the inception.

💡 Tip: Establish and document guidelines for an “MVP” (most viable product). Establish non-negotiables that your team must meet before submitting work to a client? For example: a review checklist to avoid typos, and adhere to brand guidelines. When the team is on the same page, they've succeeded at collaborating to produce high quality of work.

Set clear milestones for goals with action items

To help teams work toward big projects, break them down into milestones and action items. A milestone is a mile-marker of progress, such as completing the draft of a design plan. An action item is a specific to-do item, such as getting another team’s feedback on the draft design or meeting to discuss next steps.

Use the Officevibe platform’s 1-on-1 tool to set clear goals and action items with each employee. Officevibe’s goals are based on the SMART model (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-bound). Once a goal is set, you can break it down into Action Items. During each 1-on-1, aim to simplify with a step-by-step process.

Sign up for Officevibe for free!

How to communicate your expectations effectively and intentionally 

Use storytelling to make an impact

Employees are more likely to remember anecdotes than bullet points. When communicating in person, storytelling helps to contextualize your expectations. You can do this by illustrating what success looks like. Then, reinforce why it matters. A bigger picture helps your team learn   about your perspective and expectations.

Ask your team to repeat what they heard

Double-check that employees have understood what you meant by asking them to repeat the expectations back to you. You can also encourage them to ask questions. This gives you the opportunity to clarify anything that got lost in translation before teams begin the project.

Review expectations frequently

In general, it's best to repeat your expectations often and in different ways, such as with written documentation and verbally. As things change on your team you want to reiterate your expectations within the new context.  Be sure that all documents are easily accessible and written concisely.

💡 Tip: Officevibe helps you set expectations and clear goals with our Goal setting framework. After you’ve taken the time to set expectations both at the team level and on the individual level, work towards frequent and continuous alignment during 1-on-1 meetings. You can also use the Officevibe platform’s 1-on-1 tool to add Talking Points to your 1-on-1 meeting agendas!

When you communicate clear expectations, your team will work together on a shared goal. They'll feel motivated by clear responsibilities and deliverables. It may sound simple, but managing expectations properly is the easiest way to go from merely getting the work done to excelling. 

At any stage of your career, the managerial role will require you to wear many different hats that each serve their own unique purpose. Some hats are better suited for the interpersonal nature of the role, other hats require your technical skill.

The challenge for many managers becomes not only improving your competencies under each hat but also knowing when to switch hats based on individual employees' needs.

In this article, we will discuss the 4 hats managers must wear and when to use each one when managing a team. Our team of managers at Officevibe was trained on this topic through Edgenda, and this article is based on the amazing lessons they shared with us!

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The 4 hats every manager must wear

1. The expert hat

Putting this hat on means you’re stepping outside your role as a manager, and back into the role of expert contributor in order to support your team.

Imagine your new hire is about to touch some code that only you know how to properly write. While you’d like them to be able to eventually do it on their own, you’ll probably need to step in as the expert to first show them how to get it done properly. 

It is equally important to know when to take your expert hat off! There will be other times when you’ll have to let go of the expert work you enjoy doing in order to give those on your team an opportunity to learn, shine and grow.

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If you’re deciding whether or not to step in as an expert, ask yourself:

• Does my team have the right training and knowledge to perform the task the way it needs to be done? If not, stepping in to show them how it's done as the expert may be needed.
• What are the risks of me not stepping in to assist as the expert?
• How will it benefit someone else on my team to take on this work? Sometimes taking your expert hat off and giving other people a chance to do the work will help them grow.{emphasize}

2. The supervisor hat 

Putting your supervisor hat on is needed when you’re required to monitor your employee’s work. For example, if you want to see how your team member is doing on a presentation, you may step in to observe and later give some feedback. It can also be used to check in on your team’s objectives and see how they are progressing against their goals. 

When you wear your supervisor hat, you are present for your team to answer questions as it relates to their job, perform quality assurance on their work, and review the larger body of work before it goes out to clients or the organization.  

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To know when to use your supervisor hat: 

• Ask your team when they would like supervision on their work. Some team members will enjoy autonomy from the start, while others will feel more comfortable with the support of supervision. Agree on touchpoints and stick to them.
• When your team is doing something for the first few times, supervising them throughout the process can help as you will be able to provide useful feedback while clarifying your expectations.
• How well do people on your team understand the processes required?  If there is low understanding, you’ll need to put on the supervisor hat. If people seem to know how to do the work well, keeping your supervisor hat on may be perceived as micromanagement! {emphasize}

3. The leader hat 

When you lead your team, you’re trying to help them work together towards your company’s vision, mission, and values. Mobilizing them in this way means inspiring them to work hard and stay motivated under all sorts of circumstances.

If your team is going through major changes or feeling unmotivated, it may be time to put on your leadership hat. Help them see the bigger picture. Remind them of their purpose. Show them their impact. Lead by example.

If you notice your team struggling as they transition to remote work, use your leader hat to guide them through this new territory. This means unifying your team and shedding light on their new path so they can find their footing.

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Before putting on your leader hat, consider:

• What motivates each of your team members? By understanding each of their “Whys”, you’ll be able to better understand what’s in it for them, and use this to drive their internal motivation.
• Show your team that you care. People feel inspired to work harder when they feel like their manager has their best interest at heart. Do this by getting to know each of them personally through 1-on-1 and team meetings.
• Lead by example. Your team will look at your actions for guidance so it's important to model the behavior you wish to see. When challenges are presented on your team, it's important to switch on this leader hat. {emphasize}

4. The coach hat 

As a manager, one of the best things you can do to help your team develop is to coach them. 

Imagine your employee comes to you with a question about their work. While it may be quicker to give them the answers, asking them thoughtful coaching questions can often help your employees reflect and come to their own conclusions. This is what leads to their growth. Coaching in the mindset of employee development requires soft skills such as active listening, perception and empathy. It also requires patience.

You might also want to wear your coaching hat when an employee has a fixed perspective on something. Whether it's a conflict with a colleague or they are attached to a certain way of work, it's your job to help employees gain new perspective. You can do this by asking them to explain the situation from another point of view.

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How to know when to put your coaching hat on: 

• If you notice your employee always asking you for the answers rather than seeking out solutions on their own, use the GROW model to help you coach them towards finding their own solution.
• If your employees express interest or desire for personal development, put on your coaching hat and help pair them with a mentor in the area they would like to grow.
• Recognize when the coaching hat is not enough to help address poor performance. Sometimes your employee might need the support of a coach, and other times, they may need a more structured performance improvement plan. {emphasize}

3 key management skills to help you switch hats 

There are three key factors that contribute to strong management, which all contribute to your ability to wear the above-mentioned hats at the right time. These factors include being present, owning your role as a leader, and creating trust within your team. Let’s review each of these! 

1. Be present for your team to understand their needs and context 

To be a great manager and understand when to switch your hats, you must be present for your team to truly understand your people and their context. Managers can get really busy and stuck in management meetings or strategic planning and employees don't always feel their manager's presence. But at the base, management is an interpersonal role. You can't know when to choose your different hats if you're only getting half the picture. Bottom line - spend time with your team.

To be more present for your team:

• Stick to your 1-on-1 routines. This is especially important with remote employees as they may not have that regular face time with you. 
• Take pauses throughout the day when you’re getting distracted or frustrated so you can collect yourself and be present in a more productive way for your team.
• Pop into Slack here and there to let your employees know that you know you're busy, but you're still there for them.
• Take stock of the context and environment in order to understand which hat you’ll need to wear in any given situation.

2. Own your leadership style and work towards constant improvement 

As a manager on your team, you must take responsibility for your leadership, especially when it comes to tasks like communicating objectives, conflict resolution, and delivering difficult feedback. In order to put on your leadership hat, you’ll have to craft a clear understanding of what leadership means to you. 

While these parts of the role may be challenging at times, developing your own leadership style will help give you a framework to lead naturally. 

To sharpen your leadership style: 

• Find a mentor within your company whose style you admire.
• Be upfront about your management style and remind them that even when direct, your intention is to help them grow.
• Ask your team how they like to be led, what they need, and how you can improve for them.

Use free tools like Officevibe to collect feedback on your leadership style so you can constantly improve.

3. Build a foundation of trust with employees

In order to switch hats successfully without your team feeling defensive or confused, you need to build a foundation of trust. This will ensure that when you switch from a  coaching role to a more direct supervising role, your team understands this shift and trusts that you have their best interest at heart.

Trust won’t happen overnight and will require deliberate action from you as a manager.

To help build trust with your employees:

• Use time in your 1-on-1s to check in with your employees and make sure their needs are being met at work.
• Give feedback that is meaningful and speaks concretely to people’s work and behavior to help build engagement on your team. 
• Take action on the feedback you receive to demonstrate you are really listening to their concerns and needs.

Whether you're just starting out as a new manager, or you’re a seasoned professional, the role of a manager will require you to shift gears and stay sharply in tune with the needs of your team! This may require a little extra attention as working remotely presents new challenges, but with proper attention to switching your hats, you’ll have no trouble with the role of manager this new year. 

Recognition in the workplace is an important part of employee culture and a company's values. As a manager, recognizing your team for their efforts is the cornerstone to building trust and employee engagement. However, it's equally important to make sure peers share recognition. Peers have different vantage points regarding knowing each other's strengths and how each employee contributes to the team.

Taking the time for peer-to-peer recognition helps shape a positive culture, further strengthening team relationships and motivation. Having a peer recognition platform in place can hugely impact the team and each individual's self-esteem in the workplace.

In fact, according to Bonusly, 86.57% of all employee recognition in 2020 (given by Bonusly users) was peer-to-peer. A notable increase worthy of a closer look.

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What is peer recognition?

Peer recognition is the act of employees giving recognition to other employees. It's part of employee recognition as a concept that extends beyond manager recognition or human resources, as it doesn't always have to come from the top down. A peer recognition model can come in all shapes and sizes, but the benefits of peer recognition are felt across the board.

Giving praise on all levels helps make recognition collaborative and meaningful.

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88% of Officevibe survey respondents agree that their organization encourages employees to give recognition to one another.{emphasize}

Receiving peer recognition enables employees to give each other the boost they need to push projects to the finish line and achieve great work. Ultimately, developing a collaborative approach to recognition means acknowledging each other for things like your peer's skills, efforts, accolades, and strengths. Employee recognition should be a central part of your company values.

But here's the thing, it takes more than a rewards system to motivate employees. Integrating frequent peer recognition practices on your team can positively impact morale and employee engagement. Using a peer recognition program will help tremendously.  As a manager, the first step is to identify where to start. 

Officevibe helps you spot where peer relationships might be lacking. Using poignant data helps you contextualize where to increase initiatives that facilitate peer-to-peer appreciation. It also gathers data to help you recognize where peer-to-peer recognition is needed.

💬 Another way to figure out your team's recognition needs? Ask them! Use this free survey template to know what kind of recognition your people seek and what makes it meaningful.

What makes peer recognition important?

As a manager, it can feel like the onus is on you when it comes to making sure that your team knows they are valued contributors. Manager recognition is absolutely essential for team engagement and performance. And yet, our data reveals that employees want more recognition.

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40% of employees negatively rate the frequency at which they receive recognition.{emphasize}

By encouraging and facilitating a culture of peer recognition, the weight gets distributed, employees feel valued, and strong professional relationships are built. Creating a positive recognition experience doesn't just stem from HR professionals. It's a necessary and valued exchange between peers.

Peer recognition helps boost employee performance and company morale. Not only is recognition a catalyst for peer appreciation, but doing so on a group level develops a strong sense of support and camaraderie.

Keeping this in mind, it's clear that peers play a vital role in employee satisfaction. Consequently, integrating a peer recognition program contributes to positive company culture.

The benefits of having a peer recognition program

Peer recognition diminishes employee turnover

When it comes to preventing turnover, employee recognition goes a long way. Without credit, people tend not to feel appreciated by the company, making them more likely to leave.

A solid employee recognition program helps people identify more with the company culture and values and feel a greater sense of belonging. As a result, you up the chances of your employees sticking around.

Peer recognition increases employee engagement

Many factors help increase employee engagement, peer-to-peer recognition being one of them. Peer recognition programs play a significant role in job satisfaction and happiness in the workplace. Regular kudos helps increase engagement, which benefits the employee and the entire team.

Harvard Business Review reveals that having an effective peer recognition program makes for happier, more engaged employees and a 14 to 29 percent increase in profits.

Peer recognition develops trust

The more your team is capable of expressing recognition amongst one another, the more they'll learn they can trust each other. When individuals feel they're being recognized for their work, they dilute sensations of competitiveness and replace them with collaboration.

Peer recognition boosts team morale

When teammates know that efforts are being noticed and appreciated: morale increases. Doing so consistently ensures that your team's happiness remains consistent, prompting more productivity and job satisfaction.

Knowing how to make peers happy with simple gestures of appreciation and gratitude develops team spirit. As a result, you nurture resilient employee-to-employee relationships, and co-workers strengthen their bonds! 

Peer recognition increases motivation

When people feel recognized for their work, they feel seen. In turn, it encourages employees to contribute, learn, and develop their skills. Motivation reframes any burden of high objectives – crucial to a successful organization. After all, a high momentum environment keeps its foundation strong.

Peer recognition amplifies strengths

A robust peer recognition program amplifies people's strengths. Giving meaningful peer recognition and genuine compliments prompts employees to reflect on and highlight great work. Building a strengths-based team culture is one that drives employee performance.

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6 ideas to help implement peer recognition with your team

There are several peer recognition programs or ideas that you can easily implement with your team to increase employee happiness. We took the liberty of weeding through which employee recognition programs are most effective to set you and your team up for success. 

Here is a short list of peer recognition and rewards initiatives that are accessible and easily implemented.

1. Create a kudos board or train

Turn internal communications tools into a peer recognition tool! A helpful way to make peer recognition a habitual part of your organizational values is by starting a kudos board. Using Slack or Miro, fellow employees can encourage each other to participate in sharing peer appreciation.

But keep in mind that public recognition might not be the best way to recognize everyone. Some might enjoy receiving public praise or social recognition, while others are more comfortable with a private exchange. (Officevibe Good Vibes is a great recognition platform to exchange one-on-one peer-to-peer recognition, which we'll explore in #6.)

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Tip: Encourage a kudos train! Ask each employee to give kudos to a colleague who then pays it forward to another colleague.{emphasize}

2. Celebrate milestones collaboratively

Milestones come in all shapes and sizes. Whether your team celebrates an employee who has completed a big project, achieved a personal goal, or is celebrating a work anniversary, the team can recognize this together.

How about celebrating a colleague's work anniversary with a shared Miro board?

For example: One person can be in charge of setting up a celebratory Miro board, the other organizes a small gift delivery (with contributions from the team), another can set up social media shout-outs from the company, and so on. 

{emphasize}Tip: Have each team member look after a detail to celebrate their peer through genuine expression. Encourage them to get creative and have fun!{emphasize}

3. Integrate peer recognition into daily rituals

Peer recognition programs encourage employees to share their appreciation for how involved others have been in their success. The goal is to make sure that recognition feels baked into the company culture in everyday practices like morning meetings or retrospectives. The key isn't to have lengthy discussions but to acknowledge what each person brings to the table often. Frequent recognition is key. 🔑

{emphasize}Tip: Lead by example. Teams follow their leaders, so if you start the trend of giving recognition, your team is sure to follow. It can be as simple as “I'm feeling very grateful for our team today. One thing that stood out recently was X's contribution to our goals. Does anyone else have appreciation they can share about their team members?”{emphasize}

Feel free to get inspired by more than a few examples of employee recognition messages.

4. Encourage peers to build meaningful connections

During uncertain times, peer recognition does not always need to be linked to achievement. It can take the form of recognizing one another's realities and allowing an open and safe space to share each other's needs. Recognition means appreciating and also seeing one another and actively listening. It's important to recognize peers in a meaningful way.

Tips for managers to help foster supportive connections:

• Encourage your team to check in on one another and take a break.
• Make sure they feel equipped to be productive and supply them with the right recognition tools if needed.
• Let your team know they're there to support each other just as much as you guide them.

5. End the week by sharing one way a teammate helped another

During your Friday morning meeting, encourage each team member to highlight one thing the group or individual did to help them that week. Ending your week on a high note makes a big difference, especially during times of high stress. Creating a recognition culture will be appreciated by all.

{emphasize}Tip: Each team member goes around the virtual table to bring to light one action item that was made possible by the team or by a peer.{emphasize}

6. Send Good Vibes for peer-to-peer recognition

There are many ways to deliver peer-to-peer recognition. Officevibe's Good Vibes feature is a fun and easy recognition platform that helps highlight positive efforts and gives your employees a simple, human way to recognize each other.

Not everyone wants peer feedback in the form of a public shoutout. Good Vibes creates a more personal connection between colleagues and managers by sending meaningful notes directly (like a social media DM via the Officevibe app), rather than using noisy praise walls, a competitive rewards program, or a point-based system.

{emphasize}👉🏼 It's important to recognize employees in the most receptive way, so peer programs like this provide that more intimate and less public option.{emphasize}

Building a culture of positive feedback

Why not make every day co-worker appreciation day? Developing a culture of peer-to-peer recognition is easy, accessible, and fun. Once you implement a successful peer recognition program, you'll notice how co-workers strengthen their camaraderie and work relationships, connect more with core values, and show greater support between team members. It can even increase employee morale and boost self-esteem.

In the long run, a peer-to-peer recognition program can be the spark of genius you need for your team to achieve their goals, build team spirit, and have fun in the process. Genuine praise is an essential part of a positive workplace. And when companies focus on creating a great workplace culture, great things happen. Start sharing the good vibes today!

Managers have one of the most complex roles when it comes to balancing the needs of the team with demands of their boss. As a result, managing your time and your team effectively can be a very tricky balancing act. Effective time management strategies can help.

Part of time management is knowing what to prioritize in your weekly schedule. Whether it’s strategic planning, contracts and budgets, conducting 1-on-1s, managing people, keeping up to date on the market, taking time to develop in your own role, or attending meetings: How do you determine what gets addressed first? 

Time management strategies can help set you up for success, and if you can master this key management skill, your days will feel more successful. You’ll also see better results from your team. 

Keep reading for effective time-management strategies for managers.

How to prioritize your management tasks

First and foremost, a manager needs to prioritize their team’s needs, even before pleasing their boss. Generally speaking, you need to focus on what is urgent and important. This means eliminating blockers so your employees can get their work done and deliver value to clients. 

Ask yourself these important questions when you’re unsure of how to tackle your to-do list.

• What is the most important task on my daily schedule right now? 
• How can I cross off an important assignment so as to not be a blocker for the team?
• Which smaller tasks on my to-do list take one minute or less? (tackle these first thing each morning)
• If I push this important task to tomorrow, what will the effects be?
• How can I prevent prioritizing putting out fires before addressing my to-do list?

{highlight}Bonus: Check out our 7 key management skills you need to lead successful teams; time management is number 2!{highlight}

11 actionable time-management strategies for busy managers 

According to time management experts, incorporating 10-12 minutes of planning into your daily schedule, will save up to 2 hours of time. That's time that would otherwise have gone to waste! So, your first strategy should be to include 10 minutes of planning time every morning. 

Try these additional actionable tips to manage your time, and keep your team on task:

1. Start early and eliminate clutter

Get your day started early.  Start by completing all of the smaller tasks on your list that take one minute or less. These “clutter tasks” which take little time to complete can take up a lot of your brain space, and add unnecessary bulk to your to-do list. Get them out of the way and start fresh on your day.

2. Be aware of your use of time

In order to manage time more effectively, be more aware of it. Jot down your activities for a few days, and then calculate how much time you spend on each. You might be shocked to find just how few of those precious minutes are spent in productive activities. Strategize how to eliminate unproductive time and focus on what is most important.

3. Schedule “office hours”

To avoid being poked and pinged all day, designate specific parts of your daily schedule for communications or “office hours”.  Using one-on-one software like Officevibe can help to give structure to your 'office hours' while also guaranteeing that you're scheduling meaningful time with your employees. Officevibe lets you set a shared one-on-one agenda, so you and your team members are sure you're addressing every important point efficiently. With just a bit of quick prep, conversations don't drag on, your employees feel seen, and you minimize the number of times your team member needs to disrupt your work to ask a question or voice a concern.

4. Delegate tasks to others

Is there anything on your to do list that might make sense for your team to take on? It can be a developmental experience for an employee to help you with a certain task such as market research to help you plan your upcoming strategy. 

5. Learn to say “no” to meetings:

 Learn to question whether you actually need to be in a certain meeting. Can you be briefed afterwards? Will your absence be a blocker? Can you be there only part of the time? Alternatively, work with your coworkers to plan meeting days and non-meeting days so you can bundle your focus. 

6. Don’t be afraid of time management tools or productivity tools

 There are many helpful time management tools, computer programs and smartphone apps like Rescue Time or Focus Keeper that can help make your life a lot easier with a simple download. Adding just one might be the key to saving hours of time each week.

And, have you ever noticed how much time you spent on little things? Like, zip-ing documents, converting formats of communication, drafting messages and emails,...

There are tons of tools that can make tedious day-to-day tasks, like converting communication documents such as Word to PDF, easier. It is worth searching for them. They allow you to get through your tasks faster, and instantly boost your productivity.

7. Prioritize time for your own development

With so many fires to put out, when can you carve out time to advance your own career? Find a mentor! This can be another manager in your company. Book 30 minutes or so every two weeks to talk through your experiences and gain perspective from someone a bit more seasoned in your position.  You can also turn to online management tools that provide specific, actionable advice.

8. Break a big task into smaller chunks

You can waste a lot of time worrying about how you’ll get a big project done. Break it down into manageable chunks instead so you can work on it in structured increments that allow you to see your progress.

9. Keep the end goal in sight

Always focus on the anticipated final outcome. Look at whether you can get to that point faster by skipping a few steps that don’t add to the end result.

10. Schedule breaks

Hours and even days can spill into one another, especially when working remotely. It is very important to take a break and recalibrate before getting started on that next task. When we try to do it all at once, we often end up doing nothing. Breaks give us clarity and perspective before continuing on a task.

11. Collect data on what needs prioritizing

A key time management strategy is to know where to spend your time. The Officevibe software collects weekly insights from your team members on where they’re doing well and where they’re struggling. These insights show you exactly where to focus, based on all of the things that can impact your team’s performance, whether that’s their workload, stress level, wellness, or relationships. Officevibe surfaces issues so you know exactly where to spend your time first - and, it’s free!

Learn from the source

There's nothing like tips from real managers to help you achieve your full potential. Take a look at this interview we conducted with Jon Franko from Gorilla 76 where he gives his best tips on time management.

Remote time management strategies for managers and teams

Just as you are busy managing your schedule, your team might need support from you to help manage theirs as well. Time management and prioritization can get tough for anyone in any industry, and the stress that comes from being inefficient can result in underperformance. That's where you can step in and guide your team: 

1. Choose the best tools

Make sure your team has the habits, processes and time management tools such as ProofHub or Hubstaff that are most efficient and relevant to their needs.

2. Mitigate outside requests

Help assess options when there are requests from other teams. Determine what’s at stake if accepted, and learn to say no if needed.

3. Encourage focus time

Book focus days or time-slots so your team has uninterrupted hours to execute without meetings. Or, encourage your employees to put a “focus” status on your inter office communication tool so others know not to disturb them during this time.

4. Use a goal-setting software 

Officevibe helps you to set clear goals with your employees, as well as action items after every 1-on-1. Storing goals and action items in one place ensures expectations are clear, and makes it easy for you to refer to your notes when checking in at your next meeting or evaluation. Plus, it helps your employees develop in their roles.

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Time-management strategies benefit you and your team

Time management strategies help us learn to make the best use of each day, consequently amplifying productivity. It's one of the many helpful tools in your managerial tool kit that will make you a great manager. As you become master your own time management, you’ll have more time to guide your team to success.

As a manager or HR professional, employee engagement should be at the top of your priority list. But do you know how to go about actually measuring employee engagement, or what to keep an eye on, more specifically?

There are several metrics you should measure to assess your team’s engagement levels, and each one is essential to the larger employee experience puzzle. These pieces come together to paint a portrait of how your employees feel and how invested they are in their roles and within the company.

Since we know a thing or two about the best ways to measure employee engagement, we've outlined the 10 metrics and several key sub-metrics you should keep tabs on and how each one contributes to team performance and the larger employee experience.

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What are employee engagement metrics?

Employee engagement can best be described as a person's commitment to their day-to-day work and their investment in their organization. To measure employee engagement and better understand their people, managers, business leaders, and HR professionals use 10 fundamental employee engagement metrics.

These metrics provide insight into several themes that matter to your team, including employee feedback, job satisfaction, personal wellness, relationship with their manager or peers, and employee recognition.

How to measure employee engagement

Knowing which employee engagement metrics to measure is one thing, but it’s equally important to get the hang of how to best assess them. One of the most crucial things to remember when measuring employee engagement is that you do it consistently over time. If you only gauge how your employees feel once in a while, you’ll end up with a disjointed picture of your team's sentiment only on that particular day or week, with no sense of how those feelings have evolved over time and how they fit into your team's collective employee experience.

So how do you keep up with your team’s engagement level without adding to your workload? Employee engagement tools like Officevibe help you understand how people feel with a simple, two-minute weekly pulse survey sent automatically to every team member. The algorithm covers 10 metrics on an ongoing basis, so the data you collect allows you to stay on top of budding issues and track trends over time.

{emphasize}Check on your team's engagement levels and nip issues in the bud before they arise with this free employee engagement survey template.{emphasize}

10 employee engagement metrics (and 10 sub-metrics) to watch

1. Relationship with manager

Now, this is an engagement metric you definitely want to measure, and one you have a direct influence on. People want to feel supported, understood, and appreciated by their managers. Nurturing a healthy relationship with your employees is fundamental to the success of your team and organization, but this takes trust, open communication, and close collaboration. If you notice your score on this metric slipping, follow these four simple steps to build better relationships with your employees.

{emphasize}Sub-metric to watch: Trust with manager

As with any relationship, trust is earned and worked on over time. Without it, the odds of fostering an engaged workforce are substantially lowered. Trust begets collaboration, and collaboration begets productivity and ultimately team success.{emphasize}

2. Feedback

The importance of giving consistent feedback to your employees cannot be overstated. It helps your people grow and builds an engaged and productive workforce. While knowing how to give feedback will help you better understand your team's communication styles and comfort levels, it's equally important to ask for feedback from your people to increase employee engagement. By implementing a continuous feedback loop, managers and employees can share their thoughts openly and without judgment to build a stronger, more collaborative team dynamic.

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Sub-metric to watch: Feedback frequency

According to Officevibe data, only 25% of employees feel they receive feedback frequently enough to help them improve at work. Learn the ins and outs of employee feedback in the workplace to boost employee engagement with our comprehensive guide for managers.{emphasize}

3. Personal growth

Employees want to feel challenged at work and see a clear path forward for their professional development. This means working to sharpen their skill sets, having autonomy in how they complete their work, and feeling a sense of purpose in the tasks they’re completing. According to recent Officevibe data, only 60% say they have a clear plan for their professional growth.

Measuring employee sentiment around their personal development at work helps you build an environment where they can thrive. This means better performance and fosters a workplace with highly engaged employees. When you know where people want space to challenge themselves, and where they need support, you’ll be able to set up the conditions for everyone to do their best work and evolve in their roles.

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Sub-metric to watch: Purpose

We all want our work to have meaning. When you send pulse surveys, ask your employees some of the following questions to gauge how they feel about their personal growth:

• Do you feel your work has an impact on your organization's purpose?
• Do you know what the main purpose of your organization is?
• Are you proud of the work you do?{emphasize}

4. Relationship with peers

Effective collaboration is essential to your team members forming a united front. When teamwork is off, performance suffers, so building strong peer relationships is a must to improve engagement and achieve collective success.

Having a strong foundation of trust and understanding helps people work better, together. When you track this metric, it helps you spot any important fluctuations that could indicate something is awry. From there, you can work with your team to get them back to performing at their best.

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Sub-metric to watch: Collaboration between peers

Strong team dynamics are fundamental to the success of your organization. If collaboration between your team members feels off, check out these five strategies to build team trust and boost collaboration.{emphasize}

5. Wellness

Offering support and resources for the well-being of your employees is a non-negotiable as a manager or team leader. By monitoring the employee wellness metric, you can spot issues or challenges that people might not feel comfortable bringing up in a one-on-one meeting or in their employee engagement surveys. From here, you can provide your team with appropriate services or resources, and work towards cultivating a positive and healthy work environment. This will help reduce the risk of workplace stress and burnout, absenteeism, and high employee turnover.

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Sub-metric to watch: Stress

The signs of workplace stress can be subtle and often go unnoticed. Check in on the well-being of your employees with this free template on work stress.{emphasize}

6. Recognition

Your team members need to know that their contributions count in the grand scheme of things. Employees also want to feel valued for the work they do, and to know that their peers and manager see and appreciate the effort they put into their daily tasks. Offering your people kind recognition messages is one of the most low-cost, high-impact ways to boost employee retention. Yet, only 66% of employees are content with the frequency at which they receive recognition. You can make your people feel seen and start improving employee engagement by asking simple but poignant employee recognition survey questions like:

• Is the recognition you receive meaningful?
• Do you know which behaviors receive recognition?
• Is the recognition for additional effort sufficient?

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Sub-metric to watch: Recognition frequency

Recognizing your employees consistently for their contributions is one of the best ways to improve employee engagement. Learn how to create a culture of recognition in the workplace with our comprehensive guide.{emphasize}

7. Company alignment

To reach broader company goals and ensure team alignment, employees must first be aware of their organization's main objectives and how they fit into the bigger picture. Knowing where your team stands on larger company goals helps you spot areas where things are unclear before employee engagement starts to slip. If people don’t understand the company's strategic direction, schedule some time with them to explore it more thoroughly. Or if team members don’t feel a personal connection with the values, you can build team values together that will have more impact in their day-to-day.

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Sub-metric to watch: Values

But company alignment is about more than just understanding and getting on board with the vision and mission. It’s also about company culture and corporate values, and whether employees are aligned with them; it’s about people's satisfaction with the company’s ethics and social responsibility.{emphasize}

8. Happiness

Every manager wants their team to be happy. While general happiness obviously relies on a number of factors in and outside of the workplace, the point of measuring happiness at work is to assess those that are work-specific. Do people have a good level of work-life balance? Are they supported as they deal with their day-to-day affairs? Do they enjoy the work they do?

There are many things managers can do to support a happier, healthier team and inclusive work environment. Checking in regularly in one-on-one meetings on happiness levels helps you better understand each employee’s experience. From there, you can find ways to make people feel happier throughout their work day.

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Sub-metric to watch: Happiness at work

Whether your people are in the office or working remotely, there are tons of budget-friendly employee engagement activities your team will love that can help boost happiness and morale.{emphasize}

9. Satisfaction

Job satisfaction generally means people’s satisfaction with their role within the team or company, the physical and technological setup, and their compensation. Employee satisfaction is a key engagement metric to watch out for because it includes important topics like:

• Do people feel they’re in the right role, and on the right team?
• Are they well-equipped to do their work?
• Do they think their pay is fair?

To keep employee satisfaction high, you can work with your team members to set individual goals so they can develop their skills and establish clear career pathways. If your team needs additional resources, you can act as a liaison to help get them what they need to do their best work and keep your employees engaged.

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Sub-metric to watch: Role within the organization

Your employees want to know that they're playing an active role in advancing the company's mission and vision. Discover more ways to improve employee satisfaction including making sure their responsibilities are clearly outlined, providing them with appropriate resources, and supporting their professional growth.{emphasize}

10. Ambassadorship

Last but not least, ambassadorship gives you a great idea of whether employees are true advocates of the company, as an employer, and for its services. When an engaged employee goes from “I like my job” to “everyone should have an employer as great as mine,” it helps you retain (and attract) the best talent to your team.

Why is this metric important for managers? Because you have a big impact on how employees feel about their organization. And the more advocates you have on your team, the better they’ll perform. Tracking ambassadorship and asking the right employee Net Promoter Score questions help you spot what employees love most about working at your company, and where there’s room to strengthen that loyalty. That way, you have a lower employee turnover rate and continue to develop your team.

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Sub-metric to watch: Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS)

Get actionable insights into whether your employees champion and advocate for your organization by using the employee Net Promoter Score.{emphasize}

More than a score: Beyond employee engagement metrics

The main purpose of measuring engagement on your team isn’t getting your engagement score up to 10/10. There are major benefits to keeping your employees engaged, and monitoring how people feel over time helps you spot fluctuations and understand the impact of workplace changes.

While it's important to track these engagement metrics, what you do with your employee survey results and feedback is arguably the most important step to improving employee engagement and boosting team happiness. Make sure you communicate results and subsequent decisions to your team and ultimately create realistic employee engagement action plans.

At the end of the day, engaged employees are happier, more loyal to your organization, and perform better in their daily tasks. Start taking the pulse of your team today with Officevibe's employee engagement solution and elevate your entire employee experience.

Even with everyone in the office, it can be difficult for managers to keep up with their teams. How are people feeling? What are the current challenges? And what's going really well? These are things every great manager wants visibility on. But it can be hard to understand your employee's experience, especially when you have a distributed or remote team.

This is why the benefits of Pulse Surveys are particularly helpful for managers with distributed teams. Pulse Surveys help you see the whole picture of your team's engagement levels, stress and wellbeing, professional development, and more. They offer detailed insights into the employee experience on your team.

By gaining this high-level view of what's really going on, you're better able to take action for your team where it will have the greatest impact.

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What are Pulse Surveys?

Quick history lesson: Over the last 20 years, managers and leaders alike have come to understand that checking in annually, quarterly, or even monthly with employees is simply not frequent enough. Pulse Surveys were originally introduced as an alternative to an annual engagement survey, and now they're widely considered the gold standard for measuring employee engagement.

Sent on a weekly or bi-weekly basis to employees, Pulse Surveys are designed to be quick, simple, and integrated into the flow of work. The data they collect are presented in clear, digestible reports, so you can measure and analyze engagement levels easily. Plus, historical insights allow you to track trends over time.

See the whole picture with Officevibe Pulse Surveys

In the Officevibe Pulse Survey software, employees are sent anonymous 5-question surveys every week or two. Follow-up questions allow for open-ended feedback, and Custom Surveys offer the opportunity to dig deeper into specific areas.

Simple graphs break down the data for managers into 10 Metrics of Engagement, with 26 Sub-Metrics and expert-crafted questions backed by Deloitte. So it's easy for you to see how your team is doing at a glance, no matter where you are—or where they are.

The benefits of employee Pulse Surveys

Maintaining a pulse on your employees’ engagement and collecting their feedback is an essential part of modern management. It helps you improve team performance and employee engagement—not to mention spot any issues that arise early, so you can take action before things take a turn for the worse or good employees leave.

Benefits of employee surveys for all teams

• Give employees a safe space to share their honest feedback.
• Gain valuable insights on various factors or metrics of employee engagement.
• Show employees that their ideas, opinions, questions, and concerns are valued.
• Understand what's going on currently on your team, and adapt in real-time.
• Foster a feedback-positive culture and spark conversations that wouldn't happen otherwise.

Check out our top 10 benefits of employee engagement surveys.

Pulse Survey benefits for distributed or remote teams

Before we get into the benefits, what exactly is a distributed team? A team qualifies as distributed when its members work in different physical locations. Distributed companies can have a head office, but employee presence is not necessarily mandatory.

• Maintain your 'open-door policy' and be available for remote employees.
• Get a better view of the unique challenges of your distributed team.
• Spot warning signs of misalignment, conflict, or burnout on the team.
• Create a virtual safe space for honest feedback about employee experience.
• Check in on things that might get missed away from the water cooler.

Like checking your online banking, keeping an eye on engagement data becomes a natural, frequent reflex. You'll know where to spend more energy, and how to best allocate your resources for the overall health of your team. And this helps you maintain engagement, and reap all the benefits of a highly engaged team.

Best practices for employee Pulse Surveys

Make the most of your employee engagement surveys by following these 3 key best practices.

1. Offer anonymity

Offering an anonymous space shows employees that the goal is understanding. It lets them know there won't be any reprimand or finger-pointing for honest constructive or critical feedback. Plus, anonymity gives safety to those who are more introverted or might want to touch on more sensitive topics.

Officevibe's Pulse Survey tool provides managers with anonymized reports using aggregated data. Follow-up questions give employees the choice to toggle anonymity on or off, and managers can even turn these messages into a two-way chat while employees stay anonymous.

2. Share results

Share your team's results with them. They're likely curious, and this is a great way to be transparent with your team, let them know how you plan to take action, and ask them for their ideas. You can do this on a monthly or quarterly basis, or any time you notice a metric trending up or down.

Once you've shared your report with the team, bring up their engagement results in your one-on-one meetings, too. Officevibe’s hybrid work software makes it easy to turn engagement metrics into talking points, so you can check in on everyone’s individual perspective.

3. Follow through

The cardinal rule of surveying employees is to follow through on the results. Showing that you're willing to create an engagement action plan builds trust with your team, which can reduce turnover and boost productivity. When you collect ongoing employee feedback, you can implement incremental change. This is more sustainable than attempting a total overhaul after sifting through a mountain of annual employee survey results.

Get your team to pitch in on planning how you'll follow through on survey results. Together, you can decide which metric you want to focus on and brainstorm solutions to address what isn't working or amplify what's already going well.

💡Read more about employee engagement survey best practices here.

Sample Pulse Survey questions

It's great to ask questions on a wide range of topics in your survey, and then dig deeper where you see issues or inconsistencies. These sample Pulse Survey questions are from the Officevibe survey bank, and used by over 50,000 managers worldwide. You can also use an employee survey template for simplicity.

• Do communications among peers feel honest?
• How would you rate the importance that your organization gives to your opinions and suggestions?
• Do you feel that your direct manager understands your day-to-day reality?
• Is recognition meaningful when you receive it?
• Do you feel you have enough freedom to decide how you do your work?
• Overall, how do you feel about your level of work-related stress?
• Do you know what you need to do to meet your goals and objectives?

Once you've integrated Pulse Surveys into your team's feedback cycles, you can start tracking trends. Cycling through the same questions over time helps you see how things shift and understand the impact of your efforts. Just make sure your question bank is big enough, to avoid redundancy and avoid survey fatigue.

Pulse Surveys help you see the whole picture of your dispersed team

However you keep a pulse on how your people feel, collecting frequent feedback from your team will help you lead with confidence. Once you understand your employees' experience better, show them that they've been heard by implementing meaningful change.

One of the most frequent questions we get in our platform is around survey privacy, and how the data is collected and handled. I thoroughly understand employee’s concerns, many companies have done a terrible job establishing trust within their organization.

Often, the only reason a survey is done is in reaction to something negative, so the employees feel as if the questionnaire or poll is used against them.

I want to go through in as much detail as possible how Officevibe's employee survey solution handles privacy and anonymity, to make sure that there is no confusion.

It’s important to understand that we are acting as a middleman, protecting both parties, and no matter how much managers complain, we will never change our policy on privacy and anonymity.

It’s valuable for employees to understand that if their company has signed up for Officevibe, it’s because they’re genuinely trying to figure out what’s wrong with the organization.

All in the hopes of improving the culture at the office..

What our vision is with Officevibe, is to empower managers with enough data and tips so that they can make their employees better.

I often cite research on this blog about the science of recognition, feedback, happiness, wellness and relationships at work, and we’re trying to take all of that knowledge and bake it into the product.

For example, research from Deloitte found that feedback means more when it comes from your peers since they’re with you more on the day-to-day, so it means more coming from them.

My favorite example is Shopify; they value peer feedback so much that they built an internal tool to enable employees to thank each other and even crowdsource bonuses.

We developed an activity to encourage constructive feedback among coworkers with a fun fill-in-the-blank twist to it, to ensure that it’s done in a professional manner.

Let’s talk about how we handle privacy for that one first.

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Feedback game

For the feedback game, only the person you’re giving feedback to will be able to see it, not any manager.

So when you give feedback to someone, they receive an email from you, but only they know that it came from you.

We’ve discussed the idea of managers one day being able to see the feedback, to help improve performance reviews, for example, but for now this is undecided.

We’re trying to create a culture of openness and constant improvement, so it could help to be able to see the feedback. If it’s done in a friendly, constructive way, there shouldn’t be anything to hide.

Pulse survey questions

This is the bread and butter of the Officevibe system.

Employee Pulse surveys are so much better than regular employee surveys because they’re shorter and sweeter.

Here, the issue of privacy is the biggest, and again, I completely understand why.

We’re very clear about this, everyone’s answer is 100% anonymous, the manager will never be able to see it.

In the emails that get sent out, we explicitly say that their answer is private

What we show to managers is an aggregated score based on everyone's results, because again, we want to help managers understand where the problems are, so they know what can be improved.

So as a simple example, if a team answers 20 questions about happiness, a manager could see that the happiness score is low. However, they will never be able to see the 20 answers that made that score so low.

Qualitative feedback

In Officevibe, we ask contextual qualitative questions as well.

The way it works is right after you answer certain questions, you’re prompted with a qualitative follow-up, making it very contextual.

You can optionally skip the question (although so far the response rate has been incredible), and by default, it is anonymous.

Employees can choose to uncheck the box if they’re okay with making themselves known.

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What do you think about how we handle privacy?

We respect every user’s privacy, and we want to make sure that they’re only sharing what they’re comfortable sharing. This is why the data is aggregated and anonymized.

However, we want to create an environment where managers can see what’s wrong in an organization so that they can fix it.

Let us know your thoughts on Twitter @Officevibe.

There is a really big problem in today’s workforce.

Almost no one is passionate about what they do.

In 2014, Deloitte released a comprehensive report that found 88% of employees don’t have passion for their work, and so they don’t contribute their full potential.

Even worse, they found that 80% of senior managers aren’t passionate about their work. We all know the value of leadership, and how engagement starts at the top, so think about how broken most cultures are.

How can we expect employees to give 100% of their effort and energy to go above and beyond when most of the leadership team isn’t passionate?

In addition, according to Officevibe's data, 3% of employees feel like their eight hours at work serves no purpose.

In this article, we explain the importance of inspiring passion at work and show you how you can ignite passion on your team.

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What is a passionate worker?

Before we look at why employees aren’t passionate and how you can help them build that passion, it’s important to understand what a “passionate” worker is. Deloitte’s report explains it very well.

{emphasize}"Passionate workers are committed to continually achieving higher levels of performance. In today’s rapidly changing business environment, companies need positive energy because such workers can drive extreme and sustained performance improvement—more than the one-time performance “bump” that follows a bonus or the implementation of a worker engagement initiative.

These workers have both personal resilience and an orientation toward learning and improvement that helps organizations develop the resilience needed to withstand and grow stronger from continuous market challenges and disruptions."{emphasize}

Examples of performance goals for employees.

This is such a powerful explanation, let’s break it down further.

So many companies make the mistake of trying to incentivize work with a quick bonus or perk, but you’ll only get short term results. The secret to long term, true passion and consistent success for business is to create a workplace that allows workers to find passion by showing their positive impact on business results.  

Here are signs that an employee has inspiring passion at work:

Proactivity and positive energy

Bringing new ideas to you or the team is a sign that an employee is thinking a few steps ahead. A passionate employee will always look for creative ways to solve problems because this is an occasion for him to learn.

Trying to improve in their area of expertise.

An employee who wants to follow a new formation or attend a seminar shows interest in his area of expertise and an interest in personal growth. This behaviour is an indicator of passion.

Helping other team members to find their passion.

When you found your own passion here, it's only natural that you want to help other find theirs. A passionate employee will go the extra mile to help his colleagues to be passionate.

You can witness this in interactions between your team members or in the feedback that employees give each other.

When you’re trying to reach new heights for your team, you need everyone to be able to handle stress well and have a growth mindset where you’re always learning and growing.

Why is passion important?

Passion is more long-term than engagement.

Employee engagement is usually thought of as happiness. Happiness with your work environment, your coworkers, and your boss balanced with your personal life.

Unfortunately, engagement often doesn't get the kind of results we want. Engagement is usually a small, short-term bump in performance. Employees that are unhappy become a bit happier, you’ll potentially lower your turnover rate and might have a more fun work environment.

Passion is much deeper than that.

When an employee is passionate about what they do, they consistently look for better ways to improve themselves, their role, and the business in general.

There’s a much bigger focus on growth and development.

Rather than bumps and dips (with engagement), you get a consistent, steady growth.

Why some employees lacking passion?

The problem, according to Deloitte’s report, is that companies aren’t creating the type of environments where passionate workers can thrive.

Even if you have a powerful mission and your employees want to grow, many companies are hindering that creativity, eve if they don’t realize it.

From their report:

Companies are missing out on a huge opportunity by being too risk averse.

These mistakes are rooted in fear, but companies need to be much more trusting of their employees if they expect to achieve great things.

Most employees want to get passionate about their work, they want to master their job, it’s an intrinsic career motivation for all of us to continuously develop.

For many different reasons (politics, processes and policies, etc.) employees get turned off and lose that passion.

How to develop passion on your team?

So then the question becomes, how do you create more passionate workers? How do we nurture our current talent and make them more passionate?

Don't forget! Passion can be developed. If an employee isn't feeling passionate at a certain point, it doesn't mean you should give up. As a manager, there are many ways to develop passion on your team.

Connecting

Workers that are passionate about what job they do are always looking to connect with others to help them improve and solve problems.

Deloitte recommends that you make efforts to help employees connect with other people at their company, and network with people outside of their workplace.

Questing

Workers with the questing attribute will always be looking for innovative ways to improve what they do. They’re constantly testing and experimenting with new ideas.

Deloitte encourages you to allow employees to work on side projects, or even better, let them choose which projects they work on at work.

Commitment To Domain

Passion workers have a commitment to the domain they’re in, and are deeply committed to the work they do.

A simple example of this is when a falsely accused criminal becomes a lawyer that fights wrongful convictions.

That experience leads them to be more deeply passionate about their work than someone who hasn’t had that experience.

Deloitte says that if you promote your purpose and allow employees to hear directly from customers, that can increase their commitment to domain.

Here are some of our tips (not from Deloitte’s report) to help your employees develop passion.

Find common goals

Bringing your team around a common goal is a great way to ignite passion in your employees.

With team goals, employees feel like they are part of something greater than their role and it's this can act as a motivating factor. This will connect each employee to support the greater mission of the company.

Develop A Growth Mindset

This is an important tip for both employees and the organization as a whole.

In order to have that experimental, exploratory mindset, you need to remove the fear from employees and get everyone in the company comfortable with failure and testing.

Help your employees to step out of their comfort zone

As mentioned above, passionate employees love to find creative solutions to regular problems in their expertise area.

A great way to stimulate your team members to be more passionate is to give them creative constraints that stimulate them to step out of their comfort zone and push them to be more forward-thinking!

Stay connected

If you're wondering if your employees are passionate about their work, why not ask? If your team is built on honesty and transparency, your employees won't be afraid to mention if they are feeling passionate about the work they do.

If you're worried that your employees might give positive answers to satisfy you, don't be afraid to use anonymous surveys. These are a great way to know what's really going on on your team. Officevibe's employee engagement software offer many questions about passion at work that you can ask to feel the pulse of your employees.

Give Employees Autonomy

It’s hard for someone to get passionate if they don’t have the autonomy to grow as a person.

If someone’s micromanaging, and controlling every move they make, there’s no way they’ll be able to develop passion and feel that excitement for what they’re doing.

Help Them Learn

You need to actively encourage them to learn and help them by giving them the resources they need to learn more.

Set up a budget so they can buy books, courses, and anything that will help them grow. Invest in your employees.

Send employees to conferences if it will help inspire them to learn and connect with others.

Make time for them to learn. Don’t set unrealistic deadlines for them and encourage them to take time to learn. It will benefit you in the long run.

Myths about passion

Deloitte’s report also gave a few common myths that exist about passion for work.

The key thing you need to understand is that everyone has the potential to be passionate about work. Humans are intrinsically motivated to master skills, grow, and get excited about what task they’re working on.

Only Younger Workers Are Passionate

One myth that they found exists in among many people is that only younger workers could get passionate about what they do.

This is a pretty dangerous myth to have because what companies might do to solve this is focus on hiring younger workers, thinking they’re more passionate than older workers.

Companies might also be overlooking older workers that have the passion they’re looking for.

Their data found that there was no significant difference in any age group they looked at.

Younger workers were passionate, but sometimes passion comes with experience.

Age has nothing to do with keeping the passion alive. It’s really all about creating the right type of environment for passion to exist.

Small Companies Have More Passionate Employees

Everyone has a vision of a fast-paced, young, cool startup company versus a stodgy, old, corporate company with tons of red-tape holding moving incredibly slowly.

But this is just a myth. It’s a false perception.

It’s more about a company’s values, policies, and culture. Their research found that large companies were just as good (or bad) at developing passion.

Again, what’s most important is how easy it is for employees to learn, develop, and grow.

More Educated Workers Are More Passionate

Another myth that exists is that the more educated you are, the more passionate you are.

While I can understand why this myth might exist, it’s simply not true.

Again, everyone (regardless of education) has the desire and ability to develop that passion. The most important part of building passion is the type of environment they’re in.

Getting a university degree has nothing to do with how much you believe in something.

Only Knowledge Workers Are Passionate

This one is half-true. The workers at the top reported higher passion (around 20%), whereas front-line workers reported around 6%, but again, anyone can be passionate.

The reason for front-line workers being less passionate is likely because they’re given the least amount of autonomy, they’re the most micromanaged and have the most restraints put on their creativity.

So while it’s true that as you move up the corporate ladder, you have more chance of being passionate, it’s more about the type of environment that front-line workers experience.

A smart way for teams to get a more complete picture on an employee is to use 360 degree feedback.

Traditionally, employees get feedback only from their direct managers, which creates a 1-1 feedback process. To get a more complete picture, you want to get feedback from as many sources as possible.

There are many pros and cons to using 360 feedback that we’ll go through, but one important thing to understand is that it’s used to measure an employee’s strength and weaknesses, not their performance.

This is why it might not be the best idea to include 360 feedback as part of an annual performance review. If you’re planning to use it, it might just be part of your overall feedback and performance management process.

In this post, we’ll explain what 360 degree feedback is, talk about the pros and cons, give you some examples of questions, and some pro tips to get you started quickly and easily.

Before we do, make sure to grab this free guide on how to give better employee feedback.

What is 360 degree feedback?

360 degree feedback is when you collect feedback about your strengths and weaknesses from everyone around you, hence the name 360 degree.

As a manager, if you were the one receiving 360 reviews, you’d collect feedback from your direct manager (if you have one), your employees, your coworkers, and potentially even your customers. Many times there is also a self-assessment that is included in the process.

It’s important that the process is anonymous and that everyone rating you gets the same questions about you. At the end, one person (usually your manager) will compile all the results and discover any patterns about where you could improve.

Remember, a 360 review is about strengths and weaknesses.

{emphasize}A performance review is about the job someone is doing, a 360 review is about an employee’s skills.{emphasize}

The goal is to help anyone in the organization (senior leaders and employees) improve their personal skills and behaviors at work. By combining multiple sources of feedback, you’ll get a more complete picture of the employee.

Pros of 360 degree feedback

There are many pros to 360 feedback, they’re an amazing tool to use, but it’s important for you to remember that it’s all part of a larger feedback process which includes employee surveys, one-on-ones, annual reviews, etc.

1. More Complete Assessment

Because you’re collecting feedback from so many different sources, you have a broader (and potentially more accurate) assessment. You’ll likely notice recurring themes and patterns that you should be focusing on.

{emphasize}According to Officevibe data, 18% of employees feel like the feedback they receive is lacking precision.{emphasize}

By implementing 360 degree feedback and increasing the number of respondents, you are more likely to have a better picture of your employee's work and relations, hence making the feedback more specific. Also, it’s likely that colleagues or customers have feedback that you might not have, so you’ll get a more complete picture of your employee's strengths and weaknesses.

2. Create Better Teamwork

In theory, if everyone identifies their strengths, weaknesses, and behaviours that they need to work on, they’ll end up becoming better coworkers and the team will be happier and more productive.

3. See How Others See You

It’s great to see how others perceive you. The 360 review gives colleagues a chance to anonymously express how they feel about their coworkers, something that doesn't regularly happen at work.

If you’re able to handle feedback and not get too upset about it, you’ll want to know how others see you. The key to handling feedback is to develop a growth mindset and look at it as an opportunity to grow.

4. More Feedback Is Always Better

One of the biggest issues that employees face in their workplace is a lack of frequent feedback. Employees crave feedback, and the 360 review gives them a chance to get more of it from more people.

Employees will likely also perceive the feedback as more fair since it’s coming from multiple sources.

5. 360 feedback is anonymous

In most cases, 360 feedback is anonymous. This can sometime be an advantage of 360 feedback as some employees might feel more comfortable giving feedback. This is especially the case for constructive and negative feedback.

If some of your team members are scared to share negative feedback about a colleague, then 360 feedback can be a safe space where they are able to flag these issues to their manager and the colleague in question.

Cons of 360 feedback

360 feedback isn’t perfect, and unfortunately many teams will implement it for the wrong reasons. You need to be very careful when doing this. If your culture already has an issue of trust or the team isn’t getting along well, this might only worsen the problem.

1. It Can Create A Negative Culture

If the feedback received is negative, it can create a lot of resentment on the team, where the receiver is angry at their colleagues or customers, inducing emotions like fear and anger.

To prevent this from happening, you can teach your employees about constructive feedback. This will help your employees to turn a negative comment into an actionnable statement and will be much more beneficial for the concerned employee and your team in the long run.

2. It Might Not Be Accurate

The feedback that’s received might not be 100% accurate. Your colleagues might want to be nicer that what they really feel, or maybe due to internal politics they’re dishonest to be mean.

If you’re on a small team and everyone’s friends with each other, can we really be that critical of each other?

On the flipside, if you’re on a very large team, do the people reviewing you really know you well enough to give you an accurate assessment?

Remember, feedback is often about perceptions. Because a certain employee feels some way about a colleague, it might not be the absolute truth. In the case of negative feedback, make sure you take the time to discuss it with the concerned employee to make sure that everyone is on the same page.

The point is, be careful with the data you’re collecting.

3. Too Focused On Weaknesses

The review can focus too much on an employee’s weaknesses and not enough on their strengths, which can be pretty discouraging.

It’s okay to highlight areas for improvement, but remember to focus on strengths and how that strengths can be leveraged more on the team.

4. You can't track anonymous feedback

Anonymous feedback is great to make your employees more comfortable to share their opinions, but it can sometimes be a double edged sword. If a critical issue arise during a 360 feedback loop, it's impossible for you to know the identity of the employee sharing the negative feedback. This makes it harder for the manager to address and solve the conflict effectively.

5. It's time consuming

While the assessment you obtain might be more complete, this quality of information comes at a cost. First, it takes time for your employees to fill feedback surveys. For the manager, analyzing the feedback and finding insights from the surveys is also a time consuming task.

If you chose to conduct 360 feedback for many team members, the time taken by all parties is multiplied. Since managers usually have busy schedules, it's important to ask yourself if the insights coming from 360 feedback are worth the time invested into it for you and your employees. Typically, they are. And the juice is worth the squeeze because gaining different perspectives and revealing your own blindspots is essential to better understand your team.

Should you implement 360 feedback on your team?

As presented earlier, 360 feedback comes with many pros and some cons. If you’re wondering whether or not to implement 360 feedback on your team, the answer is it depends.

Different teams have different challenges, and as a manager you know what’s best for yours.Collecting 360 feedback is great every 6-12 months to get a high level view of your team’s performance through different eyes, but, collecting frequent ongoing feedback is essential to have an real-time view of your teams pains and sentiments.

Here are a few situations where 360 feedback might benefit your team:

• When you notice team dynamics issues and need to grasp how employees are collaborating with their peers.
• Before performance reviews or compensation adjustments so you have an accurate picture of their contribution
• Before promoting an employee internally so you see what areas need refining before shifiting roles.

Keeping a balance between different feedback collection methods will help you have an accurate view of your team and its needs. For situations where 360 feedback might not be the best option for your team, you can use Officevibe's feedback features to take the pulse of your team without loading your already busy schedule.

360 Feedback sample questions

Since managers have busy schedules, implementing a new feedback process can be time consuming.

The exercise of 360 feedback can give you the opportunity to address some critical areas such as autonomy, expertise and impact. In order to save you some time, here are a few sample questions you can use for your 360 feedback review:

{emphasize}

• Does this employee seem motivated at work?
• Do you feel like this team member is autonomous on their day to day?
• When conflicts arise, does this employee handle it well?
• When challenges arise, does this employee take the initiative of proposing solutions?
• On the daily, do you consider this employee to be proactive or reactive?
• Does this employee's work impact colleagues outside of his direct team?
• Is this employee committed to the success of the organization?
• Does this employee display leadership skills?
• Is this employee in charge of his/her professional development?
• Have you experienced any problems with this employee personally?
• Does this employee pay attention to detail in their work?
• Is this employee a good communicator?
• Does this employee manage their time well?
• Do you trust this employee that they’ll do what they say they’ll do?{emphasize}

Tips to get started with 360 feedback

If you’re looking to get started with 360 feedback, here are a few tips to keep in mind as you get started.

Set Goals For The Process

You need to have a reason for why you’re doing what you do, how you’ll use the results, and what people should expect.

Ask yourself questions like:

• What skills/strengths are important for us here? (hint: tie them to your core values).
• What are we going to do with all of the data we collect? How will we keep that going over time?

Remove The Fear

If you’re just getting started with 360 reviews, it’s natural that employees might be a bit nervous or scared about what to expect. It’s your job as a manager to remove that fear and explain exactly how to process will work.

Explain how the anonymity works, that they should be honest, why you’re doing this, etc.

Keep The Survey Short

One last tip to keep in mind is not to make your survey too long. Survey fatigue kicks in very quickly, and with something like this you want the information to be as accurate as possible.

Take the survey a few times yourself to see how long it is and where you could potentially remove to make the process as simple as possible.

Do You Use 360 Degree Feedback?

Anything to share with our community about how you do it at your organization?

If you’ve ever worked on a team that has strong core values, you’ll know what a powerful guiding force they can be. Team values help create a shared understanding around how to work together and sets the tone for how to treat one another.

While your team objectives give your employees a destination, your team values will help them forge the path to get there.

Getting your team involved in establishing common values early on and deciding what they should look like in practice is the best way to create values that have a lasting impact.

What are team values and why do they matter?

Core values describe people's deeply held beliefs that guide their actions and behaviors. At the individual level, each person’s values will be shaped by their own experiences, desires, and how they see the world.

Values help guide actions, behaviors, and create team norms. They can act as a north star and help your team move in the same direction. ‍

Google Re:Work's Create a team vision tool

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Having strong core values for your team provides employees with a guiding light that helps them achieve desired results. If your team places a focus on always pleasing the customer, you know that they won’t put forward work that is not client focused. If they value kindness and empathy, they will be more inclined to behave in a way that fosters trust, collaboration, and connection with their colleagues.

Research shows that having well defined team values can help employees feel a greater sense of inclusion, take more calculated risks, and experience psychological safety with one another. Your team’s core values will guide them in every decision they make, so it’s important to take this process seriously.

14 core values every team should have

{emphasize}Here is a list of the top team values you can draw inspiration from:

1. Openness
2. Volunteerism
3. Enthusiasm
4. Respect
5. Compassion
6. Accountability 
7. Integrity 
8. Teamwork
9. Customer focus
10. Communicating with impact 
11. Developing self & others
12. Drive for results 
13. Humility 
14. Passion{emphasize}

How to build your own team values

While there are plenty of values available to be found online, applying a blanket set of values to your team won’t provide the meaning and guidance values are intended to make. Every team is different, and so their values will be too. If you want your team to be personally dedicated and accountable to the values, you need to include them in establishing them.

1. Dedicate 2-3 synchronous hours to meet as a group

This activity will require some dedicated working time as a group. Whether you are working in person, remotely, or in a hybrid or distributed model, schedule a few hours as a team to meet. Let people know ahead of time what they should expect and how to prepare.

{emphasize}You can tell everyone to reflect on the following the following prompts in preparation for the session:

• Think about the most meaningful moments you’ve had on the team.
• What differentiates the team from other teams?
• What drives the team when working together?
• What are behaviors from leadership which inspire and motivate you?{emphasize}

Asking your team questions will get them thinking about what values drive meaning and importance for them.

2. Identify values as a team 

Based on the reflection from step 1, have your team identify their top 5-10 values which they feel describe the team’s current or aspirational state.

Have everyone write down each of their values on a sticky note and place them on a white board. If you're collaborating virtually, practice the same activity using Google Jam Board or another online tool.

With the values all laid out, the team can look for the common themes in the reflections from step 1. They can cluster people's values into groups of common ideas, and then vote to narrow down their values down to 3-5.

3. Discuss and describe the values 

Once you’ve described the “what”, it's time to describe the “how.” For each value you’ve created, discuss and write out a few actions that demonstrate what this value looks like in action.

At this stage it's about really outlining what every value means to the team and how it might be actualized. You can do this by defining the values with words or phrases and elaborating in a short description with examples.

{emphasize}For example: If you choose creativity as a value, then a behavior or action might be described as offering unique experiences to each of your clients.{emphasize}

4. Create a slidedeck

Once you’ve created your values and associated behaviours, you can create a presentation that outlines and explains what these values are as well as how and why you’ve arrived at them.

This way, as your team grows and you have new employees, you can go through the presentation and onboard them into your culture early on.

Tried and trusted team values principles

While we do recommend creating your own team values, here are some examples of common values with brief descriptions you can draw inspiration from.

• Doing the right thing: We always act in an ethical way towards our customers and each other, even if it's not convenient or beneficial for us. This means we step up to the plate and admit when we make mistakes, we help each other out, and we make sure our customers are always respected. We're empathetic towards one another. 

• Innovation: We like to think outside the box, and we create work that is authentic, engaging, and original. We do this through our blue sky thinking, growth mindset, and always questioning out biases. Pushing past the status quo is who we are. 

• Collaboration: We work together and take a “we” beats “me” mentality. We don’t work in silos, we share information, and we value open source. This means taking time to communicate, explain, and share our thoughts with one another. 

Living your core values day-to-day

It's not enough to have your core values pasted on a wall or presentation. You need to be explicit with how these values should be lived out in your day-to-day culture and business.

If you’re in a leadership position and your team values openness and transparency, then forgetting to communicate important information and involving your team in important decisions will signal to them that your values are not real and don’t carry any weight.

Once you’ve created your values, commit to actions that support them. This will help build trust and connection with your team. 

Ways to reinforce team values include:

• Talking about the team values in your O3s.
• Asking people how they feel the team is living by their core values. Tools like Officevibe help you get a clear picture of how your team feels.
• Creating recognition and team rewards based around rewarding behaviors that embody these values.

Shared core values unite the team around common beliefs and serve as a compass that team members can follow when they don’t have access to a manager. Do you have team values? Get started today!

When you have a bad day, when good things happen, or when you are stressed…having friends at work is key to job satisfaction, managing stress, and staying connected to your work.

But when you are the leader of a team, managing friendships at work can feel tricky. Especially when those friendships involve people you manage.

We spoke with real managers who have gone through this experience. They shared some tips on how to go into your friendships with confidence, and without losing your ability to fully develop as a leader at the same time.

Since some of these people still work with their current friends and managers, they asked to remain anonymous.

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Why work friends are so important and needed

Being a manager might isolate you from your team

You might think that as soon as you become a manager, that means that you will lose the ability to befriend your team. On countless occasions, we have heard managers say,

Being a manager can feel lonely.

However, letting loneliness grow deep can have consequences in your development as a professional and your ability to overcome challenges. If you feel like there’s no one you can bounce ideas, connect, or share experiences with, you can develop a sense of isolation and disconnect from your workplace and team.

In an observational study by Sigal Barsade and Hakan Ozcelik to understand how loneliness affects work performance, they found that indeed loneliness led to withdrawal from work, weaker productivity, motivation, and performance.

How work friendships help as emotional support

There will be times when you’ll have to manage difficult employees. Or you might be trying to mitigate a complex conflict between team members. These instances are unique to you as a manager, and often charged with emotions. And although you need to learn how to manage and express emotions at work, these moments will happen and emotions are human.

Having a friend you can be your true self and express your feelings with is key to your wellbeing, stress management of your role, and overall happiness at work.

We know that having friends at your workplace is necessary, but it’s not always that easy when you are in a leadership role. Here are some tips to help you find friends in the workplace.

From lonely to friendly: finding friends at work

1. Develop a strong connection with your team

Even if you feel like being friends with your team is tricky because of your role as their manager, you can still develop strong relationships with them (and to a degree, even friendships).

In relationships, nothing is black or white. There are many scales of grey.

And although maybe you won’t be able to rely on one of your team members to discuss a team conflict or an issue with your boss, they can still have your back and connect with you.

If you want to start somewhere, start by establishing trust. From experience, this can be a game changer in how in-depth you get to connect with your team.

2. Connect with other managers within your organization

One of the best pieces of career advice we can give (around this topic) is to find other managers in your organization. Although it can be intimidating to reach out to people outside of your team ― even more in the remote work context where it might involve people you have never met before, a fellow manager will understand a lot of what you go through.

They'll understand things like managing up (being the middle person between your team and leaders above you), finding the right balance between managing your team and getting your own work done, working out challenges on your team, and many more instances make your job as a manager as rewarding and as challenging as it can get. These common grounds can help you initiate conversations and develop friendships.

3. Increase your network

When it’s difficult to find friends at work because your managerial role involves a lot of confidential information, or you have a big influence in the day-to-day lives of people, finding friends at work and within your organization can be more challenging.

That’s where growing a network around you that gets you is important. You can start by building your personal brand online as a manager or looking for advice online, and slowly starting conversations. You can also join online groups of managers within your industry.

The opportunities and options are endless, and you can find real friendships. Even outside your own workplace.

Awkward or not awkward: managing friends at work

Many companies choose to promote from within. It’s cheaper, more time-efficient since there is less training involved, and it’s a great way to recognize people’s potential.

This is how many people embark on their new job as managers. They might find themselves in the position where they just got promoted, and now it’s their job to manage a team, and potentially their own friends.

Here's what some managers who have been through it had to say:

It will be awkward at first, but not forever

"It did change the dynamic a bit."

“It did change the dynamic a bit. Had to work through the awkwardness of it at first. Some topics are no longer discussed. But we just respect each other and moved on. We're still close friends to this day.”

The key thing to expect here is a change in dynamic. Change always comes with an adjustment period. Expect this period, as it happens to everyone, knowing that with time, it will pass.

Early and continuous communication are key

"When I was promoted, I was afraid to tell my close friend at work."

“When I was promoted, I was afraid to tell my close friend at work. Mainly because we used to be coworkers and do the same job. When I heard the news, I felt like I couldn’t tell her. I didn’t want to ruin things. The problem came when our VP announced the news. He had to disclose that the conversation was months in the making and that I had agreed to accept the opportunity. That only made things more awkward for us. After talking it through, what bothered my friend the most is knowing that I didn’t feel comfortable telling her. She would’ve loved to hear it from me and be happy for me!”

This is a hard call. Especially if the information is confidential and it isn’t up to you to disclose your upcoming promotion. However, from our conversations with managers, there was a common tool: communication. If you are able to, talk to your friend as soon as possible. Most likely they will be happy for you!

“I knew the vision I had for my new team and the type of manager I wanted to be. I shared my plan — out of excitement more than anything — with my friend. She wasn’t surprised at all about my ambition! She knew me very well and saw that coming. But as I transitioned to my role and adjusted things in the team, it helped her anticipate my expectations, even if they involved me setting new goals for her.”

Keeping communication constant and understanding that it will take some time before you find the right ways to work together, can really help you and your friend transition to your new dynamic. Your friend will know what to expect from you as their manager, and that will help them to process the changes to come.

Empathy goes a long way

This will apply to both sides of the friendship. On your side, take a few minutes to consider how you would feel if your friend became your manager. And your friend will have to think about how it would feel for them to be moved to manager.

Even if your friend takes some time to adjust, empathy will be the best way to understand their behaviours. From our conversations with managers, we saw that empathy was often their starting point when finding a balance between friendships, work, and leadership.

"We both wanted the promotion."

“We both wanted the promotion. In fact, we used to work so well together because we were as motivated to push for the same goals! So when I became manager, I had to give some room to my friend to be upset and disappointed. I would’ve probably felt the same way if I'm being honest…I thought about what I would want my friend to do if the situation were reversed, and that empathy really helped us pass over the tension.”

Transparency and clear processes make things fair

“My biggest fear was that my team would think I was going to favour my two best friends in the team. I right away decided I was going to have methods in place for recognition and when assigning projects. Having impartial systems that benefited those who had the skills, seniority, and time to do certain projects made it clear to my team that it wasn’t up to me. It was up to them. No favouritism there!”

For recognition, opportunities, benefits, and ideation…having a plan and open process will help your team know that you won’t favour everyone specifically.;

{highlight}Pro tip: make sure the metrics you use are factual and not ambiguous. For example, saying that you value dedication on your team might be too open to interpretation. Be more specific by saying that you value collaborating with outside teams, bringing up new ideas, meeting goals, etc. The goal is to create a work environment that feels and acts fairly.{highlight}

Talk about it and have the uncomfortable conversation

“Listen, we all knew there was an elephant in the room. I had very good friends in the team before I became manager. And what was worse, the next promotion was going to be, in part, my decision! I knew that even if conversations could be tense, I needed to talk to people about this. I was open about it, gathered my team’s concerns, and was upfront with my friends about how the decision was going to be made. It took courage, but I think my team respected it and my friends appreciated it.”

It can be stressful, but having those difficult conversations will set you up for long-term success. Allow yourself to be a little uncomfortable, be proactive at bringing the conversation topic yourself, and keep a record of what you discussed to avoid misunderstandings down the line.

{highlight}Pro tip: Managers love our one-on-one meeting software because it allows you to set collaborative agendas and book meetings with all team members, and keep a record of the conversation points! Transparency and equality will be your allies in keeping trust strong on your team. Sign-up free for Officevibe and lead with confidence, even in the most awkward conversations.{highlight}

In the end, I was able to maintain all of my friendships after my promotion, and even had to give some disciplinary warnings.

"But I think the fact that I treated all of my team with the same respect and transparency that I would want from a manager was really the biggest help."

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It will take some time, empathy, and openness, but you can reach a healthy balance in your friendships at work. Learn when to confidently lean on friendships and when to lean on your role as a manager and leader. The stress and tension you feel is a sign that you care. Be kind to yourself, have empathy, and continue developing strong relationships.

FAQs on cultivating more honest relationships with friends you manage

How can I maintain fairness in the work environment when managing work friends? When managing work friends, it's vital to ensure that you treat all team members equally to avoid perceptions of favoritism. This means applying policies, rules, and decision-making processes consistently across the team.

How do I balance professionalism and workplace friendships? It can be challenging! Developing friendships at work doesn't mean forgetting about professional boundaries during work hours and activities. It's important to maintain professional behavior in the work environment, even with friends.

How do I manage conflicts effectively when they involve work friends? Conflicts can occur in any work environment and they can be more challenging to navigate when they involve work friends. The key is to handle them promptly and impartially, focusing on the issue at hand and not just your friends' personal feelings.

How can I set boundaries between my personal and professional life when managing work friends? Establishing boundaries in workplace friendships is crucial to maintaining a healthy work environment. Make sure to communicate openly about when and how work-related matters can be discussed outside of work. For example, you might establish a rule about not spending your entire lunch break talking about work-related issues.

How can I have career progression discussions with friends I manage at work? Career progression discussions with work friends should be handled in the same professional and objective manner as with all other team members. Developing more honest relationships where constructive feedback can be given and received will help support their professional development.

How can I mitigate emotional bias when making managerial decisions about work friends? Emotional bias is a common challenge when managing friends in the workplace. Focusing on objective criteria, getting opinions from other team members, and reflecting on decisions before finalizing them can help. It's part of creating a fair and balanced workplace culture where friendships and professionalism coexist.

If you were asked to rate your engagement at work on a scale from 0-10, how would you do that? If you answered with a 7 out of 10, what does that mean exactly?

Not a whole lot, because engagement is the sum of many feelings and without the right approach, it’s hard to quantify.

What you can do is ask questions that infer engagement, like are you satisfied with your current responsibilities? Or do you believe in the organization's mission? Or would you consider leaving your organization for a similar role at another company?

By answering these questions that infer engagement, you can have a more holistic view of how they truly feel at work.

It’s tough to say that you’re “engaged” 7 out of 10, but you can get an idea of how engaged an employee is by asking questions related to engagement. This article will show you how to do just that.

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What is employee engagement?

William Kahn, a Professor at Boston University coined the term “employee engagement” in his 1990 paper, “Psychological Conditions of Personal Engagement and Disengagement at Work.” He defined engagement as:

In other words, that emotional commitment to the organization is what makes an employee engaged. The tricky part is that this can mean a lot of things.

Is engagement feeling happy at work? Or maybe being satisfied with what you do for a living? Well, yes, it's both of those things. But it's also so much more, and leaving other factors out of the equation can significantly distort your view on engagement.

{emphasize}For example, you can be happy at work, but not get enough feedback from your manager. You can get a ton of great feedback but have no opportunities for growth. You can have opportunities for growth, but no work-life balance.{emphasize}

Why is measuring employee engagement important?

Employee engagement has the power to make or break business success because it affects all aspects of work. It's clear then that having a team of highly engaged employees brings many advantages.

Anne M. Mulcahy, former CEO of Xerox says it flawlessly:

If those points aren't convincing enough, we've also uncovered a few extra benefits of employee engagement:

• Better team performance and alignment
• Stronger ambassadorship and employer brand
• Less workplace stress
• Lower employee turnover

No one would want to pass on these benefits, but they won't just happen overnight. If you want to reap the rewards of employee engagement, it's important to consistently measure metrics that contribute to engagement so you can see where it stands and how it can be improved. From there, you can create an employee engagement strategy that addresses shortcomings and reinforces strengths.

{emphasize}🔑 A key part of improving employee engagement is earning employees' trust. They need to believe that the organization genuinely cares about them in order to feel engaged and committed to their team and organization.{emphasize}

By committing to measuring and improving employee engagement, you’re showing employees that their well-being at work matters to you and that you're making a conscious effort to make sure they’re happy at work. That alone can improve employee engagement, at least in the short term.

How to measure employee engagement with 10 easy metrics

There are many pieces to the employee engagement puzzle. And understanding 10 of those pieces can tell you nearly everything you need to know about engagement within your team.

Based on Officevibe's employee experience research, these are the 10 employee engagement metrics you should understand and monitor to measure engagement at work.

1. Feedback

Employee feedback plays into engagement by giving employees the tools and guidance they need to perform their best. Letting employees know what areas they can improve will minimize the risk of confusion, poor quality of work, and even imposter syndrome. That's because giving great feedback nudges people in the right direction and lets them know you believe in them.

{emphasize}Feedback sub-metrics and questions to measure them

• Feedback frequency: Are you satisfied with the frequency of feedback coming from your peers?
• Feedback quality: Is the feedback you get specific?
• Suggestions for the organization: On a scale from 0-10, if you have new ideas for your organization, what are the chances you will share them?{emphasize}

2. Recognition

It's difficult to feel engaged when your work regularly goes unnoticed by your peers and direct manager. Oftentimes, lack of recognition isn't intentional. It's simply forgotten, especially during bustling periods. But here's a secret: recognizing employees when work is extra busy is a low-hanging fruit that can make them feel valued and improve employee engagement in only a few minutes.

{emphasize}Recognition sub-metrics and questions to measure them

• Recognition frequency: How would you rate the frequency at which you receive recognition?
• Recognition quality: Is recognition meaningful when you receive it?{emphasize}

{emphasize}Acknowledging how your team feels about recognition is key to boosting engagement. Ask these employee recognition survey questions to better understand their needs and expectations.{emphasize}

3. Happiness

Happiness is one of the top-of-mind employee engagement metrics for most managers, yet many don't know how to measure it – understandably so. Many factors can contribute to happiness, so the first step is narrowing down happiness (or lack thereof) stemming from work.

{emphasize}Happiness sub-metrics and question examples

• Happiness at work: Generally speaking, how would you rate your level of happiness at work?
• Work-life balance: Do you have the flexibility to take time off when you need to?{emphasize}

4. Relationship with peers

Considering the average employee spends just as much, if not more, time with their colleagues than their family and friends, it's no surprise that having a good relationship with your peers is important to engagement. If your employees collaborate and communicate well, and respect each other, the entire team will thrive.

{emphasize}Relationship with peers sub-metrics and questions to measure them

• Collaboration between peers: Do you and your peers collaborate well together?
• Communication between peers: Are communications among peers honest and transparent?
• Trust between peers: On a scale from 0-10, how safe do you feel to be yourself around your peers?{emphasize}

{emphasize}Trust is paramount to a team's success. Check out these five strategies to build trust and boost collaboration with your peers.{emphasize}

5. Relationship with managers

Officevibe's data report, "The state of the employee experience", showed that 75% of employees who display low engagement levels or leave their jobs say that it's due to their manager or leadership. That's why it's crucial to maintain positive and supportive relationships with your employees, and keep a close eye on this metric at all times.

{emphasize}Relationship with manager sub-metrics and questions to measure them

• Collaboration with manager: When you ask your direct manager for help, can they devote time to help you?
• Communication with manager: Are you satisfied with how frequently you meet with your direct manager?
• Trust with manager: Do you feel your direct manager cares about your well-being?{emphasize}

6. Personal growth

Feeling stagnated at work is a fast-track ticket to disengagement. Employees want to feel challenged and mentally stimulated, while also having a clear idea of where they are headed. Detecting early signs of a dwindling personal growth metric can let you know that your team members are in dire need of guidance and motivation to feel engaged.

{emphasize}Personal growth sub-metrics and question examples

• Autonomy: Do you feel you have enough freedom to decide how you do your work?
• Mastery: How would you define the level of challenge you have at work?
• Purpose: Can you see how your work contributes to your organization's success?{emphasize}

7. Alignment

Feeling aligned with your company's vision, mission, and values is a key contributor to engagement. When you understand where your organization is headed and how you play a role in reaching broader objectives, you're more likely to be productive at work and genuinely enjoy your job.

{emphasize}Alignment sub-metrics and questions to measure them

• Ethics and social responsibility: On a scale of 0-10, how environmentally-conscious is your organization?
• Values: Are you motivated by your organization's values?
• Mission and vision: Do you believe that your organization is able to reach its objectives?{emphasize}

8. Satisfaction

An engaged employee feels satisfied with their role within their team or company, and all aspects surrounding it. If they do not feel supported with the right resources or fairly compensated for their work, employee satisfaction will decrease and so will engagement. If caught on time, you can make quick changes and prevent issues from becoming larger and more difficult to tackle.

{emphasize}Satisfaction sub-metrics and questions to measure them

• Compensation: Do you trust you are paid fairly compared to similar roles in other organizations?
• Role within organization: Are your responsibilities clear?
• Workplace: Do you feel like your work environment reflects your organizational culture?{emphasize}

{emphasize}Start gauging team sentiment and morale with this 10-question employee satisfaction survey template.{emphasize}

9. Wellness

Gone are the days of hustle culture and high-stress environments. Employees are now prioritizing health and wellness, and signs of stress and overwhelming workloads are important to flag. The good news is that employees are talking about this metric more openly, so measuring it through surveys can help you keep tabs on how everyone feels throughout the whole year.

{emphasize}Wellness sub-metrics and questions to measure them

• Personal health: Do you feel that working at your organization allows you to have a healthy lifestyle?
• Stress: On a scale from 0-10, how reasonable is your workload?{emphasize}

{emphasize}Check in on your team and their well-being with these employee wellness questions, surveys, and templates.{emphasize}

10. Ambassadorship

It's one thing to be happy at work, but it's another to truly advocate for your organization and its offerings. By monitoring and measuring ambassadorship, you can divide your team into three categories:

• Promoters
• Neutrals
• Detractors

To measure employee engagement, be sure to evaluate the employee experience from the perspective of each of these groups. You'll learn what makes promoters feel engaged, why detractors are disengaged, and where gaps can be filled for neutrals.

{emphasize}Ambassadorship sub-metrics and questions to measure them

• Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS): On a scale from 0-10, how likely are you to recommend your organization as a good place to work?
• Pride: When you say what organization you work for, how do you feel?{emphasize}

Ways to measure employee engagement metrics

Employee engagement is a complex issue that requires effort from everyone in the organization. The most common way to measure engagement is using surveys, but it's important to complement them with other tools and processes. When conducting surveys, you should also consider taking various approaches depending on what you are looking to measure.

Here's how you could be measuring employee engagement on a regular basis.

Surveys to measure employee engagement

Annual engagement surveys

An annual employee engagement survey can be used to gather high-level, organization-wide insights for leadership teams. Oftentimes, these surveys are used to guide broader business strategies and initiatives in preparation for the next year.

{emphasize}While these surveys do measure employee engagement, the possibility of bias is high and responses may not accurately reflect how employees felt across the entire year.{emphasize}

Pulse Surveys

Short, frequent employee engagement surveys are a great way to keep a pulse on the vibe in your team. There’s no need to make this process complex. It can be as simple as regularly asking your team 5-10 questions related to the various engagement metrics mentioned above. With the responses you collect, you can measure employee engagement at any given time. Do this consistently over a few months, and you'll see fluctuations that can further guide your engagement strategy.

{emphasize}Getting started doesn't have to be difficult. Collect valuable insights with a pulse survey tool and uncover any issues that might be affecting your team.{emphasize}

eNPS surveys

The employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS), a derivative of the customer-centric Net Promoter Score created by Fred Reichheld, quantifies a company's employee loyalty and pride. It does so by asking a single, simple question: "On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend our organization as a great place to work?"

To best leverage this method, send the eNPS question at least once a year with one or two follow-up questions. A score above 10+ is something to be proud of, and anything below 0 should be further assessed.

{emphasize}💡Learn everything you need to know about the employee Net Promoter Score, including its methodology, how to calculate it, and what you can do to improve your score.{emphasize}

Non-survey methods to measure employee engagement

One-on-one meetings

Another great way to measure engagement is through regular one-on-one meetings with employees. Similar to your employee engagement surveys, you can structure these conversations with talking points based on the 10 metrics of engagement.

The advantage of this method of collecting feedback is that it’s face-to-face (either in person or virtually). And because it’s a private, safe conversation, you can get much more detail about each issue that’s brought up. The key for managers is to remove that fear from employees so they feel safe opening up.

{emphasize}If you’re looking for help with your one-on-ones, our free one-on-one meeting templates should help you.{emphasize}

Stay interviews

Using structured interviews for employees is a great way to collect feedback and find out what makes them engaged or what holds them back from being engaged. Some of the most insightful conversations to have are stay interviews, where you ask employees who are happy at work what makes them want to stay. The goal is to find out what you're already doing well and how you can better leverage it.

{emphasize}Improve employee retention by conducting your next stay interview with these 6 questions.{emphasize}

Exit interviews

In most cases, an exit interview will not convince a departing employee to stay. However, they should still be part of your process to measure engagement as they can help you find out what you could have done better to improve engagement.

Employee turnover rate

Turnover rate shows the percentage of people that left your organization during a given period. Employees usually change jobs when they no longer feel challenged, see no opportunities for growth, or have a negative experience at work. A high turnover rate can therefore indicate that engagement is low. When paired with an exit interview, you can get to the root issues impacting engagement levels.

What to do after you measure employee engagement

Measuring employee engagement is only the first step. As an organization, you need to be committed to continuously improving engagement. Here is what you can do with employee survey results.

Communicate the results

If you sent out a survey, send employees a thank you message for completing it, communicate a summary of the results, and share what the next steps are in an upcoming team meeting. Keeping your team in the loop allows them to get involved in their own employee engagement journeys.

Pick one or a few things to improve

You'll likely find multiple points of improvement. This is normal. Instead of overwhelming yourself or your team by trying to tackle everything, pick the area or areas that would have the biggest impact on engagement. Start small, and brainstorm with your team on things like:

• How you can improve each item
• Who will be held accountable
• How you’ll be able to measure its effectiveness (set a goal)

Once you narrow this down, you'll be able to build an action plan and start actively working towards increasing employee engagement.

Follow up and repeat

Continuously follow up with team members to see how things are going, and if there’s anything you need to do to readjust and realign on the goal.

Repeat the process over and over. Measuring employee engagement isn’t a one-shot deal. Engagement takes time to build and will always evolve, so it’s important to stay agile.

Employee engagement tools are here to help

When assessing how to measure employee engagement, remember that you are not alone. Tools like Officevibe exist to facilitate every part of your employee engagement strategy, from surveying employees with automated Pulse Surveys to scheduling one-on-ones and keeping track of all your engagement metrics in one tidy place.

By following the tips in this article and using the right tools, you'll be on your way to successfully measuring engagement within your team.

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