{"id":1524,"date":"2011-12-13T12:00:15","date_gmt":"2011-12-13T17:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sourcelive.wordpress.com\/?p=1524"},"modified":"2011-12-13T12:00:15","modified_gmt":"2011-12-13T17:00:15","slug":"employee-engagement-leads-to-better-decisions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sourcelive.hr.msu.edu\/?p=1524","title":{"rendered":"Employee Engagement Leads to Better Decisions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nobody wakes up in the morning thinking, \u201cToday at work, I\u2019m going to make some uninformed decisions that blindside my team and create chaotic unintended consequences for my unit!\u201d\u00a0 Some days things just turn out that way.\u00a0 But having good employee engagement practices can help limit the time your team loses grappling with or grumbling over the consequences of poor decisions.\"Thought<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cEmployee engagement means involving people in decision-making processes when the results of those decisions will affect them,\u201d said Dawn Hecker, who leads MSU Human Resources\u2019 organizational development team and consults with units on participatory management practices.\u00a0 \u201cIt also means understanding that the best ideas don\u2019t always come from the top.\u00a0 When you take the time to seek input from others at all levels of the organization, you often are rewarded with creative and innovative ideas you might have otherwise missed.\u201d<\/p>\n

The top three reasons managers tend to shy away from frequently engaging employees in decision-making are:<\/p>\n

1. It will take too much time!<\/strong>
\nIt\u2019s true that involving others in decision-making takes time.\u00a0 However, taking the extra time up front to get input is often much less painful than the results of implementing an uninformed decision or surprising people with a big change and expecting them to accept it with no opportunity for input.<\/p>\n

2. I can\u2019t lose control of important decisions!
\n<\/strong>Good employee engagement does not mean putting important decisions to a vote!\u00a0 Seeking employee input and taking advantage of the insights, skills and talents of everyone on the team leads to better decisions.\u00a0 But it\u2019s okay for a manager to make it clear up front that they will be making the final decision on a particular issue after thoughtfully considering the ideas and feedback of others on the team.<\/p>\n

3. I don\u2019t want to offend people if I don\u2019t use their ideas!
\n<\/strong>When people feel like their ideas and feedback go into a black hole and have no impact on the final decision, it can be discouraging \u2013 especially if it happens frequently.\u00a0 But most people can understand that you have to consider many factors and their ideas cannot always be used.\u00a0 Looping back with people who gave input to let them know what decision you made and the reasoning behind it is usually all it takes to help people understand that their feedback was valued and considered, even when the decision made is not to their liking.<\/p>\n

\u201cSeeking input and engaging employees from all levels in decision-making takes a little advance planning and extra time,\u201d Hecker said.\u00a0 \u201cBut investing that time and effort can pay off big in the form of better decisions and an engaged and dedicated workforce.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nobody wakes up in the morning thinking, \u201cToday at work, I\u2019m going to make some uninformed decisions that blindside my team and create chaotic unintended consequences for my unit!\u201d\u00a0 Some days things just turn out… Continue Reading… Employee Engagement Leads to Better Decisions<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"__cvm_playback_settings":[],"__cvm_video_id":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pb1fcA-oA","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sourcelive.hr.msu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1524"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sourcelive.hr.msu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sourcelive.hr.msu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sourcelive.hr.msu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sourcelive.hr.msu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1524"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sourcelive.hr.msu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1524\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sourcelive.hr.msu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sourcelive.hr.msu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sourcelive.hr.msu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}