How to Engage Employees as a New Leader
Stepping into a new leadership role presents a unique opportunity to purposefully shape the culture, performance, and morale of a team. That opportunity is only possible if you can effectively engage employees as a new leader from the outset.  Just remember, employee engagement is more than just motivation — it is about fostering the trust, collaboration, and commitment required to increase employee loyalty, advocacy, and discretionary effort.

The Top 5 Steps to Engage Employees as a New Leader
When employees feel connected to their leader and empowered in their roles, they are more likely to contribute to organizational success. Here is how to engage employees as a new leader by building trust, inspiring enthusiasm, and setting a positive tone for the future.

  1. Prioritize Active Listening
    The first step in engaging employees is to deeply care about and understand their needs, concerns, and aspirations. The second step is to be open to what they have to say. Before implementing any changes or setting new performance expectations, take the time to actively listen.

    This can be done through one-on-one engagement meetings, team focus groups, and engagement surveys.  When employees feel like their opinions matter, they are more likely to open up and share ideas and challenges that can contribute to the team’s overall success.

    Are you open and ready to tailor your leadership style to better meet your team’s needs?

  2. Set Clear Expectations Early
    We know from organizational alignment research that employee engagement and performance starts with strategic clarity. As a new leader, one of your key tasks is to establish clear performance and behavioral expectations from the beginning. Employees need to know what success looks and feels like under your leadership. They also need a clear line of sight regarding how their individual roles contribute to the larger goals.

    Make sure that you co-create a team charter that clearly communicates the team’s vision, purpose, norms, and strategic priorities.  You will know you are on the right path when everyone understands their goals and accountabilities along with how strategic success will be measured.

    Do your team members have a clear understanding of their role and how they contribute to the bigger picture?

  3. Build Trust Through Transparency
    We know from organizational culture assessment data that employees often feel disengaged when they perceive that leaders are withholding information or making decisions without their input. Trust in leadership is the foundation of employee engagement.  New leaders must quickly demonstrate transparency in their actions and decisions to build that trust.

    To increase transparency, communicate openly about decisions and the reasoning behind them, be honest about challenges, encourage constructive debate, and follow through on commitments.

    Is your team culture transparent enough?

  4. Encourage Collaboration and Empowerment
    We know from project postmortem data that employee engagement thrives when active involvement, initiative-taking, and collaboration are encouraged. As a new leader, follow new manager training best practices to create opportunities for teamwork by encouraging cross-functional projects, delegating responsibilities and decision-making power, and recognizing and rewarding experimentation and growth.

    Do employees feel empowered and trusted enough to succeed?

  5. Foster a Positive and Inclusive Culture
    New leaders have a unique opportunity to shape team norms. Creating a team culture that values respect, inclusivity, and connectivity is key to sustaining long-term employee engagement and retention. To appreciate employees while helping them to feel a part of something meaningful, make sure that you acknowledge individual and team contributions, welcome diverse perspectives, and invest in career growth opportunities.

    Are you investing the time to create a positive culture that keeps employees connected to the team over time?

The Bottom Line
Engaging employees as a new leader requires a purposeful mix of caring, clarity, honesty, empowerment, and involvement. By showing that you value each team member’s contributions, new leaders create an environment where people feel motivated to do their best work.

To learn more about how to engage employees as a new leader, download 5 Management Misperceptions that Slip Up Too Many New Managers

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