A friend of mine recently completed an intensive, month-long training to be a yoga instructor. When she wasn’t practicing headstands, she chatted with me about how she was learning to structure a class. If you’ve been to a yoga class before, you know that the teacher often begins by asking everyone to set an intention to keep in back of your mind as you go through each pose. Even for a beginner like me, thinking about a personal goal – big or small – helps me stay focused and avoid falling onto the person next to me. Can this idea of keeping one overarching goal in the back of your mind benefit you during your work life too?;

The answer is yes. According to our employee engagement survey, clear communication about the link between company strategy and daily work leads to higher employee engagement. At Brilliant Ink, we call this “connecting the dots” for employees and always love brainstorming new ways to do this more. Here are a few ways that we’ve seen this connection work well:

• Ask employees to submit suggestions or recommend better ways of approaching business challenges, processes or strategies.
• Collect personal stories from customers, employees or patients (if applicable to your business) that illustrate what a huge mark your company makes and share them often at Town Hall meetings, during team huddles, on the intranet or through email blasts.
• Any time financial news or big company updates are released, explain how it relates to your team’s daily work. Be sure to highlight any time when your specific area or department led to a successful outcome for the company as a whole.
• During a team meeting, have employees talk about your company’s vision and values in their own words and how their work contributes to them. Make sure you have an answer too!

What other ways have you helped connect the dots for employees? Share in the comments below. Namaste!