Slips in employee engagement don’t show up randomly. They show up during your busiest seasons and that’s not a coincidence.
Why Busy Season Is the Danger Zone for Engagement
Think about what happens to your leadership during our busy seasons.
The regular check-ins get skipped. Recognition gets pushed to later or when it does happen, it’s the bare minimum: a hurried thank you or a team lunch that rarely lands the way it’s intended. Growth conversations are on hold until things slow down. Communication gets thin; information flows up about how operations are going, but it doesn’t always flow back down to the people doing the work.
It’s not intentional. It’s triage. It’s necessary and the impact is real. The irony is that the busy season is exactly when you need your people most engaged and performing at their best, and it’s also the season most likely to erode that engagement.
People start to feel like output rather than contributors. Team dynamics fray under fatigue. Tired, stressed people don’t always have each other’s backs. Silence from leadership creates a void, and people will fill the silence with assumptions, worst-case scenarios, and stories that aren’t helpful and aren’t always grounded in reality.
How do you counteract the slip? It starts with knowing where to look.
The 8 Factors of Engagement: ME and WE Experiences
Researchers Marcus Buckingham and Ashley Goodall identified eight factors that predict whether an employee is engaged at work. These eight factors are disproportionately present in engaged teams. They break into two categories: factors about the individual’s experience (ME) and factors about the team and organization (WE). Here’s what they are and how they often look in an ag business during busy seasons.
ME Factors
At work, I clearly understand what is expected of me. During crunch time, expectations shift fast and communication gets thin. People start making assumptions, and not always the right ones.
I have the chance to use my strengths every day at work. When you’re short-staffed or slammed, it’s all hands-on deck. Everyone does whatever needs to be done. That’s necessary. When it goes on for a while, your best people start to feel invisible.
I know I will be recognized for excellent work. Recognition gets reduced to the bare minimum — a hurried thank you or a team lunch, and it rarely lands the way it’s intended.
In my work, I am always challenged to grow. Busy seasons can feel like survival mode. Growth conversations get pushed to “later.” Later has a way of never coming.
WE Factors
I am really enthusiastic about the mission of my company. People want to believe in what they’re working toward, especially when the work gets hard.
In my team, I am surrounded by people who share my values. Culture is tested during the busy season. How people treat each other when they’re tired and stressed reveals a lot.
My teammates have my back. Collaboration either holds or fractures under pressure.
I have great confidence in my company’s future. Uncertainty is high right now across the ag industry. What you communicate, and what you don’t — directly shapes how your team feels about what’s ahead.
Where Are Your Gaps?
Here’s the question worth sitting with this week: If your team read these eight statements right now (honestly), which ones would they disagree with?
You probably already have a hunch, and it is worth paying attention to.
Engagement doesn’t erode all at once. It slips one factor at a time, usually during seasons exactly like this, when leaders are moving fast and the “people” stuff gets pushed to the back burner.
The good news: these factors are manageable. Leaders have more influence over all eight than they often realize. And awareness is where it starts.
One Action You Can Take Right Now
Think of one person on your team who has shown up and delivered during this busy season. Recognize them today — not with a group email or a team lunch, but directly and specifically. Tell them what you saw, why it mattered, and what it meant to the operation. It takes two minutes. It lands differently than you think.