A recent Gallup study indicated that over 71 percent of the workforce is either not engaged or actively disengaged. This has caused many leaders and organizations to put large amounts of effort and energy into holding their employees accountable. But do you think someone holding you accountable for your work and productivity will make you more engaged?
If you don’t like being held accountable, then there is a good chance the people you are holding accountable don’t like it either. Great leaders ask appreciative questions that challenge their teams to think bigger and have more gratitude. People don’t need to be held accountable for more engagement—they need better questions and more time to think about the answers.
Asking “bad” questions of your team can also cause disengagement. Most leaders and managers ask awful questions of themselves and their teams.
Try asking these questions at your next meeting or encounter with a team member, and watch the engagement soar:
What’s going well?
What systems and process are working?
What three things have we accomplished in the last three months?