To continue to engage public sector employees during these challenging times, here are some engagement ideas for public sector officials:

Link your efforts around performance: Remember, employee engagement is not about employee satisfaction. There are some in the public sector who believe their employer should make them satisfied. Remind them that all great teams work together for a common goal, and this requires a mutual commitment between government officials or administrators and employees. The last thing you should want is a school system or public works department of satisfied but underperforming employees.
Employee engagement starts at the top: Most studies show that a key employee engagement driver is the actions of senior leaders. Public leaders must demonstrate support for an engaged company culture by personally living their company's values.
Engage first-line leaders: The old adage, "employees join great companies, but quit bad bosses" is true. Are you investing in the development of your "people leaders"?
Focus on communication, the cornerstone of engagement: Successful leaders recognize the power of a robust communication plan, one built on clarity, consistency, and transparency. At the risk of disputing Jack Nicholson in Few Good Men, your employees "CAN" handle the truth.
Individualize your engagement: Although often difficult with collective bargaining, you should do all you can to get to know your employees, individualize engagement and treat employees as people with different needs. This is especially true with the vastly different motivational drivers with our Gen Ys, Xs, and Boomers.
Create a motivational culture: Leaders cannot motivate employees long-term; they must create motivational cultures with an engaged workforce where employees can flourish and motivate each other.
Create feedback mechanisms: You need to ask employees what they think; employee engagement surveys are a great tool to assess an organization's pulse.
Reinforce and reward the right behaviors: Employees are incredibly motivated by achievement, not money. But as we mentioned earlier, if there is the perception of unfairness, money issues can disengage. Focus on recognizing achievement whenever possible.
Track and communicate progress: Employees are no different than their officials -- they both want to work for a 'winning' entity. Leaders need to reinforce "line of sight" by telling their employees where they're going, how they're performing, and where they fit in.
Hire and promote the right behaviors and traits for your culture: Although we place much emphasis on one's educational background and skills, people generally succeed or fail because of their behaviors and traits (remember that soft skills count.)

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