That there is indeed a recipe, a “magic sauce”, which will increase both your team’s productivity and the quality of their work?

Here’s the secret:

Get engaged.

And no, we don’t mean with a ring.

It’s no surprise that people perform best when they care about what they are doing. If your team members feel invested in their work, they are more likely to have the passion to go the extra mile, and to do so with a smile on.

And when teams feel that energy it shows in everything they do: studies by Gallup show a correlation between employee engagement and several vital performance indicators, like higher profits, better productivity, lower staff turnover, and even less theft and safety accidents.

But the effort to get them there can feel futile, especially when you have a team that perhaps is already jaded and just drudging through the 9-to-5. After all, it’s in their hands – right? It’s not a choice you can make for anyone else.

Yes and no. It’s certainly true that each person bears the responsibility for their own attitude. But the thing is, when done right, engagement is contagious. As irresistible as a yawn, positivity can spread through your team like wildfire if you just get it started.

The single most important ingredient for engaged teams is having an engaged leader.

In fact, a recent Gallup’s report found that 70% of the variance in employee engagement across a business is caused by the team’s leader! Other studies confirm that having a manager who is “fully engaged” can boost an employee’s own engagement by up 50%.  That means you get to decide, largely through your own engagement levels, if your team is going to be average or all-star.

Really, that’s what leadership is all about – engaging and empowering others to be even better.

Great leadership leads to higher engagement, which leads to better business results all across the board.