On this week’s episode of The Leadership Habit, Jenn welcomes Paul ter Wal to the podcast to discuss employee engagement. Together, they explain the importance of having an engaged workforce– from increasing employee satisfaction to increasing the bottom line. Be sure to listen to the full episode to learn about Paul’s free engagement survey! 

Paul ter Wal is an international employability researcher. He has been working as a speaker, consultant and trainer for managers, HR directors and employees for more than 25 years. He was President of the Global Speakers Federation 2019-2020.

As a speaker and consultant, Paul helps organizations improve their results by implementing sustainable employability strategies based on enthusiasm, shared core values and a clear mission and vision. Enthusiastic employees are more innovative, creative, and productive and make a major contribution to your results.

As the episode opens, Jenn welcomes Paul ter Wal to the show and asks him to tell the audience about himself. He explains that he actually started his career as a lawyer working in labor law. In that career, he found himself wondering why business leaders were not taking care of their employees. Instead, they just wait until things are so bad lawyers are involved! So, he quit his job and became a consultant to help organizations drive employee engagement. 

Then, Jenn and Paul discuss the struggle with employee engagement. Paul explains that first, leaders must know what it is. He breaks it down into 4 components: 

Then, Jenn cites the 2023 Gallup State of the Workforce Report , which revealed that 59% of people are quiet quitting at work. She asks Paul why employee engagement is so prevalent. 

Paul explains it comes down to core values or non-negotiables. “That’s those gut feelings that are part of your decision-making. So you have that feeling, this is right for me. 

And what I see is that a lot of human beings have lost that connection with their core feelings, with their core values. So if you start working for an organization and you see their core values, and you are not aligned with them, then it’ll go wrong.”

Next, Paul explains the seven key indicators of employee engagement. 

Later, Jenn and Paul discuss employee engagement strategies. Paul suggests starting with his “traffic light” method. He explains that leaders should determine if employees are red, yellow or green.

 A “red” employee is one who is fully disengaged. They may be constantly complaining, calling in sick, or worse. He advises having a frank discussion with these employees to determine if there is a path forward. Otherwise, it is best to part ways.  

However, you may have employees that are “yellow” on the traffic light scale. Paul suggests reaching out to these somewhat unengaged employees by asking questions. 

He explains, “The question is, are you okay? How can I support you? Start asking questions. Instead of telling people what to do, ask them, as a leader, how can I support you? And I love the story that I heard that a leader went outside with his employees.

If he had to do a tough conversation and they said, let’s drink a coffee somewhere in the neighborhood. And then they walked outside, and they were walking side by side. And then the leader asked, are you okay? And the employees started talking because you don’t have to look in someone’s eyes. 

Ask that question. So don’t make it a high-level conversation. Keep it simple. Just say, let’s have a coffee, let’s have a chat. How are you doing, doing? That’s the first step. You can do it tomorrow.

We don’t need to change the organization. We need to develop the organization. If you want a culture change, well, you need to start asking questions. 

It doesn’t cost you any money. It’ll give you a lot of information. And we hope that you inspire and motivate people so that they’ll be more engaged. Right. And it’s free!”

As the episode closes, Jenn asks Paul for his final thoughts about increasing employee engagement. He closes by asking leaders to take a close look at their organizational values. Are those values on your website where people can find them? Do your employees know what those values are? He reminds the audience that it is important that the leaders’ values align with those organizational values. 

He closes by saying, “If you don’t work from your core value as a leader, people are not going to trust you. So take a step back, take a deep breath, and look at your core values and those of the company. That’s the first step.”

He then tells the audience that if they would like to learn more, he has a free engagement benchmark tool with 16 questions that can help leaders asses how their team is performing. If you answer the questions, you will receive a free report with insights into your team’s engagement. 

Thanks for listening to The Leadership Habit!

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