Show employees that you appreciate their expertise and individual skills
According to INC.com, one of the simplest and at the same time most effective ways of improving people's engagement is to show you respect them. Managers sometimes forget employees are individual human beings who need encouragement, appreciation and assurance. You should therefore show employees you do not take their knowledge for granted: you need to demonstrate you do not view them simply as some generic workforce and you appreciate their individual skills.
Pay attention to the opinions of employees and practise active listening
Many employees are frustrated because they feel neither management nor their boss listens to them. Yet it is often regular employees who are in the front line, dealing directly with clients, business partners and suppliers, and they often have a lot of constructive ideas and suggestions. You should listen to what employees think and say, and actively encourage them to speak up. But you cannot just pretend to be listening: you should stop everything and actively listen to individual workers, ask supplementary questions, reformulate what the other person has said and react to it.
Explain the broader context to the employees
Employees will be more motivated if they understand the wider context of their work. No one wants to work only in their own small bubble without knowing what good their work actually is and what larger goal they are helping to achieve. Show your employees the bigger picture: share the results and strategies of the company in its entirety, share the goals and aims of the team as a group and explain why you need them to do the work you are asking them to do. Team members will then feel part of one group and be much more motivated to add to the overall success of the whole team or company.
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