Overview
Getting employee commitment will help leaders learn how to:
- Manage expectations of employees
- Take a coaching approach to increase collaboration and innovation
- Get employees to commit to a plan rather than ordering them to comply
- Improve performance and engagement.
To access the non-conforming version of this module, see Getting employee commitment for leaders learning module.
Below is the transcript for the Getting employee commitment for leaders YouTube video.
Transcript
When you get employee commitment – rather than just compliance – it can mean that when the going gets tough, they’re much more likely to strive for success. Set the stage for a conversation about how an employee can get the job done by being clear about what’s expected of them, and how you’ll measure success. It’s also important to be specific about what support they can expect from you. Developing a plan for success together will also help support effective problem-solving for any issues that may come up along the way.
Supporting employees to arrive at their own solutions for how they’ll get the job done is a coaching approach. This helps nurture commitment rather than just compliance. Be patient, listen without judgement and let go of total control to see what emerges.
Ask questions to dig a little deeper, like… How will this approach help you meet expectations? Are there other options? What can I do to support this approach? How might this impact other people on the team? If the employee is feeling emotional, frustrated or negative, try reframing the situation by focusing on strengths and solutions.
You could ask them… What would success would look like? or How have you coped with this challenge so far? or Have you worked through a similar issue?
Once you’ve collaborated with an employee to help them commit to their own success, confirm the details of the plan in writing. Confirm again the support you’ll provide to them. Be clear about when you’ll check in to see how things are going and measure progress.
Concepts
Your job as a leader is to clearly define the required outcomes and support employees to get the job done. Allowing employees to decide how they’ll complete their work (rather than what work they will do) empowers them to manage and commit to their own success.
This may feel like giving away your authority, and not the old-school “command and control” leadership. Demonstrating to employees that their knowledge and expertise is respected gives them a greater sense of ownership and autonomy in meeting your goals—all things that are shown to contribute to greater collaboration, innovation and growth.
Getting employee commitment, includes the following concepts:
Manage expectations
Be clear about how you will measure success.
Coach approach
Explore options to support success.
Reframe
Change the way the situation is described.
Recap
Confirm the details and support the plan.
Gaining employee commitment
Develop employee commitment rather than demanding compliance, and you’ll empower employees to imagine and commit to their own success.
In this learning module, you’ll learn strategies that help employees explore what they need to meet the goals and objectives you set for them. This approach respects diverse employee strengths and personalities.
To gain commitment and support success:
- Be clear about what you expect and how you’ll measure success.
- Be clear about the support and resources the employee can expect from you.
- Use a coaching approach to allow employees to develop their own plan for getting their assigned work done.
- Reframe the situation as a positive future state, especially when frustration or negative emotions arise.
- Confirm the details of the plan in writing so there’s a shared understanding.
Gaining commitment over compliance supports:
- Improved engagement.
- Greater collaboration.
- Innovation.
- Employee growth and self-awareness.
- Performance improvement.
Leaders have a responsibility to support employee success. When developing a plan with an employee, it’s important for you as the leader to:
- Be clear about what outcomes you expect.
- Be clear about how success will be measured.
- Be clear about what support they can expect from you.
Using a coaching approach
A coaching approach is when you help employees create solutions to their own workplace issues.
Since they're the expert on their abilities you're helping them to decide how they can best meet the goals and objectives you set for them.
Let's explore some approaches and techniques below to help make leaders better coaches.
See Responses below to see the answers to the following 2 questions.
- Which of the following are part of a coaching approach?
- Present options for how to get it done.
- Ask questions to help them explore possible approaches to get their work done.
- Tell them it’s up to them how they do the work.
- Both Present options for how to get it done and Tell them it’s up to them how they do the work.
One technique in coaching is reframing. If the employee is feeling emotional, frustrated or negative, help them reframe a challenging situation by asking them to share their strengths and solutions.
- Which of the following could be a good approach for reframing?
- What would success look like in this situation?
- How have you coped with this challenge so far?
- When you’ve been faced with challenges in the past, how have you managed?
- All of the above.
Responses
- Answer: Ask questions to help them explore possible approaches to get their work done. When you take a coaching approach, you support employees to develop their own approach to getting the work done. This way, you resist presenting your own options or just leaving them to figure it out on their own.
- Answer: All of the above.When we can change the way someone looks at a situation, we can help them change their experience of it. If they can shift their perception from fear or hopelessness to courage and hope, they’re more likely to be able to focus on solutions.
Some questions you might ask to coach the employee to develop their plan include:
- How will this approach help you meet expectations?
- Are there other options?
- What can I do to support this approach?
- How will other people on the team be impacted?
Recap expectations
The next step is to confirm the details of the plan and show your support. Once you’ve collaborated with an employee to commit to their own success, confirm the details of the plan inwriting so everyone is clear. This should include who is responsible for what, when and how success will be measured.
Be clear about when you’ll check in to see how things are going and measure progress.
Once you’ve supported an employee to develop their own plan for success, it’s important you:
- Confirm the details of the plan in writing.
- Confirm the support you’ll provide.
- Follow up to check in on how things are going.
- Follow through in measuring progress.
- Celebrate success or adjust the plan.
Knowledge check
See Responses below to see the answers to the following 2 questions.
- Getting employee commitment requires leaders to...
- Set clear expectations.
- Use a coaching approach to help employees develop their own plan.
- Empower employees to imagine and commit to their own success.
- All of the above.
- Which of the following questions may NOT be helpful when trying to get employee commitment and engagement?
- How will this approach help you meet expectations?
- Are there other options?
- What can I do to support this approach?
- How will other people on the team be impacted?
- What would success look like?
- Can you stick to the instructions I have given you?
- How have you coped with this challenge so far?
- Have you worked through a similar issue?
Responses
- All of the above The nuance between developing commitment rather than demanding compliance means you continue to ensure expectations are met, but in a way that empowers employees to commit to their own success.
- Answer: Can you stick to the instructions I have given you? While this approach is sometimes necessary in regulated processes, it doesn't involve the employee in committing to their own success as it does not engage them in the solution.
Tip sheet and resources
Congratulations on learning getting employee commitment for leaders. We’ve put together a tip sheet with the main learning points of this module. We recommend you save or print it as a reference. There are also free resources you can use if you want a deeper dive on this subject.
View the Getting employee commitment for leaders tip sheet | PDF
Getting employee commitment for leaders
Getting employee commitment for leaders YouTube video.
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