Workplace Learning Solutions to Fuel Individual and Organizational Performance

Put engagement at its center. Although workplace demands have rapidly changed, human nature hasn't. Employee engagement will always be necessary for producing high-quality work. The organizations that learn to develop a culture of engagement and high performance have a competitive edge, positioning them for success regardless of the challenges they face.

All employees -- both those working remotely and in the office -- have fundamental psychological needs that their organization must meet to achieve high performance.

All Gallup courses teach you how to meet fundamental human needs and improve engagement. Explore courses such as the Gallup Global Strengths Coach (formerly Accelerated Strengths Coaching) and Creating an Engaging Workplace Course for Engagement Champions.

Behave like a coach, not a boss. The majority of U.S. employees show up at their job every day without the guidance, incentives and support needed to perform at their best. Only 35% of employees are engaged, a mere 21% strongly agrees that their performance is managed in a way that motivates them to do outstanding work, and just 18% strongly agrees that employees who perform better grow faster at their organization. Organizations have poured significant amounts of time and money into their performance management systems -- investments that are misaligned with the way work needs to be managed.

To meet modern workplace demands, managers need to develop into coaches by learning to:

Establish expectations. Gone are the days when managers tell employees what to do and how to do it without getting much of a response. Instead, the best managers now rely on two-way conversations and collaboration to set expectations and goals.

Continually coach. The purpose of continual coaching is to create more natural relationships with employees that develop the employee and driving performance.

Create accountability. Hold employees accountable, but as a coach would. Progress reviews beat performance reviews. When paired with effective coaching, a progress review serves as a motivating snapshot of where employees are on their journey toward performance excellence.

Moving from performance management to performance development -- that is, from bossing to coaching -- means managers must develop a different stance, different habits and different tools.

Get what you need to start coaching your employees by attending Gallup learning such as the Leading High-Performance Teams course or the Gallup at Work Summit.

Based on our research, Gallup believes that leaders should invest in three key actions to strengthen their managers' -- and subsequently, their employees' -- engagement:

1. 1Communicate clearly and consistently. Gallup has identified this engagement need as highly emotional, focusing on individuals' desire to find meaning in their roles. People want to know what their organization stands for and why and understand how their role supports the organization's purpose and goals.

2. 2Make learning and development a priority. Gallup's research shows that employees who have the opportunity to continually develop are twice as likely as those on the other end of the scale to say they will spend their career with their company. Regardless of title or position, all employees want to continue learning and growing in their role.

3. 3Emphasize managers' strengths. Organizations that hire managers based on their natural talents and then enable those people to turn their talents into strengths are better positioned for success. As part of this, leaders must equip their managers with the tools and resources necessary to identify and develop their individual strengths.

By sending your managers to Gallup courses, you're preparing them to strengthen your organization through talents and engagement. Consider having managers attend our Gallup Global Strengths Coach (formerly Accelerated Strengths Coaching) or Successful Strengths Coaching courses.