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Strong Suits Only: The New Dress Code of Employee Engagement

You've read the stats. Spent late nights pouring over countless articles. Administered survey after employee engagement survey, only to find that everything echoes what perhaps cosmetics entrepreneur Mary Kay said best: “There are two things people want more than sex and money: recognition and praise.”

Strong Suits Only: The New Dress Code of Employee Engagement

You've read the stats. Spent late nights pouring over countless articles. Administered survey after employee engagement survey, only to find that everything echoes what perhaps cosmetics entrepreneur Mary Kay said best: “There are two things people want more than sex and money: recognition and praise.”

The votes are in. A big thank you means more to employees than big bucks.

But, in spite of all your toil, you're probably still searching for just what exactly your individual employees crave recognition and praise for? What recognized action or attribute really makes them tick? Decades of human behavioural research at Gallup have finally pinpointed a factor that's strong enough to turn all of your employee disengagement frowns upside down!

According to Gallup, "research found that if a supervisor focuses on an employee's strengths, their chances of being actively disengaged at work were only 1 in 100". That's potential for 99% employee engagement just by focusing on where a person shines! There's definitely beauty in simplicity.

The more hours per day study participants used their strengths, the more likely they were to report high energy levels, feeling well-rested, smiling and learning something new. Not bad for a day's work. Gallup furthered the good news by reporting that employees who were able to maximize their strengths weren't just more engaged, they also had higher productivity, took fewer sick days and had lower employer-paid health care expenses. Bing Crosby's little ditty about how "you've got to accentuate the positive" could very well become the theme song for how strength-focused recognition equates to improved dollars and sense of well-being.

Make No Mistake. Strengths Can Be Hard to Recognize.

We often take our own greatest skills for granted, and most managers are trained to figure out how to help improve an employee's weaknesses. Right outside your office door, your employees' strengths - and your managers' ability to effectively recognize, foster and develop those strengths - are making or breaking your level of employee engagement. It's frequently said that people leave managers, not jobs, so to create the culture you want, you need an effective and measurable tool to help your managers reveal, inspire and reward people's greatness.

Enter Kudos KQ

Imagine if you had an employee engagement system that allowed your people to give focused and meaningful recognition to one another, while simultaneously building a visual map of each person's strengths. That's the power of the Kudos KQ feature.

As teammates and managers award Kudos points for different categories, an employee's KQ develops dynamically, showing off who they are, where they excel and what their peers perceive their strengths to be. It's a clear and concise road map that any manager can use to start recognizing strengths, tailoring goals, cultivating engagement and increasing profitability in an instant.

Check out my KQ below. As you can see, I am one heck of a team player with plenty of other impressive strengths for my boss to focus on. Right boss ;)

So, what’s your KQ? Or perhaps the more burning question is, what’s the KQ of each member of your team? It’s need-to-know information if you want to engage, encourage and recognize everyone from employee of the month to an employee who could perform better this month. After all, your employees are the ones holding your company up. By knowing their KQs, you can ensure their strengths will lift you even higher.

About Kudos®

Kudos® is an employee engagement, culture, and analytics platform, that harnesses the power of peer-to-peer recognition, values reinforcement, and open communication to help organizations boost employee engagement, reduce turnover, improve culture, and drive productivity and performance. Kudos® uses unique proprietary methodologies to deliver essential people analytics on culture, performance, equity, and inclusion, providing organizations with deep insights and a clear understanding of their workforce.

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