What the British Olympic fans teach us about inclusion

By Cynthia Lasher

I have been watching the London 2012 Olympics on BBC. While I agree with the commentators that the athletes are “simply brilliant,” the real champions are the British people. They demonstrate a spirit of inclusion that translates well into the workplace: celebration of successes, visibility of the sponsors, and acknowledging the efforts of all. Does your corporate culture encourage these behaviors?

Celebrate all successes

It was the first heat of the 1500 Men’s Freestyle. All of the men had finished swimming, except one. Gagan Ullalmath of India was a full pool length behind the other swimmers. The crowd cheered him on. It was not a crowd of cheering Indians; it was a crowd of Brits. It was a deafening roar, much louder than they cheered for the fastest in the heat. He was the slowest of the competition. The Brit’s praised him for giving his best effort.

Imagine how much more effort your team members will expend when they know everyone is routing for them.

Team sponsors are present and visible

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prince William and Kate came to watch an Olympic tennis match between Great Britain’s Andy Murray and Nicolas Almagro of Spain. The royals weren’t tucked away in the Center Court’s Royal Box; they were right amongst the crowd. They even joined the audience in a “wave” when Murray won the singles semifinals. Murray commented that their presence elevated the profile of the sport.

In the workplace, we often have project sponsors that sit on boards and allocate money, but never come to project meetings. When sponsors show up, they elevate the project and make everyone feel valued.

Share the credit

Time and again, the athletes gave credit to their host country Great Britain and the fans who attended the games. After winning the silver medal in the Women’s 400 meter race, Great Britain’s Christina Ohuruogu had this to say about the fans, “they did it. We’re just here to perform, but it’s the crowd that turn up to support us even when it’s raining and it’s cold. I thank everyone for getting behind us.”

No project team has ever been successful without the cooperation and backing of the whole organization. Share credit for the successes with everyone, no matter what their level of participation.

Our workplaces are an assembly of workers with best skills that we can find to produce our products and services. Our corporate cultures need to affirm the value and contributions of all workers by celebrating each employee’s successes, attracting leaders who are engaged with the workforce, and thanking all the employees for their contributions.

Newt was right: Our teens do want to be janitors

By Cynthia Lasher

True or false: Our high schools prepare students to be successful in the workplace. I say false. This past week, I taught a college level workforce readiness course to youth aged 14 to 21. They were all looking for one thing: their first job. I believe that an education needs to be paired with work experience.

 
Last November 18, 2011 former House Speaker Newt Gingrich started a ridiculous media discussion about providing jobs for youth. He said that schools should fire the janitors and hire students to clean the schools. This would give children a work ethic. He said that many of today’s successful business owners and politicians had part time jobs between age 9 and 14.  (See the whole story in the Politico http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1111/68729.html)

One of Newt’s challengers, Tommy Christopher on Mediate.com had equally idiotic comments. “Surely we can all agree that kids aren’t failing in school because they lack the opportunity to clean toilets.” Apparently, he thinks that if we follow Newt’s advice, all of the good union jobs cleaning schools would only be offered to children aged 9 to 14. http://tinyurl.com/79jk9vy

Did anyone ask the teenagers what they want?

A typical entry level job requires good communication skills, customer service skills and computer skills. Oh, I forgot. A typical entry level job also requires a year of paid work experience.

My students practiced customer service skills. They were well spoken and respectful. Many were bilingual. Some had diplomas and some had GEDs. Most were ethnic minorities who were exceptionally talented. I had a high school student who worked as a lab assistant on an ASU Bioengineering research project. Another student won a national contest for a motivational speech he wrote. Another earned her Certified Nursing Assistant while attending high school.

The only thing that they lacked was paid work experience.

On the program’s second day, they received their work assignments. Many of these jobs were janitors or activity leaders at recreational facilities. I asked them how they felt about their assignments. They felt proud.

You see, the debate should not be about what age a child works his first paid job. It should not be about the type of work. We need to ask, “How can we create more opportunities for our youth to work in paid jobs that build self-esteem?”

To learn more about the Arizona Call-A-Teen Youth Resources, Inc. http://acyraz.org/

Gay marriage: Where should we stand for individual human rights?

 By Cynthia Lasher

Gay marriage is coming. If this concerns you, examine your thinking. Is it good for homosexuals to have the same legal rights that are given to heterosexuals? Do you believe that a family based on a marriage between one man and one woman creates a superior environment for producing and rearing children? Do you think that we should defend marriage or protect individuals?

Legality of Marriage vs. Sanctity of Marriage

The legal definition of marriage is a union between a man and a woman. Clearly, that is changing. Eight states and the District of Columbia recognize homosexual marriage. This provides a legal conflict for the states that don’t want to recognize same-sex marriage.

A religious institution can choose to perform a same-sex marriage or not. The right of any religion to sanctify a marriage will not change when the legal definition of marriage changes. Some denominations performed marriage ceremonies for homosexuals before it was legal. Some denominations and sects never will marry gays or lesbians.

JC Penney support same-sex couple in Father's Day Ad

Where should we stand for the human rights of the individual?

The 14^th amendment of the US Constitution Equal Protection Clause prohibits any state from denying any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. See U.S. Const. amend. XIV. This means that the state’s laws must treat each individual the same way that other people with similar conditions and circumstances are treated. To extend this to same-sex marriage, any person who is legally married should have the same rights and benefits under the law.

• May 7, 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) defined marriage as a union between one man and one woman. It defined spouse only as a man or woman who is married to the person of the opposite sex. The act also stated that no state or territory needs to recognize a legal marriage between same-sex partners that occurred in another state. The DOMA denies marriage-based federal benefits to same-sex married couples. For example, the Federal government does not provide healthcare benefits to legally married gay or lesbian spouses.

• February 23, 2011 the Obama administration said that it considered the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional and a violation of the Equal Protection Clause.

• May 31, 2012, the 1^st US Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston ruled that the Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional because it denies equal rights for legally married same-sex couples.

• June 5, 2012, the 9^th US Circuit Court of Appeals refused to reconsider its February ruling that struck down California's ban on same-sex unions.

The Supreme Court will likely be ruling on gay marriage before the end of this year. Do we really need to protect marriage? Should we give every person equal protection under the laws of our Constitution? Same-sex marriage is coming. It won’t be this year, but it will happen. Set aside your concerns and take a stand for human rights.

The Power of Words: Are you saying “no problem”?

By Cynthia Lasher

Words have power to build us up or tear us down. You hear a lot about bullying children through unkind language. Have you considered how your own passive language patterns affect emotionally vulnerable adults? Are you in the habit of saying “no problem” instead of saying “you’re welcome”? Why does this matter? Isn’t saying “no problem” the same as saying “I was happy to help”? Actually, it is not the same thing because a person in crisis is in the midst of many problems.

The power of words is directly related to the listener’s emotional state. This means a person who feels secure can listen to thoughtless comments and put them into a broad perspective. A strong person realizes that the speaker is careless or ignorant or prejudiced and the speaker is the one who –doesn’t know what he is talking about. 

Consider the response to the same words by a person in a vulnerable emotional state. To a child or a person experiencing emotional crisis, the harsh or thoughtless words ring true. Unkind words spoken to children can affect their self-worth forever. 

Imagine for a minute that you have just experienced a terrible life crisis. You’ve lost your job, your house was foreclosed and now you have nowhere to go. How would you say that you feel? Do you have problems? Yes. Your whole life is a series of problems. You are emotionally vulnerable. 

Now imagine that you are a sensitive friend, or you work with the homeless or the unemployed. You reach out to help someone in need. The person says thank you. You naturally respond with “no problem.” You were not thinking that the listener’s every thought revolves around a problem. Your intended meaning “I was happy to help” or “you are welcome.” The emotionally vulnerable listener didn’t hear it that way. Your comments are now interpreted as either “it was nothing” or “your problems aren’t so bad.” You have insensitively indicated to this person that you don’t think that their problems are so important. Or maybe she feels that she can’t even handle a crisis that you solve without even a care.

Think about what you say and say what you mean. When someone thanks you for solving one of their problems, make sure you respond with “you are welcome” or even better “I was happy to help.”