When was the last time you admitted (to yourself or others!) that you were wrong? Most of us like to be right all the time. But is it possible that on occasion we might be wrong and that that might be good for us and our relationships with others? Being wrong, on occasion is not really the bad thing society would have us believe. It takes a person with a certain amount of humility and a large dose of self-esteem to admit that they are wrong. At work, this can [...]

Value the many different sources of knowledge that exist is one of the Rules of Engagement that we use in our program, and it is also the theme of my latest installment in the adventures of cultural tourist. I began this series last month with an introduction and this month I’ll take you on my first adventure: attending a worship service at an African-American church. Religion in our country is often a very personal and very segregated experience. I’ll admit that my own religious experience is limited to sporadically attending Catholic services, attending [...]

This weekend I attended a conference on creativity in business. I know the topic may seem a lot different than respect in the workplace, but as I learned the two are very similar. Before you can have a safe space to create or innovate in an organization you need respect and before you can have respect you need to build trust. Think about it. Earning someone’s trust is probably the earliest stage to developing a relationship with them. Someone gives you something, you accept it and they learn to trust [...]

One of my most popular presentations is entitled Speak Up Speak Out: Personal Power and Respect at Work. As the title suggests, the goal of the workshop is to inspire, empower and educate people to speak up when they have concerns and conflicts at work, particularly when faced with power based behaviors like harassment and bullying. I developed this session as a direct response to what I experience repeatedly in my work as a Respectful Workplace Solutions Expert. The most common response that people have when on the receiving end [...]

Did you know that an employee that is properly welcomed into an organization has a significantly higher rate of staying on long-term than an employee who is left to fend for themselves on their first day? Why? It’s simple. Imagine your first day at a new job. You arrive to your desk to find it decorated with welcome signs. There is a mentor waiting to show you around. Everyone who greets you has a big smile on their face as they introduce themselves. Your supervisor works with you to develop goals for your [...]

The best roadmap to the future sometimes looks strangely like the past. This is particularly relevant in the discussion on classroom vs. online training. Almost a decade ago, one of my friends who worked as an HR manager for a large, Fortune 50 manufacturing company lamented the difficulty his organization was having with employee acceptance and use of a new, online learning service that had just been purchased from an outside vendor. He said, “You know, Paul, sometimes there’s nothing quite like good, old ‘butt-in-the-chair’ training”. Looking through the lens [...]

I have a habit of saying “sorry” all the time. I am not sure why. I wonder if it has something to do with growing up female in this society or that I lived in London for a time and people are always saying “sorry” when they bump into you on the tube. Or could it be that I’m overly emotional? Whatever the reason, saying, “I’m sorry” when necessary is probably a better tactic. Admitting when we are wrong is a tough action for many of us. It may seem that we are weak [...]

Did you know that the word empathy is a relatively new term to modern western cultures? Neither did I, until I read this fascinating post about Narrative Empathy on the Psychology Today blog. Empathy in the workplace has been historically looked down as too much of an ultra soft skill.  But in the last twenty or so years with the  rise of emotional intelligence, empathy has been slowly making its way into the workplace. And that’s a good thing. When people can empathize with someone else in the workplace it [...]

After I participated in our most recent Connecting With Respect workshop, I had an idea for a new blog series. At the conclusion of the day and half session, we were left with some tips for moving forward on the path to respect. One of the suggestions stuck in my mind: practice curiosity. I’ve always been a person curious about other cultures. I mean I am the same person who, while in high school, enrolled in an Intercultural Communications class at a local college. On my travels and in my life, [...]

It’s no secret. We live in a me-centered society. All you have to do is turn on the TV and watch this in action in a myriad of reality shows. Or open up your favorite social networking site and read other people’s posts. Technology has made it easy to surround ourselves with people and ideas like us. We can now filter what we see, hear and even who we engage with, so we don’t have to interact with people or ideas different from us. Even as technology has allowed us [...]