Page 39 - How America's Best Places to Work Inspire Extra Effort in Extraordinary Times

26B RE-ENGAGE

will modify, or alter, how you approach literally every strategy you may
wish to implement to create a more engaged workplace. They are:

1. Diseconomies of scale. As your company grows in employee size, it will
become increasingly more difficult to create an engaged workplace.

2. Generational diversity. As your company becomes more age diverse, it will
become more difficult to create a highly engaged workplace.

3. Turbulent times. When an economic crisis grows in severity, impacting
your employer and perhaps the greater community in general, em-
ployee engagement will be negatively affected.

A former associate of ours, who is a pilot, speaks often of the chal-
lenges the aviator faces when there are crosswinds. Additional plan-
ning is required. There is a need for additional conversations with air
traffic controllers. Pilots may have to put contingency plans into effect
that they would never consider in friendlier weather.
It’s the same with these three workplace realities. We can still suc-
ceed. We can still have highly engaged employees. We can still enjoy
the benefits of greater productivity and customer loyalty. It’s just going
to take more time and more effort, that’s all.
We’ll introduce you to these three crosswind realities and then
discuss how we can face and overcome them as we seek to engage, re-
engage, and build better workplaces.

Crosswind Factor #1: Diseconomies of Scale

In his best-selling book The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell offers
a number of remarkable theories about how little things can make a
big difference in our lives, in our work, and even in how products can
be marketed. One of those theories has direct application to this work