First Engage Yourself

Leaders lead by example. Before you ask your employees to engage, before your survey them for their engagement, before you meet about their engagement … first engage yourself. "Well-begun is well-done." Whether you are the CEO, an entry-level employee arriving on the first day or anyone in-between. you can take these steps to first engage yourself. By doing so you'll be able to follow the simple maxim of every successful leader: lead by example.

Millions of articles and podcasts, thousands of books, flood the internet of things showing managers the myriad ways and resources and principles to help their employees rise from their cubicles and ... engage in their work, with each other, with their managers, with their purpose and mission. Rightfully, so. Companies reporting higher employee engagement levels report higher profits, faster revenue growth, rising cash-flows, greater customer loyalty, fewer accidents ... the list of positive financial outcomes goes on and on. So, why then have employee engagement levels remained unchanged for over the last decade? Why when it makes so much sense, when the connections from an employee’s engagement to their work to the results of their work are more than line of sight, they are line of touch, do employee engagement levels remain unchanged? It may be because “employee engagement” is too often treated as one more mandated program to rain down on the heads of managers and team leaders and then trickle-down on to the employees’ desks. It may be because employees are asked to do what managers and leaders are unwilling to do themselves. It may be because leaders and managers have not fully engaged themselves with their own roles and missions and purposes before going and seeking that commitment from those they lead and manage. Armed with 20+ years experience in call center operations, from entry-level customer service to CEO, Zane Safrit walks you through these simple, affordable, doable steps to first engage yourself before seeking engagement from those you lead. He’s taken these steps himself in creating businesses marked by revenue growth, positive cash flows, customer evangelists built on the foundation of engaged employees. These are simple steps that anyone at any level in a company can take the most important step in creating a culture of engagement. That is to first engage themselves. These step cost nothing but your time and attention. Precious resources, definitely. However, you can start them today with no budgets to be required and approved and no PowerPoint presentations to organize or watch. Then once engaged you can begin to lead by example in creating a culture of engagement with those around you.

I’ve spent much of my career in call center operations, serving both domestic and international customers and sales forces. From an entry-level position as a customer service rep to team leader to Assistant Director and Country Manager to finally CEO I saw the language of employee recognition and employee engagement is a universal language and so is its ROI. As Country Manager, I opened an overseas office in Duesseldorf, Germany and used employee recognition and engagement to double sales and triple the number of new orders within the first six months. As CEO of a small conference call service provider I re-budgeted our advertising and marketing budgets towards employees and customers. Revenues grew by 80% while retail prices were pushed lower by over 70%, all the time generating positive cash-flows, the lifeblood of small business. In my book Recognize THEM: 52 Ways to Recognize Your Employees In Ways They Value I compiled ways I used to recognize and engage employees, research showing the positive impact on a company’s performance and inspiring quotes from business leaders. I also share my mistakes so you can avoid them. In my book The Engaged Hiring Process: A Simple Plan to Help You Hire the Best I show you how to kickstart your employee engagement growth by engaging everyone in your team in hiring the best and getting them off to a great start from day one. When I’m not writing and speaking about employee engagement I’m an avid and slow marathon runner and college basketball junkie.