Building a Workplace Culture That Embraces Diversity

I’ve spoken and written about the benefits of diversity for years and on six continents. However, as the adage goes, “we teach what we need to learn” and I’m definitely still learning. This year I’ve had the privilege of co-leading a research team to learn from internationally-trained professionals themselves about the challenges in the foreign credential recognition process in Canada. Their stories, without exception, illustrated how very far we still need to go to create Canadian workplaces that embrace diversity. I’ve also been facilitating employer training as part of two initiatives – the MAPLE 2.0 program and Welcoming  Communities. In both cases, I’ve listened to internationally trained skilled workers and professionals describe how they can’t get relevant work in their fields until they have “Canadian experience” – clearly a circular problem as they can’t get that experience without work in their fields!

I’ve also witnessed examples of individuals, though, who do get hired into positions closely related to their pre-immigration careers only to find themselves isolated, unappreciated, and clearly unwelcome by their colleagues and immediate supervisors. To build a diverse workforce, it’s not enough to have buy-in from the executive team and HR professionals within the organization – the average employee also needs to understand the value that diversity can bring. Too often orientation is focussed exclusively on the newcomers; however, to create a welcoming workplace it may be necessary to orient and train incumbent employees, building their cultural competencies and highlighting the synergies that result with working with colleagues who bring diverse perspectives, talents, and prior experiences to the project.

The SEED toolkit that we created for S.U.C.C.E.S.S. a few years ago has recently been updated. If you’re trying to build a workplace that embraces diversity, it’s a good place to start with links to virtual resources for recruitment, orientation, and inclusion of diverse workers, as well as a diversity champion’s guide, a topical backgrounder, and a diversity yearbook filled with activities and resources to shift your workplace culture so that diverse workers know they’re valued and are inspired to fully contribute.

Appreciation in the Workplace

It’s almost Thanksgiving, so we conducted a brief survey about appreciation in the workplace. We appreciate all the thoughtful responses we got – clearly appreciation is alive and well which was encouraging to hear!

The good news was that a third of our respondents had been appreciated within the past 24 hours and an additional fifth of them had been appreciated within the past week or so (i.e., 55% had received appreciative recognition quite recently). Sadly, a few (about 10%) had to reach back a year or more to identify appreciation in the workplace – sometimes this was linked to a pay raise, performance review, or award ceremony but in other cases this reflected workplaces that simply weren’t recognizing the contributions of employees. One person said “Everyone is looking out for themselves right now, sadly.” Another listed 2006 (5 years ago) as the last time appreciation was expressed; still another wrote, “Can’t honestly remember when the last time was.”

When asked about the most common way to show appreciation, not surprisingly a simple “thank you” came out on top – 50% of the respondents selected this item compared to the next highest choice of letting management know (10%). However, the qualitative answers revealed a variety of approaches (so thank yous don’t become routine) – and many people emphasized the importance of individualizing appreciative feedback, both from the perspective of the sender (it needs to be specific and authentic) and the receiver (it needs to be personally meaningful).

Some people highlighted the personal touch (e.g., in person feedback or a hand written note rather than an email; customized gifts rather than generic gift cards; hugs; home-made food) – but responses were varied. Spa gift certificates were a common theme, as were lunches out, gift certificates for dinner ($100 seemed to be the most common amount for this item), chocolate, flowers, team events, and celebrations. The gift of time was always appreciated – whether time off for birthdays or after a busy project, covering for someone else to give that person a day off (one casual employee does this without compensation to give others a break!), or taking the team out for a special treat.

When asked about creative appreciation strategies, some unique ideas were shared. One organization has a “Cup of Awesomeness” (a golden cup on a beaded cord) that staff members pass to each other to show appreciation for a job well done. Another organization has a Treasure Chest, stocked with cards and small gifts that any employee can use to show appreciation to colleagues or suppliers. And, in one case, an employee’s parents were flown out for a surprise recognition dinner!

However, responses clearly indicated that what works for some doesn’t work for others – one person wrote, “Don’t offer food!! Some cultures keep offering food and you have to eat even if you are not interested not to upset them!!! – I truly hate that!” The consensus definitely was to individualize your approach – take time to learn how the person you appreciate would like to be acknowledged.

Aside from it just being a nice thing to do, respondents identified that appreciation contributes to increasing employee engagement (78%) and productivity (68%), reducing conflict (58%), and facilitating retention (55%). Showing appreciation also models a culture of respect. Some respondents cautioned, however, that appreciation can be a double-edged sword if it contributes to competition or some employees recognized that they aren’t been acknowledged as often or publicly as others.

Appreciation is a core element in both our Let’s CHAT! coaching / communication model and our Employee Engagement model . Don’t hesitate to connect if you’d like to learn more about either of these workplace tools.

Supervisory Skills: One Key to Workplace Success

We’ve just completed work on a supervisory skills framework and training guide for the Asia Pacific Gateway Skills Table. We’ve previously supported many organizations to develop their managers and leaders, and supervisors have a crucial liaison role to play – communicating management expectations to front-line employees and also communicating worker needs and concerns to the management team. Almost every measure of organizational success can be linked to good supervisors – they influence productivity, retention, employee engagement, workplace safety, income, and expenses.

In our research to populate a competency framework for supervisors, the skills clustered into 3 distinct areas – personal management, people management, and process management. Our research reinforced what we’ve experienced firsthand – good supervisors have their own “stuff” under control (i.e., they’re organized, productive, and have good communication skills – quite apart from their role as a supervisor). Some people that are good at managing themselves also have the interpersonal and people management skills to help others work well, too. With the first two competency areas under control, supervisors also need to oversee policies and procedures that contribute to safety, productivity, quality, and the ultimate success of their projects.

In mapping supervisory skills training across BC, we found countless workshops and courses that developed relevant skills – some embedded within sector-specific supervisory training programs and others available as stand-alone options. However, there wasn’t a simple “one stop shop” for supervisory training – an issue that’s been raised before in many other sectors.

If you’re in a role that involves supervising others, how did you learn how to do that? If your responsibility, instead, is to develop supervisors within your own organization, what resources are available to help them identify the competencies they need to do their jobs well? If gaps are identified, where and how can they learn?

Our own sector, career and employment services, is going through a transformational change at the moment. Within the next few months announcements will be made about which organizations will hold the contracts for government-funded employment services within BC. Many of the new centres will be larger than before, requiring a different level of supervisory competency. If you’ll be tasked with a supervisory / management role, are you ready? If not, we’re happy to chat with you about your needs and may be able to point you in the direction of some relevant training. Our book, Leadership Lessons for Transformational Times is a quick read that provides practical tips, too.

Immigrant or Expatriate? There's a Difference

Some people think that anybody working in Canada who’s “from away” is an immigrant – but that’s not always the case. However, we rarely think of Canadians working abroad as having emigrated (i.e., left Canada permanently). Instead we consider them expatriates. This is an interesting shift in perspective, with all sorts of career/life implications.

Expatriates, international workers, or global careerists typically live a somewhat privileged lifestyle compared to locals; immigrants, on the other hand, typically struggle to get their careers back on track. Ironically, so do some people repatriating to Canada – although their careers may have blossomed abroad, similar to many immigrants they have a hard time convincing local employers that their international experience is of value.

Within Canada and many developed countries, when someone new to the country requests career services, there is often a focus on language training, skills upgrading, and, in some cases, complete re-careering. It’s not unusual to find an immigrant with a PhD driving taxi or serving in a restaurant. I once had a medical doctor from Afghanistan tell me that, upon arrival in Canada, he’d been told that he would have to work as a dishwasher here!

It astounds me that anyone would be surprised when a foreign-trained worker leaves Canada for better opportunities somewhere else. If I was to emigrate from Canada (i.e., immigrate to another country which was to be my permanent home), then it would be worth my time to learn the language and customs, upgrade my education, gain local job search skills, and take a survival job as I settled in. On the other hand, if I were to go to a foreign country where I'd heard that they needed people with my existing professional skills (e.g., teaching counselling in a university; corporate training for a multinational corporation), if I couldn't get that type of work within a very short period of time after arrival, there'd be no point in staying. I'd move to another country that could use my skills.

International/global careerists change countries in a similar way as people in a large city take on new jobs throughout the region. Within the Vancouver area, for example, someone might accept a job offer in Burnaby even if he or she lives downtown. The individual may commute rather than move to Burnaby. Even if a decision is made to move to Burnaby, once the contract is finished it’s quite likely that he or she will move again for the next job. So too, international workers go where the work is. They may leave family behind or families may relocate temporarily; children may attend local or international schools. Leisure time may be spent with other expatriates, groups from “home,” locals, or a combination.

Unfortunately, in Canada, we tend to view all people with foreign accents as "immigrants." However, the needs and expectations of immigrants are significantly different from the needs and expectations of people with international careers (or expats). Interested in learning more? Life Strategies offers relevant courses for career practitioners on The Immigrant Experience and International/Global Careers. Contact studentadvisor@lifestrategies.ca for more information.

Workplace Conflict

Conflict can be distressing in the workplace. A quick Google search for “workplace conflict 2011” revealed almost 59 million hits, including recent research from the UK, courses in Canada and Australia, blogs, headlines about workplace violence, and articles targeted to diverse industries and organizational structures. Workplace conflict is a hot topic!

In many cases the conflict is amongst co-workers or between employees and their managers and someone from the Human Resource department may be called in to intervene. Left to simmer too long, minor workplace conflicts can boil over, resulting in toxic workplaces, bullying, mobbing, or, in extreme cases, a violent counter-attack as in the Calgary story from just last month, where an employee, frustrated over a disagreement about expenses, rammed a semi-trailer into his employer’s truck. Witnesses reported, “He was distraught . . . he could have done anything!”

In other cases, however, conflict initiates with dissatisfied customers or disempowered clients. Regardless of the issue or who the players may be, de-escalating conflict is an important skill to have. We’ve recently uploaded 10 Tips for De-Escalating Conflict and it’s a key component of our customized workshop for case managers on “Dealing With Challenging Clients.” Tips focus primarily on managing yourself – the only person in the conflict that you really have any control over!

Join us online for our new online certificate program for Case Managers, beginning February 16th!

Appreciation Makes a Difference!

Appreciation is a core component of two of Life Strategies’ models: Employee Engagement and Let’s CHAT! (a coaching tool). The element was embedded into both models for very similar reasons – many people today feel underappreciated...and appreciation does make a significant difference. According to the Bully Free at Work Blog, Appreciation is one of the top 3 things that leaders can do to minimize the impact of a disrespectful workplace. An article from CIO.com reported a US Department of Labor survey indicating that 64% of people who had left their jobs said they’d left because they didn’t feel appreciated. The same article reported a startling stat from Gallup – 70% of those surveyed said they received “no praise or recognition in the workplace.” No wonder so many leave!

Let’s CHAT! is an acronym for Communicate, Help, Appreciate, and Take Action. When I developed the Let’s CHAT! model to help managers and supervisors with coaching conversations, it was to respond to some of our corporate clients’ in-house surveys indicating that a significant number of employees felt unappreciated. However, there was considerable pushback from managers and supervisors who found the “appreciation” step of the process awkward and forced – they asked if they could replace it with “Analyse” instead. It’s so much easier to engage in problem-solving conversations with our colleagues than it is to show authentic appreciation! Therefore, we stuck to our original model and left appreciation intact. Years later, in Deirdre Pickerell’s research on employee engagement, we weren’t at all surprised to see Appreciation surface as a fundamental component of engagement, also making a significant contribution to employee retention.

Looking for creative ways to show your appreciation? Here are 80 to get you started!

Interested in reading more? Consider Dr. Noelle Nelson’s book, The Power of Appreciation in Business.

Still looking for more? Join me in a one-week e-course to learn more about the Let’s CHAT! model, beginning November 17, 2010. Let’s CHAT! will also be a component of our 3 day leadership training (Keeping Employees Engaged During Business Transformation ) beginning October 20, 2010. To learn more about employee engagement, join Deirdre for a 2 week e-course beginning October 27th (Career Management at Work: Keeping Employees Engaged).

Re-Engaging after Summer Vacation

If you’re anything like me, you look forward to the warm, sunny days of summer. It’s a great time to plan that special holiday and leave all your worries behind. Upon returning to work I feel refreshed, reenergized, and ready to get back to my work duties. Sometimes getting back into the swing of things can take some time, but I always focus on re-engaging in my work.

So, just how can you re-engage yourself? Be sure to ease your holiday-to-work transition by following some of the tips included below (adapted from Helium.com):

• Give yourself time to settle back into your “normal” routine. If you’ve traveled to an exotic destination, give yourself a day or two to get your land legs and overcome any jet lag.
  
• Reflect on your positive holiday experiences and achievements.
  
• Stay positive about your work and reflect on the things that you enjoy doing.
  
• Avoid in-box overload. If you can, consider looking through your emails the night before returning to work or have a colleague respond to urgent items while you are away.
  
• Try to stick to your regular sleep schedule at least a few days before returning to work
  

I’d also suggest the following

• Give yourself time to settle back into the groove of things.
  
• Be sure to review any meeting notes, memos, or other updates
  
• Organize yourself by creating a checklist. This will give you a sense of accomplishment getting through all the smaller tasks.
  
• Take what you’ve learned/experienced during your holidays and apply it to your work.
  

Strategies for Working Successfully Within a Virtual Team

I’ve been working on virtual teams for several years now and recently started to think about some of the tools and techniques that I’ve seen used to effectively engage employees when there is little or no face-to-face (f2f) interaction. Some of the little interactions that we take for granted in a traditional work setting are not as easily replicated in a virtual work environment. In a traditional office setting, employees typically greet one another, even if it’s just a passing hello on the way to one’s desk. These settings allow for virtually endless opportunities to connect throughout the day whether it’s as they walk by colleagues on their way to another office, the lunch room, or just to stop by to check-in on a project. Then, of course, there’s the coffee/lunch room – a veritable meeting place for most workplaces.

With the ever-increasing advances of technology and the subsequent comfort people have using it, virtual or distance workers are becoming more commonplace. Some of the techniques I’ve seen for engaging virtual work teams are listed below:

• Annual retreats, allowing staff to reconnect, build relationships, and engage in professional development opportunities
• Regular team meetings (e.g., weekly teleconferences, audio conferences)
• Regular project meetings using suitable communication technologies
• Online document storage to ensure that all team members have equal access to required documents
• Effective use of available communication technologies, including:
• Telephone
• Chat (e.g., MSN)
• Videoconferencing using web cams (e.g., Skype)
• Audio conferencing (e.g., GoToMeeting)
• Email
• Online planning software as a virtual white board (e.g., mywebspiration.com)

Some of the challenges that virtual teams may face, include:

• Taking longer to build relationships and trust amongst team members
• Misinterpreting electronic communications (e.g., email, telephone, audio conferencing, text chat) because of a lack of body language
• Developing processes for communication and providing feedback amongst team members

Despite there being some challenges to working within a virtual team, there seem to be an endless number of benefits that this type of work arrangement can offer. Some benefits include:

• Working with colleagues from other regions and countries
• Enhancing one’s technology skills
• Working flexible hours, particularly when a team is spread across various time zones
• Saving money by not having to commute to an office (e.g., transportation, parking)
• Decreasing wardrobe costs if working mostly from home
• Experiencing a sense of well-being from lessening one’s environmental footprint

Although not an option for every workplace and not for every individual, I am happy that I’ve been able to work on virtual teams and experience the wonderful benefits of doing so!

Diversity and Employee Engagement

Living in Canada, we are surrounded by diversity – economic, geographic, cultural, and ethnic diversity. With all of this diversity in our midst, it is a bit of a wonder how society can at times be reluctant to embrace it. Perhaps I’ve become more attuned to the concept of diversity since it has been the subject of a recent project, but it seems that everywhere I turn these days, there is some mention of diversity – the cover of the current issue of Maclean’s Magazine, the upcoming focus of the next Contact Point newsletter, or the recent CANNEXUS conference.

After spending the past month steeped in a diversity project, I have come to appreciate the importance embracing diversity has on employee engagement in the workplace. For engagement to work from a diversity perspective, employees need to be able to bring their “whole self” to work, without any fear of how their disabilities, gender, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity, age, etc. will affect how they are perceived. This in turn will allow employees to more fully engage with their job, increase productivity, and ultimately, lead to greater job satisfaction.

When an employee feels unable to come to work freely, without feeling emotions that could include discomfort, shame, dread, fear, this negatively impacts their ability to perform their work to their fullest potential. It seems that more and more companies are beginning to adopt or considering creating diversity policies and programs, recognizing that doing so is helpful to the bottom line. Because we live in a diverse society, hiring diverse workers and embracing our differences creates workplaces that better represent the diverse range of customers and clients, and will ultimately lead to increased employee engagement.

Resumes and letters

I am coming across alot of ads and news articles suggesting that it is a good time to update that ol' resume. Maybe this is in part inspired by the new year, perhaps also in reaction to the economic downturn. Updating resumes often is always a good idea -- maybe you've taken a course that upgrades your skills; maybe a workshop; maybe completed some volunteering or contract work.... it is all worthwhile keeping track of on a general, all-purpose resume. From that resume, you can tease out the important stuff (that can fit on 2 pages!) that relates directly to a job being applied for (if that is what it comes to).

General resume

This is a great place to store all of  your accomplishments -- education, work history, volunteering, awards, workshops/conferences, publications, trades, skills development. Over time, it is hard to recall these things, so keeping them all in one place, in chronological order (grouped in to headings), becomes incredibly handy -- and an interesting walk down vocational memory lane when you need to pull out items relevant to a job being applied for. You, or a client, may recall skills and talents long disappeared years back, once again handy. Update this often to capture everything you've done. Make sure to write up the skills used and accomplishments in an active voice that speaks to facts and achievements -- self-promote in a factual way.

Over time, this general resume will become really long... pages and pages. When sculpting your specific resume for a particular job, you will have to use fine judgement and editing skills to pull out the right information that tells the right story about how you are fit for the job, and how your background has led you to that application. This becomes the process of creating job, company, and/or industry specific resumes.

Sustainability: Building Individuals and Organizations to Last for the Long Term

There’s a lot of talk about sustainable environments, economies, and resources. However, what about people and the places where they work? At least a dozen times each day I hear people say how busy they are…in many cases, they wear their busyness as a badge of honour.

The Context
I juggle many professional roles – as a counsellor, counsellor-educator, editor of an academic journal, co-executive coordinator of a professional association, and president of a consulting and training organization. In each arena of my professional life, I see the results of chronic busyness – clients, students, colleagues, board members, and corporate clients are scrambling to integrate their complex life roles, meet impossible deadlines, and do more with less.

Skilled worker shortages have resulted in worldwide recruitment, retention, and employee engagement challenges. Absenteeism is an epidemic within some organizations; within others, presenteeism (i.e., showing up for work but not doing much) is on the rise. Supervisory and management time is a precious commodity – they’re busy, too. That leaves an odd mix of workers – some bored with little access to mentors or development opportunities; others burned out from the chronic, relentless stress.

In future posts, I’ll further reflect on sustainability. I’ll be presenting on the topic at a conference in Buenos Aires next week (for more on our travels, click on “Where in the World…?”

September 20, 2008 IAEVG Conference, Buenos Aires

My presentation on Sustainability resonated with many…although the issues are different in some of the Latin American countries represented (just as they are in other regions of the world).

However, in Uruguay, for example, the literacy rate is 98% and free access to university is available to many. The sustainability issue is jobs – not enough of them! Unlike in Canada, there are no visible Help Wanted signs…and there are lots of employees in every restaurant, hotel, and shop.

This was similar to our experience in China this summer. A presenter from Mexico spoke of a similar pattern – highly educated people but not enough jobs.

As we know in Canada, many well educated immigrants and migrant workers are underemployed – but earning more than they could “at home.” The sustainability issue, however, is the impact on families when parents leave children behind to take on temporary employment to pay the bills at home.

Also, as I learned from an Indian colleague at the International Symposium in Sydney, Australia in 2006, some of the off shoring solutions (e.g., international call centres in India) or lucrative opportunities abroad (e.g., Filipino nannies who were doctors at home) are leaving countries with damaged professional infrastructures (i.e., why train to be a doctor or lawyer if you can earn more in a call centre or as a nanny?).

Sustainability…of people and organizations…is a global concern. It is a complex issue, with a tangled web of interconnections. Finding a solution for one group seems to be creating new challenges for another…where do you see yourself fitting in?

In Canada, and other countries impacted by retiring baby-boomers and low birth rates, we are currently facing shortages of skilled workers and individuals/organizations scrambling to do more with less. It’s increasingly more difficult to encourage teens to stay in school, when work (and money) are readily available. Recruitment and retention issues are a crisis for many organizations and individuals are burning out or facing stress-related health challenges.