Engage and captivate your employees with the following steps: avoid the painful break-up, the interview, make it your own, engage and captivate with your vision, with growth and development opportunities, and use core values as a catalyst. 

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A few weeks ago we wrote a blog: The 5 Steps to New Talent for Your Organization!, about finding new talent. Of course, that's one side of the story; keeping your employees engaged and interested is a second challenge for you as an entrepreneur. As you've probably already experienced, finding good people takes a lot of time and money. You want to onboard the new people well, to have them excel as quickly as possible and make an active contribution to your organizational goals. What's more: of course the new employee wants that too! But how do you make sure that your investment in finding the best people pays off and that they want to stay with you? Here you will find answers on how to engage and captivate your people in 6 steps. 

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1. Avoid the painful break-up by continuing to engage and captivate your employees

It sometimes feels like a break-up where your partner says,"I feel like we've grown apart. You don't see me anymore and you don't appreciate me. I have found another person who makes me feel alive again" 

Do you always see this coming or are you taken by surprise? Important signals in your organization that let you know something is going on are high absenteeism, high turnover or a lot of dissatisfaction with pay. Make sure that you are ahead of this by regularly checking in with your people and using mood measurement tools. This will give you insight into how engaged people are for you and your company. A big tip: do act on the insights you get, it will have an immediate effect! Take a look at the hrtech.community to see which tools can help you keep your employees engaged and interested.

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2. The break-up interview 

Does it still happen that people leave your organization? Make sure you have a good conversation with your employee about the reason for leaving. Find out what you could have done differently to prevent this from happening, or what would have ensured that you could have kept them engaged and interested for longer. Do an additional check: Were the expectations clear and did this role meet them? All important things to know, this gives you the information to change something in the organization and maybe even in your recruitment process.

Learn more about a masterful recruitment process. Then listen to the Work Professor episode with recruitment expert Aaltje Vincent. Or get started with the three-step recruitment process for finding the perfect candidate. 

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3. Making up your own mind

There is one thing that really turns every talent off tremendously: colleagues you can't relate to and who are not good at their job. Everyone is a talent in the right role and right organization, yet it may not be within your organization for this one employee. Therefore, you cannot escape ending the relationship yourself sometimes. Of course, do this in the right way! 

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4. Engage and captivate your employees with your vision

People want to hear a vision they can and want to contribute to. Telling stories and inspiring employees is part of leadership. Strong leadership means telling your story over and over again, letting people ask questions and translating it into action. This is how you both work toward your common future. 

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5. Attract and retain employees through growth and development opportunities.

Always prioritize internal talent over external talent. You can increase your people's engagement by giving them insight on how they contribute to the organization's goals. Always pay attention: people want to be able to develop and have opportunities for growth. 

Do you know what you need in your organization now and in the future? And do you already have the successor in your key positions in mind? Make a list of who is currently on your team, whether they can grow and give them the opportunity to do so. Discuss this with your employees, see what comes out of it and make agreements with each other.

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6. Core values as a catalyst for your relationship

What are core values? In a nutshell, core values are the things you think are most important in your company's culture. They are behaviors that you want to see reflected throughout your organization. A list that people can grab when they need to make a decision without you being there. The reason we talk about core values and not simply "values" is because they are the core of your identity. They define your priorities, what you do and in what way and who you will hire. It gives your people insight into what is expected of them, and that clarity can be very important for a good and long-term relationship.

Know what your core values are in three steps.

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Set it up and keep your employees engaged and interested. Questions about these tips and what this looks like in practice, or just fancy a cup of coffee? Let us know. 

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Want to know how your organization is doing now? And how long people stay engaged with you. Then do the Growth Scan here and find out how you score on:

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