Soderquist Center Tells Firms To Keep Culture Simple

(From ArkansasBusiness.com)

ROGERS - Fifty four percent of the American workforce is not "engaged" in their workplace, the Soderquist Center for Leadership & Ethics told a group of leaders recently.

Citing a 2009 Gallup poll on the level on the U.S. work force, the center's director of business development Ryan Hale said the study also found that 29 percent of workers are engaged and 17 percent are actively disengaged.

"What that means is a third of your company is in drive, more than half is in neutral and nearly 20 percent is in reverse," Hale said. "You've got to figure out how to shift the disengaged at least into neutral, or how to shift them out of your organization."

Hale and colleague Wendy Soderquist Togami discussed using values-based decisions to drive company success during a presentation at the second annual Northwest Arkansas Business Conference & Expo. Their talk on "Leading A Culture of Engagement & Performance" explored building worker engagement by clearly defining organizational values.

The conference was the result of a partnership between the state's largest chamber, The Rogers-Lowell Area Chamber of Commerce, the Arkansas World Trade Center and the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal.

The Soderquist Center, available online here, is also bringing NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Roger Staubach to the Hammons Center in Rogers on August 24 where he will be the featured speaker at the Business Journal's annual Forty Under 40 luncheon.

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