Stephen Hammond's
Tip #11 — OBSTACLES TO TAKING ACTION
I’ll often ask a group of supervisors/managers to give me a list of the problems they encounter. I can ask this anywhere across the country and from a wide variety of industries, and about 65% of the time I get the same or similar responses. These often include insensitivities to other employees, or for that matter, people believing some people are too sensitive. Bullying and harassment often come up. Gossip is usually on the list, along with various forms of stereotyping.
After problems have been recorded, I then ask what are the obstacles to deal with these problems? There is even more overlap with these responses. Here are just a few, and I’m including my suggestions.
NOT ENOUGH SKILLS
Ever since my first managerial job, I discovered we don't give supervisors enough support or training, especially when it comes to how to deal with people and conflict. Despite the plethora of courses on these topics today, many managers still don’t feel confident enough to address these problems.
Two suggestions:
Give yourself more credit. Go with what you know and don’t expect you’ll have the perfect answer. If you have good leadership smarts, your approach will likely work very effectively. Usually the worst that happens is in fact you don’t know everything, but you can stop any discussion and say you’ll find out more.
Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Often supervisors think it’s a sign of weakness when they ask others for support or answers. I say it’s a sign of weakness when we know we need help, but we don’t ask for it. I have yet to hear an HR specialist say they are upset because they are asked too many questions. They have a specialty, so use them. And of course, you might want advice from an operational person, not HR, or in addition to HR.
CONFLICT AVERSE
Most people don't want to deal with conflict. Superior species or not, when it comes to settling conflict, I think we're at the bottom of the food chain. I'm not a lot different, but I force myself to address conflict, whether I like it or not. When someone is saying offensive things, or not accommodating a religious need, most people don't want to rock the boat. Even with training on conflict, it ain't easy to take on difficult issues.
Suggestion:
Don’t assume everything will lead to a conflict, or a type of conflict that you can’t handle. Without raising your voice or becoming aggressive, tell the person what is expected and have a discussion. If the other person gets upset, keep calm and encourage the other person to do the same, with a goal to resolving the problem.
LACK OF SUPPORT
When supervisors try to do the right thing, they can often get blind-sided by a lack of support from their boss. Years ago, my sister used to call up her "employment-specialist" brother for advice. We'd go over, in detail, a letter or a strategy to deal with a problem employee, but when all was said and done, I'd have to ask why she bothered. She knew her boss at the time would cave, and nothing would get done. Supervisors at a higher level are just as conflict averse as the rest of us.
Suggestion:
Perhaps you’re talking to the wrong person. Your boss may not give you the support you need, but perhaps there’s someone else who can give you the support you need. Your boss’s boss may want to support your needs and this person can figure out the office politics to address it without getting you in trouble. Canadian courts and tribunals are full of cases where senior management was unaware of what was going on…and had they known, they would have changed the problem behaviour. At the end of each day, we all have to decide what is important to take to the wall and what is not. Each workplace leader has to make that decision.
Tip #12 — UNDERSTANDING EMPLOYMENT EQUITY — 1
It isn't necessary for Canadian businesses to go as far as adopting what most people think of as affirmative action, or quotas. As long as there are no hidden, perceived, or real barriers to employment or services, there is no problem. Only when prejudice and stereotyping result in discrimination do governments step in to regulate equity and fairness so that every citizen has equal access to the same opportunities. Therefore, programs have been created in an attempt to redress discrimination in employment. I think it's important workplace leaders know the Canadian requirements (and differentiate from the American requirements) so they understand the reasoning for equity programs and realize the employment benefits.
The American experience is very different and a contrast to what we have in Canada. Despite the fact that the American civil war saw an end to slavery, many African Americans, not just in the South, were denied basic rights into the 1960s and 1970s, leading to the civil rights movement and resulting historic changes to the law. Affirmative action grew out of a desire to achieve equality of results, not just equality of opportunity. While the fourteenth amendment of the U.S. constitution guaranteed equal protection under the law, getting real equality often proved illusive. In 1965 at a commencement address at Howard University, U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson spoke of the need for "equality as a result," not just equality of opportunity. He said:
"You do not take a person who for years, has been hobbled by chains, and liberate him, bring him up to the starting line of a race and then say, 'You are free to compete with all the others,' and still justly believe that you have been completely fair."
President Johnson and then President Nixon issued executive orders to provide equal opportunities in federal employment and with contractors, based on race, creed, colour, national origin and gender.
In Canada, the federal government was looking to examine its own employment deficiencies around June 1983, when then-Employment Minister Lloyd Axworthy created a Royal Commission with Ontario Judge Rosalie Abella at the helm (Abella then went to sit on the Supreme Court of Canada).
In October 1984, when Abella presented her findings to the government in a report entitled "Equality in Employment," she outlined the wide-ranging and systemic problems facing many Canadians looking for equal employment opportunities.
"If...we are not always sure what 'equality' means, most of us have a good understanding of what is 'fair.' And what is happening today in Canada to women, native people, disabled persons, and visible minorities is not fair. It is not fair that many people in these groups have restricted employment opportunities, limited access to decision-making processes that critically affect them, little public visibility as contributing Canadians, and a circumscribed range of options generally. It may be understandable, given history, culture, economics, and even human nature, but by no standard is it fair."
She defined the obstacles as higher unemployment, higher over-qualification, occupational segregation, lower wages and limited opportunities for promotions, noting that overall the problem was "systemic."
To begin correcting these systemic inequities, Abella proposed employers concentrate on breaking down the barriers that get in the way of true employment opportunities, rather than trying to fill job quotas. She urged employers to examine how they recruit, train, evaluate, advance and even lay off employees. She directed them to look at their pay, benefits, and other components of operation to uncover barriers to the designated groups.
It is not that individuals in the [employment equity] designated groups are inherently unable to achieve equality on their own; it is that the obstacles in their way are so formidable and self-perpetuating that they cannot be overcome without intervention.
SUPERVISORY SUGGESTIONS:
Identify barriers - as they are often subtle. They might not be easy to see, so it's best to work with a team who is committed to employment fairness. There are many audit tools found online, so you don't have to re-invent the wheel. You may be surprised as to how many barriers to true employment equity there are.
Set out a plan - to break down the barriers. You can list the things that get in the way of an equitable workplace, such as: broaden where we find candidates; use questions that are culturally and gender neutral; ensure the workplace is harassment-free - that sort of thing.
Prioritize and set deadlines - as this gives you something to work towards. Prioritize those things you accomplish the easiest (or perhaps the most difficult) and then work towards a better result. When you've achieved a level of success (because you've already decided what success looks like before hand) then find some way of acknowledging it. We hear of too many failures and not enough successes.
These are TIPS 11 & 12 of 26 BI-WEEKLY TIPS for managers and supervisors.
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