7 Effective Strategies to Mobilize your Employees

Jan 1 / C3pH

Introduction

Mobilizing and retaining employees is a very important issue for all organizations.

The recent pandemic has further highlighted the need for executives and managers to retain and keep their employees mobilized in order to avoid departures to other organizations. 

In the United States, the phenomenon of The Great Resignation demonstrates the scale of the challenge of retaining employees within organizations.

In 2021, 40 million workers chose to leave their jobs voluntarily, a figure unprecedented in this country's history. 

The socio-economic context also creates additional pressure on employers, particularly the low unemployment rate.

In Quebec, the lowest rate ever recorded was reached in April 2022, at 3.9% (data collected since 1976).

Taking into account this context, as an executive, manager or director, what strategy should you implement to effectively mobilize and retain your employees?

How can you innovate and stand out from the competition in this job market?

In this article, we'll look at 7 effective, immediately applicable strategies to engage your employees.

These strategies are taken from our e-learning course "Mobilizing and engaging employees with innovative management practices".

This interactive training course is made for all managers, executives and professionals who want the tools to understand and adapt to the realities of the present job market, and to retain and mobilize talent within their organization.

#1 Talk to Your Employees to Assess Employee Experience

Do you know what your organization's employees really think?

There's often a difference between what we hear and what our employees really think.

It's time to take a closer look to identify possible sources of dissatisfaction within your team.

This is the first step, and one of the most important, in gauging the commitment and mobilization of your employees.

This survey will give you ideas on the work you need to do to identify the areas for improvement you need to prioritize in order to boost employee engagement in your organization.

You can, in a fairly traditional but still effective way, talk to each of your employees individually, or organize focus groups to gather information.

Another option is to use online engagement tools to better understand your team's needs directly.

The main advantage of these innovative tools is that they ensure confidentiality and automatically collect data.

C3pH is at your disposal if you would like to start a diagnosis of your team or organization.

Our team and our partners will provide you with the tools you need to measure your employees' level of mobilization.

This tool will enable you to create online satisfaction surveys. You can, for example:
  • Ask satisfaction questions (e.g.: on a scale of 1 to 7, how strongly do you agree with this statement: my skills are used to their full potential within the organization)
  • Ask open-ended questions (e.g.: what is your biggest daily challenge as an employee of this organization?) 
  • Ask multiple-choice questions (e.g.: in which area do you think the company most needs to improve? A. A better pay scale; B. Better team cohesion; C. A better work-life balance).

These three questions are just examples.

A diagnosis can contain between 20 and 50 questions, depending on your needs.

The following questions can be asked:

- As part of an annual diagnosis (or even quarterly), to get a snapshot of your employees' level of commitment at a given moment.

- Or on an ongoing basis, to give you a real-time snapshot of your organizational health. 

The questions in your employee mobilization survey should focus on their day-to-day experience, how they interact with management and the company's mission.

In the case of a survey platform, it's important that employees are able to respond anonymously so they can provide honest feedback.

Once you've analyzed the results of your employee engagement survey, you'll be able to identify the areas in which you need to take action to effectively mobilize your organization's employees.
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#2 Promote a hybrid work culture

The pandemic has redefined the way employees want to work.

Massive use of remote work has benefited many employees, so much so that some no longer see themselves returning to the office.

Today's talent shortage is forcing organizations to take employees' wants and needs seriously. 

So it's important to adopt a flexible approach and allow hybrid work if your employees request it.

Hybrid work is a mix of working on your organization's premises and working from home or in a coworking space.

C3pH recommends that you consult your employees and involve them in the construction of this hybrid work policy.

In particular, you can use the results of your survey to make informed decisions that will be consistent with your employees' needs.

According to an Accenture study published in 2021, the latest studies tend to prove that hybrid work is very popular with employees.

We tackle the subject in a practical cheat sheet. It will help you to implement a hybrid work culture.
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#3 Organize activities to improve team cohesion

There is nothing better to promote good relations, cooperation, and well-being among employees than regularly organizing activities. 

These can take various forms, such as escape games, Lunch & Learn sessions, themed days, or community initiatives.

There are many ways to mobilize employees in a useful and fun manner within your organization. Once again, do not hesitate to involve your employees in the design and organization of these activities. 

At C3pH, we offer dedicated team-building training to help you strengthen the bonds among your organization's employees. Furthermore, when planning employee engagement activities, it's important to schedule them during working hours rather than after work hours.

If you don't do it this way, employees may feel that these events encroach on their personal lives.

#4 Use an Innovative Tool: The Mobilization Radar

After over a year of work, at C3pH, we have developed a unique tool to mobilize and retain employees in your organization: the Mobilization Radar.

This tool allows you to assess the level of mobilization of an employee, a team, or an organization across six dimensions.

With this tool, it is possible to identify the issues that need to be addressed quickly.
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The Mobilization Radar can be used as a coaching tool by the managers or supervisors in your organization.

During our e-learning course, "Fostering Employee Loyalty and Mobilization with Innovative Management Practices," we share nearly fifteen of the most innovative management practices from around the world.

These practices are derived from startups, small and medium-sized enterprises, and multinational companies, all designed to help you mobilize and retain the talents within your team or organization.

#5 Provide Regular Feedback

Providing regular feedback to your employees is essential for maintaining a high level of mobilization within your organization.

Numerous studies, including those conducted by Harvard Business Review and Gallup, show that employees who receive regular feedback tend to be the most productive and engaged in organizations.

The C3pH team strongly believes in the power of feedback, and we have even developed our own method for delivering successful feedback, drawing inspiration from Management 3.0.

This is the "C3pH-Flavored Feedback Wrap," a six-step method that is easy to use in your daily interactions with your team. 

If you want to enhance your feedback skills, we offer an e-learning course titled "Delivering Constructive and Effective Feedback."

This interactive course will provide you with all the best practices for providing regular feedback to improve employee mobilization.

#6 Don't Forget to Give Recognition to Your Team

Another simple practice to implement in your organization is to provide regular recognition. 

Recognition can be given to an individual or to the entire team.

There are four forms of recognition that can be given to an individual at work:
  • Existential (person's qualities and values) to appreciate the "Who."
  • Work Practice (professional qualities of the person) to appreciate the "How."
  • Investment in Work (efforts made by the person) to appreciate the "How Much."
  • Work Results (what the person has achieved) to appreciate the "What."


We encourage you to discuss with your employees their preferences for recognition and adapt accordingly. 

To have the most impact with recognition, it is recommended to provide it within a relatively close timeframe to when the observed behavior or achievement occurred. 

For example, if an employee exceeded their sales targets in January but receives recognition for this performance in June, the recognition will likely have less impact than if the message had been delivered in February. In fact, the person might be confused and wonder why the message is delivered so late.

In summary, recognition is an easy-to-use practice with numerous benefits for employees and the entire organization. C3pH suggests recognizing the contributions of all team members starting now.

#7 Establish a Better Work-Life Balance

The pandemic has revealed a growing need for employees to have a better work-life balance. Establishing a better work-life balance can help your employees reduce stress and prevent burnout, which are two major factors leading to disengagement at work.

The best way to assist employees in maintaining a good work-life balance is to promote flexibility by offering a hybrid work mode that caters to their needs. 

Having a generous leave policy is also a solution utilized by many companies, like Lot18, who, for example, offers employees who have been with the company for two years an additional month of paid leave. Some practices may require certain adjustments on the part of the employer and have short-term costs. 

However, replacing dissatisfied employees costs more, highlighting the importance of developing a better policy to promote employee retention in your organization.

Even better, in our e-learning course, "Fostering Employee Loyalty and Mobilization with Innovative Management Practices," we offer many management practices that don't require any cost.

With this interactive course, you'll discover numerous innovative and human management practices.

It is designed for any organization, manager, leader, or professional who wants the tools to understand and adapt to the realities of the job market and foster the loyalty and mobilization of talent within their organization.

You'll experience a practical e-learning course with hands-on exercises, interactive activities, and a playful approach because at C3pH, we tackle serious matters without taking ourselves too seriously!
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