Growth is a key objective for most companies, and particularly for our clients who are primarily small-medium and rapid growth businesses.

However, business growth can often cause challenges when it comes to employee engagement. This is often the case for companies who don’t have an in-house HR team, or don’t have the capacity to provide structured support and proactive initiatives for employees.

When employees don’t feel connected with the business, growth may be hard to achieve.

Here are five key strategies we see our clients use, to maintain employee engagement during a growth phase:

1. Clear communication

When looking to grow a business, it’s crucial that leaders clearly communicate the WHY. That is – the company’s purpose, vision and mission, the direction the business is heading, what the goals are, and how this links to any KPIs in place. In fact, Korn Ferry said that in 2023, a strong strategic compass is one of the 5 key factors employees want in today’s employment market. Remember – if your employees don’t buy into your growth plans, they’re not going to be motivated to help the company reach its goals.

ACTION: Consider what communication channels your organisation uses (or could use) to clearly communicate the WHY to your team. This can be done across various channels, including all-employee or regular team meetings, emails or newsletter updates, video clips from the leadership team, or updates via an internal portal.

2. Reinforce core values

Core values are a fundamental element when shaping the culture of a business, particularly in periods of growth. As a company expands, the to-do lists get longer and the priorities increase, and it becomes more and more challenging to keep employees aligned with the overall vision and mission. This can impact decision-making and behaviour across the company.

ACTION: Consider if your core values are clearly communicated, and if your employees understand the behaviours or beliefs that are linked to each core value. Do they know how to put it into action and hold each other accountable? Core values help to provide a strong sense of continuity and direction during times of change and growth.

3. Consult with your team – let them have their say!

There is no substitute for two-way feedback.

Believe me, your employees will want to have their say when it comes to changes in the business – and their input may well be invaluable in achieving the company’s growth goals. It’s important that you implement a genuine employee consultation process to not just seek their feedback, suggestions, ideas, and alternatives, but also consider it. You never know – they will likely think of things that you haven’t thought of when planning any upcoming changes because they will be looking at it from a different lens.

ACTION: Consider how you can incorporate a two-way feedback or consultation process into any upcoming change processes, through whole-of-company or team-based feedback sessions and/or anonymous surveys. Make sure you listen to their feedback and take it into consideration when making the final decision.

4. Equip your employees to grow with the business

Feedback is key to employee engagement and satisfaction. Implement constant and courageous communications through regular and constructive feedback for your employees and mentoring and coaching support your leaders. This will help to accelerate growth amongst your team members and managers, and ensure that they feel safe, so they can change as the company’s needs change through growth.

ACTION: Consider how you currently upskill your employees to take and receive feedback. Do you have a regular performance conversation cycle in place that allows leaders to share feedback honestly and authentically, and employees to seek feedback that will aid their growth and improvement?

5. Measure the success of your engagement

It’s not enough to simply implement employee engagement activities – you need to make sure they are being effective as well. The majority of our clients measure the success of their engagement strategy through robust company, department and team KPIs and goal reporting, as well as engagement reporting measures such as a Pulse Survey and their employee Net Promoter Scores (eNPS).

ACTION: How often do you track your employee engagement? Do you run a quarterly survey to check the cultural pulse and measure the effectiveness of any initiatives you have implemented? If you are looking for ways to do this better, please speak with our team today.

Keeping your employees connected during times of growth and change is not always easy but is essential as the company grows.

The Common Goal Consulting team are experts in supporting small to medium growth businesses. Our team can provide further advice and practical assistance to identify, design, explore and report on your engagement strategies during times of growth. Contact Director Nikki Jenkinson on 0472 545 584 or email projects@commongoalconsulting.com.au for more information.