Employee engagement is a crucial part of any successful workplace.

True engagement goes beyond job satisfaction and loyalty — instead, it delves into an individual’s personal satisfaction. From a company’s perspective, true engagement ultimately contributes to the organization’s bottom line.

What makes engagement work for employees? The equation is simpler than you’d think. For workplace engagement (or happiness), a job needs to provide meaning, enjoyment, and not surprisingly, a paycheck.

At WorkSimple, we love offering tips and trick to encourage employee engagement. However, there are only so many ways we can share the dos. What about the don’ts? After all, it’s just as important to know what to avoid (not mention, it’s kind of fun).

Here are six don’ts every manager (and executive) should keep in mind when working on employee engagement:

Don’t limit feedback
Limiting feedback to annual (or even more sporadic) performance reviews is harmful to employee engagement. It catches employees off-guard and usually pulls from specific instances instead of providing an overall picture. Ultimately, limited feedback keeps workers on their toes (in a bad way).

Engaged employees love frequent feedback. It gives them confidence and helps them move forward. More importantly, feedback helps them understand how their work fits into the team and the bigger company picture.

Don’t stick to long-term objectives
Picking one massive project for everyone to work on is not good for employee engagement. After a long day’s work, only a fraction of the project will be accomplished, leaving employees stressed and feeling unimportant.

Engaged employees prefer a combination of long-term and short-term goals. In reality, short-term goals reflect what is going on in the workplace today. It helps workers deal with shifting priorities.

Short-term goals can, however, contribute to a long-term direction. This leaves employees feeling more accomplished and less stressed.

Don’t go all-for-one
When management forces their employees to work separately, engagement goes out the window. Competition outweighs collaboration, leaving employees to feel like it’s them against the world.

Engaged employees prefer to work together in a group for most goals and projects. That way everyone’s best skills are used appropriately and a team dynamic is inspired.

Don’t stay by the book
Religiously following an original business plan can work against employee engagement. It allows no room for new ideas and your employees will feel like they’re a cog in the machine.

Successful companies that have existed for 10, 20, or even 50 years learn early on that change does happen from time to time. An engaged workforce will shift goals and techniques instead of remaining stagnant. Flexibility encourages innovation and the company as a whole will thrive.

Don’t criticize
A manager or executive who consistently focuses on where employees fall short is working against employee engagement. Constant micromanaging and layering on work without praise keeps employees tense and powerless.

In an engaged workplace, employees hear praise and constructive criticism often. This instills a sense of trust that they are improving and that they matter to the company.

Don’t keep management and workers separate
If there is a rift between management and staff, engagement won’t be able to thrive. Employees will have the distinct feeling that management is “above” them and management will lord over employees. In this scenario, employees feel condescended to and disengaged.

To increase employee engagement, turn managers in coaches. This encouraged the overall “team” feel throughout the company. Employees feel more comfortable working with management and vice versa.

What do you think? What other don’ts would you add to this post? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Morgan Norman is the Founder and CEO of WorkSimple, putting an end to performance reviews by providing a better way for coworkers and teams to share goals, work together, get and give feedback, and make each other shine. Connect with him and WorkSimple on Facebook and Twitter.