One similarity between the employers of choice I feature in Road to Respect is that they all empower employees to speak up, to raise issues, to talk about problems and ask for help. Speaking up is a cultural norm that promotes organizational success. Unfortunately, the cultural norm of speaking up is the exception rather than the rule.
Many of us focus on what we need to do to be successful, rather than who we need to be to be successful. Who we need to be speaks directly to our values, as well as our level of self-awareness about our behaviours and whether or not we are willing to take responsibility for those behaviours. Getting curious about the nature of our thoughts is the point of departure on the journey to self-awareness. It is the first step on the path to personal responsibility and empowerment.
How often are employees in your workplace reminded about your workplace values? How do you think it might affect your business results if your values were truly lived in your workplace, supporting a positive and respectful workplace community? Everyone succeeds when workplace practices are aligned with values, and in particular the ethical value of respect. The reason is simple; values are the glue that unite us in our humanity.
No one sets out to create a toxic environment. Yet when a workplace culture evolves on its own with little attention given to relationships and employees aren’t held accountable for rudeness or disrespect, the mood at any organization can turn poisonous. The results: loss of productivity, low morale, increased absenteeism and high turnover. Don’t miss the signs. Is your workplace in danger?
For many of us December means holiday preparations and celebrations. For me, it has also come to mean the rather demoralizing task of having to read story after story of disrespect and abuse.
”Your voice is a muscle, the more you use it, the stronger it gets.” - Emily Bennington Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook COO, first talked about being a woman and mother in the C-suite on the TED stage in 2010. What followed was the release of her bestselling book Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to [...]
A number of years ago I heard a story from a participant in a respectful workplace workshop. On her third or fourth day at work she joined a table in the lunchroom with a few other members of her new team. A supervisor walked in, heated up her lunch, and left. When the supervisor left, [...]
Would it surprise you to learn that over 95% of workplace disputes can be resolved within the first 3 – 5 occurrences: if someone makes a choice to speak up. The problem is that the vast majority of us don’t make that choice. Research, confirmed by my own experience, confirms that individuals on the receiving [...]
In June I had the opportunity to present at the annual SHRM conference in Chicago. One of the highlights of that experience was being in the audience for the opening keynote delivered by former US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. Ms. Clinton was recently named number 5 on Forbes 100 most powerful women list. [...]
Work related stress is now the leading cause of workplace disability, costing America businesses up to $300 billion a year, according to the World Health Organization. Doing more with less is the mantra in many of today's workplaces. Change is the name of the game. Given those realities, the likelihood that work related stress is going to end anytime soon is slim to none.
