dignity

“Respect Must be Earned” – Under What Circumstances?

February 1, 2011

I’ve heard this so many times. And it bugs me. I saw it again just recently on a popular business blog, which featured a post titled, “10 Things Good Bosses Do.” Here’s the relevant excerpt:
“Treat employees the way they deserve to be treated. You always hear people say they deserve respect and to be treated [...]

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Managers: Have You Had Your Defining Moment?

October 28, 2010

Early in my career as a corporate employee I found myself challenging one of my supervisors.
He seemed to be very “classist” against people in non-exempt positions, like administrative assistants, clerks, technicians. He was very suspicious of their requests for overtime, for instance. When one woman told him she had to take her child to a [...]

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Why “Posing” at Leadership is Sort of Like Being an IRS Automated Menu

October 20, 2010

I called the IRS today to ask about the status of a refund I’m due, for an amended return for 2008. Do you know that there is not a selection in their automated menu for that? Duh.
I heard SO many permutations of options, but alas, my concern was not one of them. [...]

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Leaders: Stop Being So Responsible

October 19, 2010

I want to admit right up front, when I was a corporate employee, I was mouthy.
Several years ago I was meeting with my boss about me potentially becoming a supervisor. He started telling me what he liked least about being a supervisor.
He said, “giving people bad news,” because it was just so [...]

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Common Sense. Quarterly Revenue. Human Dignity. Pick 2.

October 16, 2010

Is This the Reality of Business Today?
It feels that way most days, doesn’t it? Having to make a trade-off among some very compelling priorities. I’m afraid of where we are going if we don’t do something different.
[Scroll to the bottom or click here to the Audioboo player to listen to this post instead.]
In the mid-90′s [...]

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Leaders: Never Let ‘em See You Sweat. Really?

October 6, 2010

I got a question from a colleague several years ago. She was describing how an incident in a meeting upset her and brought her to tears. She asked, “How do you keep from crying in these situations?” My answer was, “What if crying wasn’t wrong?“
—
Here’s my story.
—
It was right before lunch. I was at the [...]

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Leaders: Make it Make Sense to Them

October 3, 2010

Several years ago I heard a CEO talking about how well his company was doing. When it came to Q&A time I asked him how employees should reconcile that positive picture with knowing that some of their colleagues were, at the same time, losing their jobs due to downsizing. He responded with a very touching, [...]

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Tomato? Tomahto? What Do We Call Those People Who Work Here?

October 2, 2010

Words matter. I saw a video about preventing sexual harassment once about a woman who was starting a new job. She was talking with a female coworker about how the men on the crew called them “girls.” The coworker responded with, “It’s only a word…” The snarky part of me wanted the [...]

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When is it Too Late to Engage Unhappy Employees?

May 28, 2010

A crisis in employee engagement has been building for a long time, with employees increasingly being treated as interchangeable objects. As the economy recovers, the American workforce is going to go into active revolt.
Some of the best people will be energized to pursue situations where they will be treated as an intelligent Human being with [...]

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This Is Not the Story You Think It Is (Part 2 of How Are You a Manager of People?)

April 6, 2010

Being a People Person Doesn’t Mean Being a People Pleaser

Managers labeled as being a “people person” sometimes get a bad rap. Some almost view it with disdain. As a manager it certainly helps if you are friendly or “approachable.” But being a people person does not mean you have to be “friends,” go [...]

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What The World Needs Now: Leadership 2.0

October 6, 2009

Joe Gerstandt and I have been tossing some questions back and forth, and this time we decided to both answer the same question, which is this: We both focus largely on the intangible assets in an organization or community…the things that cannot be easily counted or weighed…things like difference, trust, relationships, culture, etc. [...]

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Prevent ‘EE Exodus: Make It Make Sense to Them

September 30, 2009

I saw a intriguing phrase recently in regard to employees’ state of mind: “turnover intention” A Deloitte report describes this as, “an employee’s “conscious and deliberate willfulness to leave the organization” within a certain time interval, e.g., the next six months” (Tett and Meyer, 1993).
You know that I think it is important to never take for [...]

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