Employee engagement is vital to business longevity and success. According to analytics and advisory company Gallup, highly engaged employees tend to:
Produce substantially better outcomes at work
Deliver better service to customers and help attract new ones
Remain with their organization longer than their less-engaged colleagues
Experience less burnout in their roles
Despite these benefits, just 35 percent of US professionals report feeling enthusiastic about their job and committed to their organization.
What’s more, disengaged employees can severely impact a company’s bottom line, costing an estimated $450-550 billion each year.
Managers reportedly account for 70 percent of variance in employee engagement, making it critical to equip them with the skills and knowledge to bring out the best in themselves and their teams.
"Communication is the currency of management,” says Harvard Business School Professor Joseph Fuller in the online course Management Essentials. “It’s how managers learn what’s happening, how they shape their own judgment, and how they align others around a course of action."
If you want to maximize your team’s performance and become a better manager, here are six strategies for engaging your employees and helping your organization reach its objectives and goals.
How to Engage Your Employees
1. Base Feedback on Observations
Providing feedback effectively is a critical management skill. In a survey by the Society for Human Resource Management and Globoforce, 89 percent of HR professionals said that ongoing peer feedback and check-ins are key to successful outcomes.
When delivering feedback, make it a point to observe others as they complete their daily tasks, so your comments are based on facts rather than personal impressions or feelings. Feedback grounded in specific, observable behaviors is more objective and easier to apply, while feedback based on assumptions or emotions can be subjective and harder for employees to put into practice.
2. Show Recognition
Ensuring employees know their work and opinions matter is essential to building high-performing teams. According to cloud-based software company Salesforce, professionals who believe their voice is heard are more than four times more likely to feel empowered to do their best work.
When considering solutions to key business challenges, encourage your employees to participate in the decision-making process and give equal consideration to each person’s point of view, so they know their ideas are valued.
Recognition goes beyond celebrating success—it also signals the behaviors your organization values. As Fuller explains in Management Essentials, employees "learn what matters by paying attention to what actually happens around them. Who gets praised? Who gets promoted?" By intentionally recognizing behaviors that support your team's goals, you reinforce the actions you want others to emulate.
After they execute an important project or initiative, offer your team praise and underscore how much you appreciate their contributions. Glassdoor research shows doing so can boost motivation and employee retention.
3. Foster Transparent Communication
Effective communication is foundational to fostering strong team dynamics and collaboration. According to a report by the Economist Intelligence Unit, poor workplace communication can yield a range of negative outcomes, including:
A delay or failure to complete projects
Low morale
Missed performance goals
Lost sales
Yet, communication isn’t only about what employees say. As Management Essentials emphasizes, managers can be just as affected by what they don't say. When your team hesitates to raise concerns due to hierarchy or uncertainty about how their perspectives will be received, you might miss valuable insights that can improve decision-making.
To foster open communication, create a psychologically safe environment where employees feel comfortable sharing questions, concerns, and ideas. During periods of organizational change, explain why the change is necessary, communicate progress regularly, and connect each person’s role to broader organizational goals. Reinforce your willingness to discuss any challenges along the way so employees feel supported throughout the transition.
4. Delegate Work
Delegating important tasks and projects to your team is a useful way of demonstrating trust and empowering your employees.
To delegate effectively, assign tasks to employees equipped with the knowledge, skills, and resources to handle them, or who stand to gain a valuable learning experience by taking on additional responsibilities.
Be sure to play to your team members’ strengths when entrusting them with work. Studies show that when employees know and flex their strengths, they’re more engaged, perform better, and are less likely to leave their company.
5. Be Respectful
Treating others with respect is paramount to being a successful manager. According to a report by The Energy Project and Harvard Business Review, respect has a bigger impact on employees’ sense of safety, trust, and ability to focus than any other leadership behavior.
The report also found that employees who felt their leaders treated them with respect were:
63 percent more satisfied with their jobs
55 percent more engaged
58 percent more focused
110 percent more likely to stay with their organization
Being respectful involves honing your emotional intelligence and building social awareness, so that you can be more empathetic and attuned to others’ feelings and perspectives. It also requires having faith in your team members and not micromanaging their every move, so they feel confident in their abilities and motivated to perform their best work.
6. Support Learning and Development
Encouraging your employees to bolster their skills and knowledge through professional development and learning opportunities can pay dividends for your team and company.
In a recent survey of more than 1,700 learners conducted by market research firm City Square Associates, 71 percent reported improved performance at work, while 91 percent said they gained immediately applicable skills after completing a Harvard Business School Online course.
Let your team members know that you support their ongoing development and serve as an advocate when they approach you with an interest in pursuing additional education while balancing the demands of a full-time job.
Focus on your own development, too, and seek out management training programs that can help you reach your personal and professional goals.
Driving Engagement at Your Organization
Cultivating a culture of highly engaged employees is critical to business success. By treating your employees with respect, delivering feedback, and supporting their ongoing development, you can not only improve as a manager, but help your team and organization thrive.
If your team's performance or engagement falls short of expectations, consider looking beyond individual motivation. As Management Essentials emphasizes, the systems, incentives, and signals employees experience every day shape how they work and what behaviors they prioritize. Thoughtfully designing those experiences can help foster stronger engagement over time.
Do you want to elevate your management skills with best-in-class tools and frameworks? Explore Management Essentials—one of our online leadership and management courses—and download our free e-book on becoming a more effective leader so you can start unleashing the potential in yourself and others.
This post was updated on July 17, 2026. It was originally published on February 18, 2020.