Month: July 2017

Newsletter – July 24 Receiving Feedback: What Leaders Should Make Sure Their Team Understands

July 24, 2017

Receiving Feedback: What Leaders Should Make Sure Their Team Understands

I have frequently written about coaching leaders concerning the right way to give people feedback, yet we talk less frequently about the ability to receive feedback.
One leader spoke to me of her concern, for example, about delivering feedback to an associate that she was worried would “crush” the employee. She had been delaying the talk because she thought such news might affect an already struggling employee’s performance. She hadn’t considered the other side of the equation:  perhaps part of the associate’s problem was her inability to receive and integrate feedback.
“How well we listen, sort, and integrate 

feedback helps drive our success.”

 

The reality is that the world is just one big feedback loop. We are constantly receiving feedback on how we are doing and how we should course correct. How well we listen, sort, and integrate this feedback helps drive our success.

That’s not to say that all criticism is valid, nor that all critics are equally skilled in whether they deliver feedback in a useful way. Yet everyone has to learn how to discern whether feedback is valuable and use the information to change their behavior in the future.

What Should You Do?  

  • As a leader, you have a responsibility to give people feedback. It’s not fair to the organization or the employee to delay letting them know how they are perceived. If you do delay, or worse yet, completely neglect to provide feedback, you may end up in a tangle when others eventually lose patience with the employee and their pertinent performance feedback has not been correctly documented.
  • Part of your coaching should involve how your associate should receive feedback, whether or not they think it’s correct. If you’ve ever tried to manage someone who was constantly blaming others, you know how challenging this can be. The psychologist Dr. Susan Heitler has a useful article on this point:  6 Ways to Take the Sting Away When You Receive Criticism
  • Realize that you may be projecting if you are reluctant to offer feedback. Just because you find something hard to hear, doesn’t necessarily mean the employee has the same issue.

 Did You Know

Our conflict resolution, leadership and other workshops offer suggestions about giving and receiving feedback.

For more information, call or write us at: 303-216-1020 or Lynne@workplacesthatwork.com

 
Be sure to read Lynne’s book “The Power of a Good Fight” –
Embracing Conflict to Drive Productivity, Creativity and Innovation. 
      
Workplaces That Work | (303) 216-1020 | lynne@workplacesthatwork.com
3985 Wonderland Hill | Suite 106 | Boulder, CO 80304

Newsletter – July 10 What is a Complaint? What Leaders Should Know

July 10, 2017

What is a Complaint? What Leaders Should Know

When I’m asked to sort out a harassment or discrimination situation – either with an investigation or trying to decide what to do after the fact – I frequently find that the client hasn’t really done an investigation previously because the complainant “didn’t want to file a formal complaint.”

This is almost always a major mistake. We don’t want to allow the complainant to determine when we investigate, and the whole distinction between formal and informal complaints needs to vanish.
 
“…find out what happened and seek to resolve the situation.”
Once you have knowledge of a potentially harassing or discriminatory situation, the organization needs to conduct some kind of investigation, regardless of how you found out about the problem, and without regard to the wishes of the alleged recipient.
I frequently use the analogy of a safety violation, you wouldn’t allow the people breaking the rules, or the person injured in the accident, to determine if you were going to respond. Harassment or discrimination complaints should be dealt with in the same way. You are responsible for the environment, not just the feelings of the complainant. Until you have conducted an investigation, you don’t know if there are other recipients involved or third parties who overheard or saw the inappropriate behavior. The organization’s job is to find out.

What Should You Do?  

A complaint is a complaint, whether it is “formal”, “informal”, written or whispered. Sometimes you hear about inappropriate behavior from a “friend” of the alleged recipient during office gossip or in a bar during an after work happy hour. No matter when or how the information is transmitted, if you’re a leader in the organization, you need to respond in the same way: make sure HR knows about the situation and follow their lead. Ideally, they should conduct an investigation unless the alleged behavior is clearly not a violation of law or policy. Don’t be misled by whatever label the complainant uses, nor how you heard about the situation. The organization’s responsibility is the same: find out what happened and seek to resolve the situation.
Even if the complainant urges you to keep their complaint confidential, don’t fall for that trap. If you do, you may find them seeking a higher authority in three months when something worse happens and stating that they told their managers and he or she did nothing. At that point, you’re toast.

 Did You Know

In addition to conducting workshops on harassment, discrimination and diversity, we also train managers and HR employees on how to respond appropriately to these situations.

For more information, call or write us at: 303-216-1020 or Lynne@workplacesthatwork.com

Be sure to read Lynne’s books on sexual harassment and affirmative action. 

 
Workplaces That Work | (303) 216-1020 | lynne@workplacesthatwork.com
3985 Wonderland Hill | Suite 106 | Boulder, CO 80304

Newsletter – July 17 Avoiding Retaliation Claims: What NOT to do

July 17, 2017

Avoiding Retaliation Claims: What NOT to do

Most discrimination and harassment complaints these days also involve  retaliation claims. They are easy to make and easy to win. Since 2006, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railway Co. v. White, 548 US 53 (2006), the law has been settled that a court can rule that an employee was not harassed or discriminated against but that there was retaliation.
My experience is that retaliation happens and that it’s difficult for leaders to avoid. I was coaching an executive, for example, who informed me that he didn’t have to worry about retaliation because he “just wasn’t going to talk to those people.” Of course I advised him that he had to work with the two complainants and couldn’t just refuse to communicate with them.
“…resist the natural urge to get defensive or angry and try to understand 
the complainant’s concerns.”
In another investigation I was involved in, the alleged harasser emailed everyone he thought might help his cause and advised them to come forward and give us a statement supporting him and hurting the complainant. This resulted, of course, in many people starting to gossip about the complainant who had previously been unaware that the whole situation was going on, as well as setting him up for a retaliation complaint.
If you are the one who is accused, however, such as this executive was, it’s hard to avoid your natural instinct to be angry and defensive, which can result in unintentional retaliation. In addition, I have been involved in many situations where co-workers unintentionally retaliated against complainants by taking sides, gossiping about the people involved, and giving them the “cold shoulder” if they disagree with the complainants.

What Should You Do?  

  • If you are accused of discrimination and harassment, resist the natural urge to get defensive or angry and try to understand the complainant’s concerns.
  • Do not take any adverse action against a complainant without advice from HR.
  • Be aware of the standards of confidentiality and defamation.
  • Use an outside investigator to ensure neutrality and protect the internal investigator from retaliation.
  • Make sure that co-workers — if they have been witnesses or are aware of the situation — are educated that they could face retaliation and defamation claims if they violate these rules.

 Did You Know

All of our harassment, discrimination and EEO workshops include sections on avoiding retaliation. We also provide facilitation and coaching after investigations to help prevent retaliation claims. For more information, call or write us at: 303-216-1020 or Lynne@workplacesthatwork.com
 
Be sure to read Lynne’s book “The Power of a Good Fight” – 
Embracing Conflict to Drive Productivity, Creativity and Innovation. 
      
Workplaces That Work | (303) 216-1020 | lynne@workplacesthatwork.com
3985 Wonderland Hill | Suite 106 | Boulder, CO 80304