Jennifer McClure`

Empowering Organizations and People Leaders to thrive in the ever-evolving world of work

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Written by Jennifer McClure

Employee Engagement in the Digital Age: The Essential Role of Connection in Remote Work

A few months into the “new normal” of 2020, a young friend of mine graduated from university, and after years of preparation and anticipation, accepted their dream job at their dream company – a large, well-established, global organization, which has won many awards for being a Great Place to Work.

In the early days of the pandemic, he moved across the country, bought a new house, and filled with pride, drove by the company’s large office building prior to his first day of work.

But a drive-by was as close to that building as he would get. Shortly after he had accepted his offer a few months earlier, most everyone at the company went to a remote work strategy as a result of the pandemic.

Like a well-oiled machine, prior to his first day on the job, the onboarding team sent office supplies, a new computer, a desktop monitor, and a mobile phone to his home address. New hire paperwork was delivered and signed electronically, and new hire training was completed via a series of virtual training modules that were available on demand.

On his first day, he got up early, dressed professionally, made a cup of coffee – and made the 25-step commute to his new home office.

First on the agenda was a video call with an HR representative, and then a quick connect call with his new boss, neither of whom he’d ever met in person. Each person was friendly, welcomed him to the team, and instructed him to reach out via instant messenger or email any time he had questions or concerns.

Unfortunately, as work days turned into work weeks, “going to work” didn’t feel much different than going to play video games, or going to watch TV, or going to bed – because all of those things happened in the same place, and without other people.

After a couple of months, the initial excitement around starting a new career, and a new life in a new city began to wane.

There was plenty of work to do, and clear goals to achieve, but there was no connection with his boss, his team – or the company. The virtual training had been thorough, but with no opportunity to get to know anyone beyond video calls or virtual team meetings, he felt disconnected – and disappointed. As a new hire, he found it difficult to ask questions in virtual team meetings, and it felt intrusive to send people multiple IM’s to follow up, or to learn more about a topic that was discussed.

By the time I reached out to him to ask how things were going, he was already taking calls from recruiters, and responding to other job offers on LinkedIn. When I asked why he would want to leave such a great opportunity at a company well-known for having a great culture, he shared that he didn’t feel like the work that he did mattered, and he didn’t feel any connection to his boss, his team, or the company. He said:

I don’t even know what the company’s culture is. I can read about it, but I don’t feel it.

Unfortunately, this experience isn’t something that happens just with new hires, or remote employees. The importance of creating connection – to the company, to the work, to the team, and to the manager – is critical, whether we’re working together in an office, or separately in our own homes, or from a local coffee shop. And the job of creating connection falls squarely on us as leaders of people.

As people leaders, we’ve long been obsessed with improving employee engagement, but we’ve also often missed the mark by equating high levels of engagement with perks like free food, ping pong tables, or bringing pets to work – things that we perceive make people happy.

The truth is that employee engagement is an outcome of whether employees truly feel connected to the company, and to its purpose.

As a leader, creating connection for your team members is one of your most important, most difficult, and most rewarding jobs. Employees who feel connected to the company’s reason for existing, can successfully navigate through challenges, difficulties, and frustrations, (or a global pandemic), because they feel that the work that they do matters.

So, what can you do, as a leader, to ensure that your employees experience connection to their work, to you, to their team, and to the organization?

Leaders Must Be Visible, Available, and Approachable

Over the last 20 years, Gallup has reliably measured employee engagement, and the percentage of employees who are actively engaged at work hasn’t really veered that much from about one third, plus or minus a couple of percentage points. However, according to their surveys, about 3 months into the global pandemic, employee engagement reached record levels in June 2020.

Why did employee engagement go up, during such a challenging time?

While there were many reasons, including gratitude for even having a job, one of the key reasons was increased visibility and communication from leadership.

Think back to March 2020.

Whether your workplace laid employees off, sent everyone home to work, or navigated the challenges of providing a safe place to work for essential employees, communication efforts likely increased exponentially. There were daily check in calls among team members, and with managers, and there were frequent “all hands” Zoom or Teams calls where leaders would share plans for the day – that was about all we could handle at that point – as well as how they were addressing the unknowns.

The increased communication, and check-ins created a shared experience, with a common goal – to safely get through the challenges, and meet customers’ needs.

It’s critical for leaders to communicate consistently, to focus their teams on a common purpose, and to connect with employees individually on an ongoing basis, not just in times of difficulty or great challenge.

Employees Need to Be Seen, Valued and Cared For

As encouraging as it was to learn that employees felt more connected to their work than ever during a time of global upheaval, unfortunately, it didn’t last.

Gallup’s measurements revealed an “historic decrease” in employee engagement just a month after the unprecedented rise.

What happened?

As the pandemic response dragged on, and the “new” future of work became more routine, leaders likely backed off of their daily communications and check-ins. The US also experienced significant cultural upheaval and strife following the killing of George Floyd. Employees felt less prepared for the daily challenges in their work-life, and often unsupported in their personal life as they experienced collective trauma and uncertainty following such a horrific event.

Unfortunately, during this critical time when many employees were experiencing a flurry of complicated emotions, many leaders did not feel qualified or educated enough to address how their employees were feeling, and as a result, may not have addressed them at all.

Dealing with humans and human emotions can be tricky, but as leaders, our job is to care for those that we lead and serve.

Often, one of the best ways to show that you care, is to ask how someone is doing, and then to actually listen. No answers or solutions required.

So, what ultimately happened with my friend above?

After struggling for several months, working for a leader who was unavailable, and difficult to approach, another leader who participated in project meetings with him regularly reached out to him one day via IM, and simply asked:

“Are you okay?”

This leader created a safe space for him to share his struggles with feeling connected, respected and valued, and he offered his support. He also connected my friend with an extremely helpful and caring HR leader, who provided positive coaching and resources to assist him with addressing the poor relationship he had with his direct manager.

Ultimately, my friend applied for another role in the company after a few months, and accepted a transfer to another division.

Now, working for a different leader, he’s found a new life and purpose in the organization, in a role where he feels that he’s really making a difference. Before moving into this new role, he made a point to reach out to the manager who asked him how he was doing that day, as well as the HR leader, to thank them for their help and support.

As leaders, each of us is in a powerful position where we can make a real difference in someone’s life — and to do that effectively, we must prioritize communication, connection, and caring.

Do that, and you’ll create real value in your organization, as well as in the lives of those that you lead and serve.


As a keynote speaker and leadership coach, Jennifer McClure helps leaders to embrace the future of work, and to develop the skills necessary to lead their organizations and the people on their teams to take bold actions that positively impact business results.

Want more leadership and future of work insights from me?

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Categories: Blog, Effective Communication, Leadership
Posted on September 12, 2023

Written by Jennifer McClure

How to Deliver a Killer Presentation: Avoid These 5 Common Mistakes

I make my living as a professional communicator, which means I have the honor of speaking to audiences at conferences, association meetings, and corporate events all over the world.

One of the benefits that I truly enjoy when speaking at events is attending other keynotes, breakout sessions, or workshops whenever possible. I’m always interested in learning, and I also want to watch great speakers in action, so I can continue to grow and improve my speaking skills as well.

At a recent conference, I chose to attend a breakout session led by a speaker with an impressive title. His bio listed many professional accomplishments and years of experience in a topic that I was very interested in learning more about. Even though his session was scheduled a few hours before my closing keynote, I made a point to get to the convention center early in order to take advantage of the opportunity to learn from him.

Unfortunately, very quickly into the 75-minute session, it became clear that learning was going to be a challenge. Even though his professional experience and accomplishments related to the subject were impressive, the speaker conveyed zero excitement or passion for the findings of the case studies and research that he shared, and he didn’t seem to care at all about connecting with the audience.

Pretty soon, in an effort to salvage my time investment, my note taking shifted towards capturing quotes and actions from the speaker that affected my ability to learn from him.

10 Audience Engagement Killers

  1. “I’m not going to bore you with that…”
  2. “We don’t have time to talk about that today…”
  3. “What time is it?”
  4. “Here’s a picture of an article I wrote in 2008…”
  5. “I’m not going to go through each one of these…”
  6. “How much time do I have left?”
  7. “There are a variety of reasons for this, we just don’t have time to talk about them here…”
  8. “I’m not going to go into this, it’s too involved for this gig…”
  9. “Am I still okay on time?”
  10. “This slide shows a whole bunch of reports which focus on financial metrics. Blah, blah, blah, blah…”

The 10 statements above were exact quotes from the speaker during this session – even number ten.

Unfortunately, I left the session frustrated, because myself – and about 150 others – had wasted 75 minutes of our time. We had met the speaker’s expectations of not being able to understand or take action on the information presented, but he did not meet my expectations as an audience member – which is for the speaker to provide value.

I can guarantee you that no meeting planner plans for their audience to leave a session having learned nothing new or at least challenged to try something new – and no speaker should either.

As someone who has been speaking on stages for over 15 years, I know that speaking in front of any size of audience can be tough on the ego. Even when I feel that I’ve knocked it out of the park, there is always someone in the audience who didn’t connect with my material, or who didn’t care for my delivery.

But I also know that I can increase the odds that my message will connect with the majority of audience members if I can answer the following question:

“What do I want the audience to DO with this information following my presentation?”

Once I have the answer to that question, I then need to care enough to use the time that I’ve been given to help the audience to understand why and how it’s possible for them to do just that.

Successful speakers care about the audience and their learning experience.

If you’ve been selected or appointed to speak in front of an audience – you’ve been given the valuable gift of people’s time. Whether it’s a keynote in front of thousands, a DisruptHR Talk, or a presentation to your team in a conference room, you can show your audience respect and appreciation by never making the following mistakes as a speaker:

5 Mistakes Successful Speakers Never Make

1. Never show, mention, or refer to something the audience cannot see clearly on the screen.

Examples: “I know this is an eye chart, but…” or “You can’t see this, but let me tell you what it says…”

2. Never show a statistic, reference a study, or display a quote without also sharing the source.

Who said this? When was it? How can I follow up to learn more? <- What your audience is thinking.

3. Never include stats, studies, or reference material on a slide that is more than 2 years old.

If your idea or premise is based upon 10-year-old research, find (or create) new research to support it.

4. Never refer to your own presentation materials, content or speaking style as boring.

Don’t plant seeds that you don’t want to grow. If the audience wasn’t already thinking that – they surely are now.

5. Never ask how much time is left for your presentation.

Asking the audience about time remaining shows a lack of preparation – and implies that you plan to fill the allotted time – no matter what. Bring a clock, use a time app on your phone, or have a friend hold up a sign to keep track of time – but never ask the audience to do it for you!

Any presentation that you create and deliver should be with the goal of educating, informing, encouraging and inspiring your audience. They’ll love you for it – and maybe they’ll even say something nice about it afterwards!


Do you want to build your personal brand and share your expertise as a speaker?

Download my free guide today: 10 Tips to Build Your Brand and Land Gigs as a Speaker – to discover how!

The guide includes links and examples of how successful speakers are marketing themselves using online and offline tactics and strategies.

Categories: Blog, Effective Communication, Speaking
Posted on August 22, 2023

Written by Jennifer McClure

The Power of Nonverbal Communication: Insights from a Counterintelligence Agent with Derik Clark

Impact Makers podcast episode 83 with Derik Clark

On episode 83 of the Impact Makers podcast, I’m chatting with Derik Clark, a human resources leader and recently retired Army counterintelligence agent who has a passion for teaching others about the power of nonverbal communication.

Derik is a US Army veteran with 22 years of service, who specialized in counterintelligence investigations and intelligence informant operations. Through those responsibilities he became a subject matter expert in body language assessments and high stakes interviewing in threatening environments, and he’s taught those skills to thousands of US soldiers in both the official Army counterintelligence school, as well as in live environment military operations.

Derik founded Bodysights body language training to help leaders and organizations to notice key nonverbals during interviews, client interactions, investigations, performance reviews, and negotiations.

In our discussion, we chat about the importance of reading and understanding body language, and the impact it can have in various contexts, as well as how understanding these concepts can help leaders to foster stronger relationships, make better-informed decisions, and navigate complex interpersonal dynamics more effectively.

Topics Discussed In Today’s Episode:

  • The power of nonverbal communication and its impact on human interactions.
  • The limitations of relying solely on body language for determining truthfulness and the importance of considering other factors.
  • How social distancing and the shift to more digital communication has impacted our ability to read body language and facial expressions, which helps us to perceive comfort levels and emotions.
  • Why demonstrating empathy is the key to deepening connection, and encouraging open and honest discussions.
  • The value of training to develop effective nonverbal observation skills and categorizing comfort levels.
  • The importance of considering diverse factors like neurodivergence, cultural differences, upbringing, and personal trauma when assessing body language, especially in job interviews or other stressful situations.
  • Enhancing hiring decisions, employee investigations, and communication skills through improved body language understanding.
  • The practical applications of nonverbal communication in business contexts.

LISTEN TO IMPACT MAKERS PODCAST – EPISODE 83

Listen on Apple podcasts, Google podcasts or Spotify

People & Resources Mentioned In This episode:

Derik Clark – Website, LinkedIn

Categories: Blog, Effective Communication, Interviewing, Podcast
Posted on July 17, 2023

Written by Jennifer McClure

Improving Employee Retention: 10 Essential Questions Leaders Should Ask Their Employees

In general, employees leave their jobs because they want more career growth, flexibility, and/or appreciation and recognition.

You’ve probably also heard that people leave managers, not companies.

In fact, there are many reasons why an employee many choose to make a change depending upon their individual circumstances, but there are some common factors.

As a leader, how can you prevent your best employees from leaving?

Take the time to have conversations with your direct reports and team members to understand what’s working, what’s not working, and how you can help to set them up for success.

Whether you’re doing performance evaluations, having end of year discussions, or talking about goal setting and goal planning for next year, I believe there are 10 crucial questions that leaders should be asking their employees to improve employee retention.

From identifying skills to develop, and areas needing support, to understanding preferred management styles, and exploring career growth opportunities, these questions provide valuable insights for creating a positive work environment that nurtures and retains top talent. By actively listening and acting upon the responses, leaders can establish stronger connections with their employees and foster a workplace culture that values individual growth and satisfaction.

10 Questions to Ask Employees to Improve Retention

Discover Skills to Focus on or Develop / Areas to Eliminate or Support

  1. What are 3 aspects of your job that you feel you’re best at, or enjoy the most?
  2. What are 2 areas in your job where you could use more support or resources, or would prefer not to do?
  3. Outside of work, what do you really enjoy doing? Do you have a hobby, or a passion project that you work on that gives you joy?

Learning and Development / Career Growth

  1. Is there something that you would like to have an opportunity to learn or explore, that either isn’t a part of your current job, or is something you’d like to try?
  2. Are there skills that you would like to learn, or career opportunities that you would like to explore that you don’t fee are available to you in your current role, or at this company?

Flexibility / Work Hours

  1. Does the current schedule or work situation allow you to do your best work, while also enjoying your life away from work?

Understand How Someone Likes to Be Managed

  1. How do you like to be recognized and appreciated? What is meaningful to you?
  2. How often would you prefer to meet to discuss and share progress against your goals?

Support Their Progress and Ensure Success

  1. What is one thing that I can do to set you up for success in 2023, that I’m not doing currently?

The Magic Question

  1. If I gave you a magic wand, and you could change one thing about your current job, or about the company – what would you change?

Employee retention remains a top priority for effective leaders, and understanding the reasons behind an employee’s decision to leave can help leaders to prevent valuable team members from looking for other opportunities to meet their goals and expectations.

Want to hear more on this topic, and understand the reasoning behind asking each of these questions?

Listen to the Impact Makers podcast episode 071 – 10 Questions You Should Be Asking to Prevent Your Best Employees from Leaving:

  • Listen on Apple Podcasts
  • Listen on Spotify
  • Listen on Google Play
  • Listen on my website

Categories: Blog, Effective Communication, Leadership
Posted on June 26, 2023

Written by Jennifer McClure

Leaders Can Drive Employee Engagement, the Pandemic Showed Us How

Group of engaged employeesI don’t know if you’re like me, but I still find it hard to believe the world changed completely for all of us just over two and half years ago.

My business as a professional speaker and trainer went from “best-year-ever!” status to a big fat zero over three weeks. But I had friends and colleagues whose businesses thrived. Some even achieved their best year ever. Those who did were successful because they pivoted quickly to meet new demands and address new customer needs.

Many business leaders I’ve spoken with have learned valuable lessons over these years. They’ve learned about resilience, their ability to do and achieve hard things, and the importance of connecting people with a shared purpose in their work, even if only to survive and to keep moving forward another day.

So, as leaders, what can we learn from the recent past to prepare us – and our teams – for the dynamic future ahead?

Reflect on what went right, what went wrong, and celebrate too

One exercise I suggest is to take the time to review what went right – and what went wrong – in terms of how your organization responded when the World Health Organization declared the global pandemic on March 11, 2020.

That was a Wednesday. Your workplace probably looked very different by Monday morning. Just four days later, you were either working from home, or masked and gloved if your workplace was deemed an essential service.

Of course, none of this process went smoothly. But whether it took a few days, weeks (or even months), your organization figured out how to navigate the “new normal.”

Since then, we’ve all been through a lot. But I hope you also take the time to celebrate what you and your teams were able to accomplish, even if it wasn’t pretty or ideal.

What surprised me most but made perfect sense

One of the things I found most interesting about the world of work during the “new normal” was the bump in employee engagement that followed the shutdown.

Organizations like Energage, the research arm behind the nation’s Top Workplaces program, reported engagement among award-winning companies (and those that aspire to be) jumped to 71 percent following several stagnant months in the low to mid-60s.

(If those engagement numbers sound high to begin with, they are. That’s because Top Workplaces typically achieve engagement levels double the national average.)

Read More: Employees Did Plenty of Soul-Searching in 2021

What caused the engagement jump amid chaos

There are many theories as to why employee engagement made a positive leap during a decidedly not positive time. Energage research revealed the primary contributor: increased frequency and quality of communication.

If you think back to those unprecedented times, I’m willing to bet this was probably true for your workplace too. Leaders were holding frequent meetings via Zoom or Teams to share what they knew to be true that day and what plans were for tomorrow.

They checked in on employees more frequently to ensure they had the resources to do their jobs – and to ask if they were okay. Leaders were also more available to answer employee questions. We found creative ways to stay connected. Employees felt appreciated. They felt valued.

Am I right?

In other words, as leaders, we were more visible and accessible during the crisis than ever before. That’s what brought people together in the workplace. More than ever before.

But then engagement slipped away … again

Unfortunately, there was little time for celebrating those record-high engagement numbers. According to Energage, employee engagement numbers dropped back to pre-pandemic levels by September 2020. And they’ve remained there ever since.

Ugh, what happened?

Many things, including the George Floyd killing in May 2020 and the resulting tensions related to racial injustice felt worldwide. Add to that increased layoffs, closed businesses, hope followed by disappointment, plus increasing fatigue from stress and change.

Employee (and leader) burnout was – and is – real. As companies struggle with how to deal with burnout, its effects are wreaking havoc as we continue through the Great Resignation and Great Reset.

All of this resulted in leaders communicating less with their employees than in the beginning months of the pandemic. Unfortunately, as employee communication reverted to pre-pandemic “normal,” so did employee engagement.

Maybe you had a similar experience. Communication increased, employees felt well-informed, people pulled in the same direction. But as new routines emerged, energy dissipated, communication waned, and check-ins became less frequent. And so did the sense of connection.

If this sounds familiar, consider the actions you can take to improve employee engagement. We did it once and we can do it again.

Why leaders should care about employee engagement in first place

Employee engagement is essential for a variety of reasons. Generally, employee engagement drives performance and retention. When employees are engaged, they want to stay with the company and give their best every day to help achieve company goals. They’re also willing to recommend and refer others to your organization. And a lack of engagement is one of the reasons why employees quit.

Read more: What Is Employee Engagement, and Why Is It Important?

As we proceed through 2022, many companies struggle to keep their best people and attract top talent. Taking steps to improve employee engagement is a worthy investment. It makes good business sense. You’ll make a positive impact on your culture as well as your company’s bottom line. Not to mention, employee engagement is one of the qualities of a great workplace. Remember when I said Top Workplaces achieve engagement levels that are double the national average?

The pandemic taught us two ways to improve employee engagement

Don’t forget: Visibility + Accessibility = Engagement

Combining research and firsthand experience we gained from the pandemic, here are two action steps you can take – starting now – to make a positive impact on employee engagement:

1. Reinvest in meaningful communication and connection

In the early days of the pandemic, many leaders were more visible and accessible to their employees than ever before, which was a factor in increased employee engagement. It’s important to think beyond weekly or monthly team meetings and to look for ways to check in on your people individually. Yes, even if you have a large team.

Look at your calendar and set aside time for formal and informal team and individual communication, even if it’s just to ask how people are doing and if they need any support or resources in their work or life.

Remote and hybrid work environments require leaders to initiate communications since there are fewer opportunities for hallway conversations, impromptu chats after meetings, or the occasional drop-ins to ask a quick question.

Read More: Remote Employee Engagement – Challenges, Activities, & Ideas

2. Make employee appreciation and recognition part of your culture

Challenge yourself to recognize and appreciate your team members more often. I know, I know. You think you’re doing a great job with that already. Most of us do. But most of us are wrong.

Consider these stats:

  • Only 67 percent believe the people who deserve recognition actually receive it. That suggests a huge gap between who we’re recognizing and what employees want to see. (Energage)
  • 29 percent say they’d willingly give up a week’s worth of pay for more recognition from their employer. (Bonusly)
  • When employee recognition isn’t prioritized, many employees (61 percent) feel underappreciated. (Energage)
  • Employees who feel appreciated are 5x more connected to their workplace culture. (Workhuman)

Early in my leadership journey, one of my team members took the time to give me some valuable feedback when turning in her resignation. She was leaving because she didn’t feel like I knew what she did in her day-to-day work.

After being initially confused by that statement – I mean, I assigned her the work, so I assumed it meant I knew what she was doing – I asked her to tell me more. It turns out that what she really meant was that she didn’t feel appreciated for the work that she was doing.

At that time, my leadership style was similar to how I liked to be managed: When we agree on what needs to be accomplished, you can leave me alone, and I’ll get it done. If I need you, I know where to find you.

Thankfully, this person took the time to teach me a valuable lesson as a leader. Not everyone wants to be managed like me. And EVERYONE wants to feel valued and appreciated.

As a result of our conversation, I set a personal goal to become more intentional about showing appreciation for my team. I asked about the projects they were working on and offered my support, even if they didn’t ask. I put time blocks on my calendar to connect informally with each team member each week for this very reason.

Setting a goal and planning to recognize and appreciate my team members ensured that it happened. As the saying goes, what gets scheduled, gets done. Don’t leave employee recognition and appreciation to chance. It can and does make a difference.

We’ve got this

A lot has happened in our lives and the workplace over the past couple of years. But if we can learn from what worked – and what didn’t – we can ensure that this difficult period in our history helped us to grow and do better as leaders for our people.

Categories: Effective Communication, Employee Engagement, Leadership
Posted on August 29, 2022

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