IT Management Slideshow:
10 Ways to Engage Your Workers

Only three of 10 employees are engaged by their work, according to industry research. While prospects of a future downsizing can certainly act as one type of motivation, workers need more than the threat of a pink slip to feel emotionally committed to company objectives. This is especially true when they’re asked to take on added duties without additional compensation and/or career advancement. In the book " Engaged Leadership: Building a Culture to Overcome Employee Disengagement" (Wiley/available now) author Clint Swindall examines the significant level of disengagement within organizations these days, and provides action steps for CIOs and other top managers to boost their work teams’ sense of ownership in what they do. Failing to achieve this can result in damaging consequences that will reflect negatively upon your own ability to lead. After all, overworked layoff survivors “may be more productive, but you can’t call them engaged,” Swindall writes. “As the economy turns around, your industrious workers will have options they haven’t had in years – and if they’re unhappy, they’ll jump ship.” Here are 10 best practices from the book.