As a manager or supervisor, engaging with your employees is one of the best ways to get the most out of your staff. Rosabeth Moss Kanter, a Harvard Business school professor, outlines two major classes of employees: those who are “stuck” and those who are “moving.”

Those who are in motion look forward to their work and the personal growth that results when they accept new challenges. Employees who are stuck consider their work a deadweight to be shed on the weekend.

If you come across a situation where you notice that one of your employees exhibits behavior that shows a lack of interest or engagement, you should immediately take action to encourage the employee to change from stuck to moving.

The first step in the process involves open communication with your employee. This doesn’t have to take the form of a tense meeting behind closed doors. Rather, communication should be an on-going process that results in genuine discussion. Chatting at the so-called water cooler, exchanging project ideas and providing feedback gives you a chance to learn what motivates your employee.

Professor Moss Kanter boils the best approach to get employees moving into the three ‘M’s: mastery, membership and meaning.

Mastery refers to providing your employees with goals to achieve, which provides them a sense of growth and increasing mastery of their craft. When employees are engaging as much of their talent as possible, they tend to perform at their best.

Membership means that as an employer, you create a work environment in which your team feels like they are part of a bigger community. By discussing the aspirations of your employees, you can learn how to best integrate your employee as a valued member of the team.

The final ‘M’ is meaning, which is a very straightforward concept. IF your employees are engaged in work that they find meaningful in one way or another, they feel as if the time they spend at work is much more worthwhile.

In addition to the three ‘M’s, utilizing statistics provides valuable insight. When determining the best way to proceed with your personnel situation, Grapevine Evaluations helps provide actionable metrics that allow you to learn more about the overall efficiency and engagement of your staff, ensuring that neither you nor your employee become stuck with each other.

Grapevine Evaluations can give you the tools to assess what is happening in your company so you can manage your workforce. 

At Grapevine Evaluations, our 360 degree employee evaluations are trusted by companies such as Pandora Radio, Thompson Reuters, and Macy’s.