Within a month of starting in the job I’d aspired to for many years the IT sector was in the storm of the 2001 dotcom crash. My new employer a global organisation carried out significant redundancies. Following this exercise the MD hired out a plush venue for a ra-ra meeting. With a smug look and a swagger he reassured the audience that we were best people in the industry and far more talented than those who had been made redundant. That’s why we had kept our jobs. Nearly everyone in the room had lost colleagues and friends – employees who had been with the company from the start, years before the current MD took over.
With a wrenching gut instinct I knew I’d made mistake in joining this company. Fortunately nine months later, I too was made redundant as the dotcom storm continued. In a way I was fortunate as loathing every minute working for such an employer provided me with a turning point. This led me to start Beyond – my own company. This was a classic case of how to succeed at demotivating and driving down performance during uncertain times.
Driven by the economic climate, employee engagement is one of the biggest challenges facing organisations. Uncertainty and a sense of lost of control lead to low morale and a lack of focus. The inevitable is a dip in productivity and performance.
10 Leadership Tips to Boosting Engagement:
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