Page 347 - How America's Best Places to Work Inspire Extra Effort in Extraordinary Times

334B RE-ENGAGE

successful could your company be if you launched new employee en-
gagement initiatives that were fully aligned with your workforce plan
and strategic business objectives?
We came across a comment from one survey respondent who was
obviously in serious doubt about the commitment of his own com-
pany’s executives:

The company has been making tremendous strides to become a
“Great Place to Work”—the biggest hurdle that we are still work-
ing through is getting all senior leaders on board (i.e., walking the
talk) of the human capital plan. It might stem from certain leaders’
inability to coach/lead to achieve results after the training has been
accomplished. When the ability is low, these individuals do not see
the ROI and thus are reluctant to invest in their people. I have
been told by one person in senior leadership that they are fearful
of investing “too” much in us, because we might leave the company
shortly thereafter. It’s getting better, but the Human Capital Plan
hasn’t really made it to all individuals in the company in a way
that is effectively providing ROI.

Such comments testify to just a few of the obstacles that we face
in launching new workforce engagement initiatives. Of course, most
workforce initiatives have a built-in disadvantage: the costs are imme-
diate and definite, but the benefits can only be realized with effective
“soft-skills” execution and are not typically realized until some vague
point in the future.

:
Assess Your Degree of Difficulty in Becoming a More
Engaged Workplace
It’s not just the three crosswind factors we have addressed
throughout the book that can impede your journey to be-
coming a better workplace. A dangerous variety of mines
may be floating in the ocean ahead. Answering any of the