Last week WorldBlu announced its fourth annual list of the Most Democratic Workplaces for 2010.  Among the 44 honorees are three from Winning Workplaces' own network of honored small organizations:

• Chroma Technology Corp. - 2010 Top Small Company Workplaces Finalist
• Menlo Innovations - 2010 TSCW Finalist; 2008, 2007 Top Small Workplaces Finalist
• New Belgium Brewing - 2008 TSW Winner

Congratulations to these firms for being named to WorldBlu's list this year.  I think their short profile on New Belgium sums up very well the payoff of investing in your workplace to strengthen workforce effectiveness:

CEO Kim Jordan of the Fort Collins, CO-based 340-person company that makes the popular "Fat Tire" beer believes, "Businesses that are open to organizational democracy are usually nimble, resourceful and actively maximizing their human potential."

Related: Read about how consensus decision making is the rule at S.C. Johnson, from our interview with executive Helen Johnson-Leipold.