Respectful Workplace Blog

As kids, we learned the most basic lesson about respect – treat others the way we want to be treated. This is a great life lesson that has carried me through many relationships in my lifetime. As I get older, however, I am starting to believe that there is something better than the Golden Rule. Some might call it the Platinum Rule.

The Platinum Rule says this: Treat others the way they want to be treated.

As a diversity practitioner, I have learned that respect has many different meanings. Everyone has their own idea of what respect looks like, sounds like and feels like based upon their unique culture, upbringing, and socialization. There may be some similarities; however respect is one of those concepts that can be very unique to each individual.

For example, depending on a person’s culture, respect can be shown by not making eye contact when speaking to an individual. In other cultures, it is considered respectful to kiss the person that you are meeting with on one or both cheeks.

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As the economic downturn looms over the upcoming holiday season, companies are coming up with ever-more creative ways to thank their employees. Even if your budget can no longer afford to give hefty bonus checks or throw lavish parties, it’s still better to show at least some appreciation for a year of your employees’ hard work than to ignore it completely.

A recent Careerbuilder.com survey that asked 3,000 hiring managers and HR professionals shows just where companies are cutting back on end of the year employee recognition:

One-third (34 percent) of employers planning to give holiday bonuses will pay out the same amounts or less this year than in past years

Of those employers decreasing bonuses, more than half (54 percent) plan to decrease by at least 10 percent

A whopping seventy-four percent of employers decreasing bonuses will lower amounts up to 25 percent

One-third (29 percent) of employers planning to give gifts to employees say they will spend the same or less this year than in the past

Seventeen percent of employers plan to cut back on the celebrations this holiday season

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“Merry Christmas”, “Happy Hanukah” or “Happy Holidays”? It’s a dilemma that’s a sign of the times. I’ve heard more than a few people grumble that their company has gone too far by renaming the traditional Christmas party a holiday party. “How dare they!” seems to be the sentiment.

Others bitterly (but in a low voice) protest the notion that they should have to say, “Happy Holidays” when in fact they personally celebrate Christmas. And a “holiday tree”? You don’t EVEN want to go there! Yet the fact of the matter is that we live in increasingly diverse communities and don’t really know just what some people celebrate.

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I recently read an article in Reader’s Digest entitled, What If You Said Hello to Everyone In Your Path for a Month? that really made me stop and think. Could something as simple as saying “hello” more often make a difference to a workplace environment?

One of the conclusions from the article is that, nowadays, many people are taken aback when someone is friendly or simply utters a casual “hello”. I admit I am one of those people. Often we get too caught up in our cell phone conversations or are just too busy to acknowledge those who cross our path daily. And when we do hear someone unexpectedly say “hello”, it catches us off guard. But when you think about it, smiling and greeting someone takes so very little time and effort, but the benefits can be seen and felt almost immediately.

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This month we welcome guest blogger Tony Bennett. Tony is an international speaker, coach, facilitator, seminar leader, published author and an expert in training and staff development.

Moving Down the Road Less Traveled

Well, we did it. We elected our first black American to the highest office in the land. And many people didn’t think it could be done. Regardless of your party affiliation, you could really feel the air around election time energized with “cha, cha, cha change…” As a nation, irrespective of party, nearly everyone I spoke with unanimously said enough is enough and it was time for a change.
 
We’ve once again proven that we are ready to embrace the “melting pot” diversity our country was founded upon. Our new President-Elect, Barack Obama will do much to pave the way for more diversity and respect among many segments of our nation and the world, in business and our personal lives.

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Earlier this month I had the opportunity to attend an overnight workshop which involved working with horses. Let me be clear, this was not a horse training or riding class, but rather a personal development workshop that incorporated horses into the process as co-facilitators.
 
What I ended up learning was not only a lot about myself, but also plenty about respect – giving and receiving it – from the horses. Establishing respect with a horse is not unlike the dance we undertake to garner the respect of another human being. Horses, like humans, respond to communication that involves both verbal and non-verbal cues to convey respect.
 
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I have long considered myself a student of brain sciences. I am fascinated by how we store information and learn, how emotion plays a role in imprinting and decision making, why behavior change is so difficult …anything that might eventually permit me a greater degree of mastery over that big, grey walnut-shaped mass between my ears. For those with similar curiosity, it’s a great time to be participating in the business of business. There have been more discoveries about how the brain works over the past 5 years than perhaps the last 150 combined…and more is coming out every day.

Okay, you might ask. So what? While knowledge for its own sake is nice, why is brain science so important? And why now? I’m a pragmatist and tactician by nature. It’s the applicability and bottom-line implications of new information that ultimately determine its value to business. So from my perspective, here are a few new insights from brain research that every leader and manager should be aware of.

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With the purpose of creating a community of diverse perspectives and encouraging a fresh dialogue on respect, the Respectful Workplace blog team is pleased to announce a new monthly feature written by a guest blogger. This month our contributor is Ruth Ramos, a Cleveland, Ohio based consultant.

The Beginning of Healing

Probably the most popular topic today is the presidential election, or more specifically, the candidates. As a diversity consultant, it has been amazing to watch the diversity issues that have come up as a result of this election – race, gender and age being the most discussed. I sit and listen to what the media says and what others around the dinner table are discussing and I am amazed that in the 21st century, we still have such strong prejudices and stereotypes about these issues.

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One of the ongoing features that I am hoping to add to this blog involves highlighting organizations and individuals who are getting respect ‘right’. But in researching this angle, I have found very few positive examples of respect in the workplace. As I scour the search engines, I keep ending up with results that either emphasize issues of disrespect or outline specific policies intended to increase workplace respect. There is very little online that champions those who are already practicing respectful behaviors in the workplace.

So how do we know what respect in the workplace should look like?

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Last week I attended a lecture by Eddie Moore, Jr. at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, titled Inclusion, Equity, Privilege: Is Corporate America Making Progress in the 21st Century and held in conjunction with the current exhibition RACE: Are We So Different?

To begin his discussion, Moore appealed to the audience to find common ground in order to productively discuss race, whether in the workplace or in our personal lives, while acknowledging that each of us had had different life experiences. Moore led us through an exercise to find that starting place as a group.

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