Is Your Team Failing? A Few Reasons Why

In my post about The Great Resignation, I talked about the number one reason employees leave is because they are not engaged at work.

To recap, employee engagement is a measurement of the involvement and enthusiasm of employees. It’s calculated by having employees rate the following statements on a scale from 1-5:

1. I know what is expected of me at work.
2. I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right.
3. At work, I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day.
4. In the last seven days, I have received recognition or praise for doing good work.
5. My supervisor, or someone at work, seems to care about me as a person.
6. There is someone at work who encourages my development.
7. At work, my opinions seem to count.
8. The mission or purpose of my company makes me feel my job is important.
9. My associates or fellow employees are committed to doing quality work.
10. I have a best friend at work.
11. In the last six months, someone at work has talked to me about my progress.
12. This last year, I have had opportunities at work to learn and grow.

If your employees do not feel engaged at work, you may see a symptom of it before they leave though – an underperforming team.

In his post How to Manage a Failing Team (Or an Underperforming Team), Jim Burgoon lists some reasons why your team may be failing and one of those is declining morale. Or put another way – declining engagement.

Other reasons he lists include:

• Improper Placement of  Team Members
• Lack of Skills to Do the Job
• Lack of Continuing Personal Development
• Personal Issues

You can see these reasons match with one or more of the 12 essential elements of engagement above.

Other reasons your team may be underperforming…

Kivi just shared Everything You Need to Know about Nonprofit Communications or Marketing Teams and in that post she discussed factors that lead to more effective teams based on data from our annual Nonprofit Communications Trends Reports.

Here are some of those factors.

• Team Structure: Centralized and Integrated Teams are the most effective models.
• Team Size: Effectiveness increases when communications teams reach three full-time staff members.
• Senior Leadership: Based on previous surveys and judging from the preliminary results of our 2022 Trends Report, nonprofit leadership does not always understand nor fully respect the role of a nonprofit communications team.

The good news is, once you diagnose why your team is failing, you can start taking steps to correct it. Jim Burgoon suggests you

• Define Success
• Offer Coaching and Mentoring
• Be a Problem Solver, Not a Problem Finder
• Ensure Everyone Plays Their Part
• Make Hard Decisions
• Communicate, Communicate, Communicate

Read more about how he suggests you can manage a failing team.

And you can start advocating for change within your organization by having tough discussions with your leadership.

See more of our posts on nonprofit communications teams.