Celebrating Labor

Sarah Carr wrote a review of the book, Beaten Down, Worked Up by Steven Greenhouse. The review was featured in The Washington Post on August 9, 2019. The book tells the history of the labor movement through the 20th century to today—where it’s been and where it needs to go.

I haven’t had a chance to read the book, yet, but my interest was certainly piqued by Carr’s review. The labor movement’s history includes many iconic events and people, such as

• The Triangle Shirtwaist Company fire;
• Frances Perkins, Franklin Roosevelt’s Secretary of Labor, who backed the most labor-friendly portions of the New Deal—social security, unemployment benefits, minimum-wage and overtime laws, and federal laws regulating child labor; 
• Mary Harris (Mother) Jones, an organizer of the United Mine Workers; 
• Walter Reuther’s negotiation of the 1950 automakers’ agreement, the “Treaty of Detroit” that expanded provisions for pensions and health care nationally; and
• The failed air-traffic controllers strike of 1981.

Greenhouse discusses many of the above and more. I was intrigued by the complexities confronting unions in today’s economy. The review talked about the following examples Greenhouse provided.

The Fight for $15, which was a broad-based campaign backed by the Service Employees International Union to raise the minimum wage for fast-food workers and allow them to unionize. It resulted in city and state officials raising the minimum wage, but not in unionizing workers.

Changes in the corporate environment and it’s swing from managerial capitalism to investor capitalism which has had a profound effect on workers and unions.  As corporations are pressured to focus on maximizing profits and share price, workers must focus on pushing for campaign finance laws to hep labor-friendly politicians get elected, as one example. Unions, on the other hand, can no longer rely on the old model of savvy organizer underdogs going up against CEO Goliaths.

The history of the labor movement is an important part of human resources and management history. Before organizations had HR professionals to ensure that employees were treated with fairness and respect, it was the unions that fought for workers’ rights.  As we prepare to celebrate Labor Day, remember we are celebrating the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country. 

Overcoming Resistance Involves Listening: Tips From The Manager’s Answer Book

I recently participated in a lively discussion on overcoming resistance presented by my colleague Ian Cook of Fulcrum Associates. Ian shared his insights into ways to overcome resistance at work and in life. In one of the exercises we did during the presentation, we listed places/people where we encounter resistance. I loved the variety of responses in my group—and their honesty. The list included:

• “My nine-year-old daughter”
• “A CEO client”
• “My staff”
• “My dog”

One of the strategies Ian shared was number five of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People from the book of the same name by Stephen Covey:  

5. “Seek first to understand, then to be understood”

Seeking to understand the other person’s perspective before we attempt to convince them to perhaps see things in a different way, requires listening to the other person perspective. This means we have to take time to really listen to the other person, and really listening takes patience and practice.

Manager’s Tips: We cover this in, The Manager’s Answer Book, responding to the question on page 126: “Now that I’m a manager, I know it’s important to become a better listener. I’m trying to improve my listening habits and improve my skills. Any tips on what I can do?”

“Listening is hard work for most of us, and we’ve spent little time learning how to listen. A good listener makes a deliberate effort to understand the other person’s message. A good listener listens to learn, is interested in what the speaker is saying, and lets the speaker know they’re listening.”

For the rest of the answer, you can find The Manager’s Answer Book at your local independent bookstore, on Amazon.com or at Barnes & Noble.

Make New Friends but Keep the Old…

I recently had a speaking engagement in a city where I’d lived. It had been several years since I’d visited there, so I extended my business trip to stay for the weekend to see friends.

I really enjoyed returning to a place where I’d spent many happy years, but I must admit that I was constantly saying things like, “That wasn’t here when I lived here” or “This looks just the same as it did years ago.”

The best part of the weekend was reconnecting with friends and colleagues. Social media allows us to stay connected with people we don’t see often, but there is nothing like actually being together to re-kindle friendships and relationships.

While most of my time was spent with good friends, I also met new people along the way. Hearing their stories added a lot to my experience. I now have new friends with whom I can stay in contact, people I hope to see again soon. We’ll stay in touch on social media, and I will keep track of their travels and other life events of interest. I will look forward to seeing how the kids and grandkids grow while building new friendships that will hopefully last a lifetime.

This walk down memory lane reminded me of a song I learned in Girl Scouts and many of you probably know it too. Lucky for you I am only giving you the words and not including me singing the song. So here it is:

“Make new friends but keep the old. One is silver but the other gold.”

I’m challenging you to consider if you have friends you haven’t connected with in a while.  If so, do it today. You don’t have to fly across the country to connect—a phone call or a Facetime chat will work as well!  Just don’t let too much time go by without connecting! Don’t, however, get so hung up on old friends that you miss out on meeting new people and forming new friendships.  Remember, “one is silver but the other gold.”

Beyond Black and White

Diversity often gets described as something to do with skin tone.  Black and brown. Red, yellow and white. Throw gender into the mix and you’ve got it all. Right?

Wrong. Diversity is so much more than simply race and gender. And as a side note, Hispanic is an ethnic group, not a race. 

There’s been much political discourse recently about our differences—specifically differences in race, national origin and religion. Much of this discourse has been divisive, and divisiveness is destructive and unnecessary. It’s one of the underlying causes of conflict. 

Why can’t everyone be like me? Is that a political rally cry? Far from it. It’s a chapter in one of our books—The Essential Workplace Conflict Handbook. In that chapter we discuss:

• Changing demographics
• Dimensions of diversity
• Differences matter
• Stereotypes, socialization and assumptions

More importantly, the chapter explores the importance of learning about each other—in the workplace and in life. We discuss how to start conversations with people in order to learn more about them—how to be curious in a respectful manner.  Doing so may require exposing some of your own vulnerability, but it’s a great way to build trust among colleagues, team members, and others.

Eric Swalwell, Congressman from California, recently said something that, among a great deal of political noise, makes a great deal of sense. “America is not just the places you like or look like you. It’s the places you’ve never seen and the people you’ve never met.”  

Placing labels, assigning stereotypes and making assumptions about other people is easy to do. Engaging in respectful curiosity is much harder. Take the courage and initiative to learn more about, appreciate and respect the people with whom you work and with whom you interact. In exchange for doing so, you will gain so much insight about other people and your life will be enriched.

Inspiring Confidence

A local business owner shared an interesting experience with me recently. She received an inquiry through her company’s website. Would she be interested in a certain niche service for her business? Her interest was piqued enough to want additional information and she thought a phone call would be helpful.  So, she conferred with her business partner and then responded to the email suggesting a phone call with the individual who contacted her.

Now you know how difficult it is to coordinate a call among three people. Here’s what happened next:  After numerous emails among the three, a call was finally arranged with Billy, the business developer who’d sent the inquiry. The next day, Billy sent an email advising that the call would be with Justin, the founder, because Justin took all new business development calls. Strange, but okay thought the partners.  Justin tried to join a call on Tuesday, but the call was scheduled for Friday because Tuesday didn’t work for the partners. Justin wasn’t available on Friday, the day arranged by Billy.  Confused yet? They sure were. They asked Justin to provide available days and times for a call.  He took two weeks to respond.  

There’s an old saying — too many cooks spoil the broth. Justin sure spoiled a potential business opportunity for his firm for a number of reasons:

• Lack of clear communication — when would the call take place,
• Lack of clear expectations — with whom would the call take place; and
• Lack of trust, at least that’s what the partners perceived — didn’t he trust Billy to take an initial call with potential clients?

At this point, the partners had pretty much written off Justin and his firm. They were questioning if things were this difficult to get a simple call arranged, what would they encounter if they proceeded with a business arrangement? Simply stated, Justin hadn’t inspired confidence in himself or his firm.

Confidence, like trust, isn’t an event. It’s a process. Confidence and trust are something you build over time — with your employees, with your clients and customers and with your stakeholders.  Set expectations in the beginning of the business relationship and reinforce them. Have clear processes and communicate those processes early to everyone affected by them. You want your employees and your customers to be emotionally engaged in a positive way.  The emotional engagement the partners in this story experienced was confusion.  Justin’s going to have to work hard to change that.

You Know What You Should Do

Not long after we wrote The Big Book of HR, we were speaking at an event and signing books.  During a lull in the activity, someone came and sat down next to us — uninvited — and starting chatting away.  “My father wrote a book,” she said and proceeded to tell us about it.  We weren’t paying much attention, not that we were rude, but potential book buyers approached and we turned our focus to them. 

When the conference attendees returned to their session, our new best friend remained behind, once again engaging us in a conversation. “You know what you should do?” she said before proceeding to give us unsolicited advice about book marketing — this from someone who never wrote nor marketed a book.  You Know What You Should Do has become a standard joke between Barbara and me. But kidding aside, we are both always sensitive to offering advice to others — solicited or unsolicited.  And when we do, we frame it in positive terms and phrases: “You might consider” or “Have you ever thought of..” or “Something that might work is...”

I heard an interesting quote recently that says it all and has such wide application today — in business and in politics. “The world is changed by your example not by your opinion,” Paul Coelho. People are so quick to voice their opinions without stopping to think if anyone is interested, if they are relevant or if they add value.

Managers can take a valuable lesson from this and apply it to their interactions with team members and others in their organization. Remember that in your role as a manager, all eyes are on you. How you present yourself, how you communicate, how you act, all reflect on the type of leader and person you are — and you will want to reflect on those traits that project confidence, credibility and integrity.

For more insights on leading by example, you know what you should do?  Check out Section 4 of The Manager’s Answer Book. Seriously, if you don’t already have a copy, we’d be so honored and thankful if you’d pick one up.  And if you do have the book, we’re confident that you’ll find thought provoking ideas in that section and others.

Creativity - Use It or Lose It

I recently read a quote from Maya Angelou that I can’t stop thinking about.  She said, “You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.”

She’s absolutely right – as if I’d ever disagree with someone as talented as Ms. Angelou.

When it comes to business, don’t we want our employees to be as creative as possible—unless their job requires they a task that is highly specific—like a surgeon.  Not sure I want my surgeon being too innovative while removing my appendix!

So, if creativity is to be encouraged, let’s talk specifics about how managers can maximize the creativity their employees possess.

To get started, managers should let employees know that they are open to hearing them and genuinely seeking new ideas and approaches. And if your team brings new ideas to you, listen and withhold judgment before you agree or shoot the new idea down.

We’ve talked before in this blog about avoiding phrases like, “No, that won’t work here” or “But we’ve always done it this way” or “We tried that in 2000 and it failed miserably.”   Nothing will shut down creativity like being told what you’re proposing is a bad idea.

Encourage your employees to take a step back from the routine work and imagine how it could be better. It is so easy to get caught up in just getting things done and not consider how something might be improved.

Try reserving one staff meeting a month to hold a classic brainstorming session. Start by setting ground rules that should include things like:

• Be specific about the topic you want ideas about. Let people know ahead of time so they can come with their thoughts and ideas
• Get as many ideas out before you analyze each one
• Don’t criticize someone’s idea
• Get everyone involved.  Don’t let one or two people dominate the session.  Encourage your introverts to participate
• Make it fun. Play music. Use colored markers and sticky notes.  Liven things up

Odds are if you encourage creativity you will get it from your team and remember the words of Maya Angelou, “The more you use, the more you have.”