Use or it lose it. We've all heard that saying.
I was thinking the other day it applies here, to employee engagement. Use their first name or lose them. Maybe they don't leave. Maybe their bodies show up every day and go through enough motions to finish their work and keep their job. However, their hearts and minds have left the building.
The first step of engaging your employees, well the first step towards any ongoing relationship, is knowing their first name. And addressing them with their first name, unless they say otherwise.
Nothing sounds as sweet to our sensitive ears as the sound of our first name. It's not vanity if everyone feels the same way about their first and its sweet sounds to their own ears.
Using a person's first name shows respect, its shows you care.
It is the first step towards answering the three questions we spend out entire day seeking answers for:
What's in it for me?
Well, there's someone who cares enough about me to at least know my name and use it. That's a great start, someone who cares.
Why should I care?
I don't know yet, but I'm favorable towards that sentiment because they show me respect by using my first name. I'm receptive; I'm ... engaged.
Why should I believe?
Don't know yet. But I believe it's worth my time to remain receptive and engaged with this person, to hear what they have to say.
See? That's the first step to engage people in a conversation, in a sustainable manner.
The key point is their first name, spoken in your voice. It's personal, it's meaningful, it's universal, it's respectful.
It shows you care.
That's the first step, actually it's the prerequisite for creating engaged employees. Show you care in a way that's meaningful to your employees.
WARNING: Self-Promotion.
If you want to know more ways to engage with your employees as opposed to anonymous surveys, my book RECOGNIZE THEM: 52 Ways to Recognize Your Employees in Ways They Value offers 52 ways to recognize your employees, easy exercises to reinforce those habits and skills and inspirational quotes to keep you going.
Here’s what some business experts are saying about the book.
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