It may seem counterintuitive, but growing up on an island underscores human connectivity, not isolation. The people you see today are necessarily the ones you’ll see the next day, and the day after that; no one is a stranger, and everyone must work together to get along, by necessity.
Alex Grande, the Chief Executive Officer of Recognize, knows this well. He’s from Bainbridge Island, Washington, a 35-minute ferry ride away from bustling Seattle but still very much subject to island social dynamics, which mirror those of the workplace in important and identifiable ways. They’re both closed systems in which it’s crucial that everyone works toward a common goal, and the only escape is an exit door through which most people don’t want to walk.
Perhaps it’s not surprising, then, that Grande founded Recognize to help businesses maintain healthy corporate cultures. He’s come a long way from his high school days – his LinkedIn profile jokes that he “learned how to play ultimate frisbee and how to spoof teachers’ emails” – and is now on a mission to “foster a positive and engaging workplace culture by providing integrated and tailored solutions.”
One of Recognize’s focuses is helping companies keep their employees engaged and comfortable when undergoing major changes. “If people don’t feel informed or included in the process, change just doesn’t stick,” he recently wrote. “Culture breaks down. Engagement tanks. If people aren’t included, they won’t internalize the work ahead.”
Grande recently instituted his own major change, partnering the company with the University of Washington to build an artificial intelligence tool “that creates a full report on everything great about an employee, based on their real recognition data,” he wrote. “Things like strengths, attributes, and key highlights from a month, quarter, or even a year of peer-to-peer recognition.”
Soon, the feature will be part of every employee profile on Recognize, allowing “managers [to] pull high-quality, performance-ready reports in seconds,” Grande said. “Perfect for reviews, check-ins, or just giving credit where it’s due!!” To which we say to Grande: Here’s yours.