New Release - Creating the Respect Effect: Preventing Harassment, Discrimination, and Retaliation
Why is training to prevent discrimination, retaliation and harassment so important at a time when EEOC claims are rising to record levels?
Employment attorney Sheila Engelmeier, co-producer of Creating the Respect Effect, cites four reasons:
Federal and state courts and the EEOC require employers to make a "good faith effort" to prevent harassment and discrimination at work, as well as to correct problems when they arise. Courts view proper training as an essential part of an employer's EEOC compliance program.
Training is the most effective way to educate employees about workplace policies, rules and complaint procedures.
Under certain circumstances, training helps employers avoid liability by providing an affirmative defense to an allegation of harassment or discrimination.
Effective training improves employee morale and helps create a respectful workplace free from harassment and discrimination.
Creating the Respect Effect: Preventing Harassment, Discrimination, and Retaliation is a highly interactive course designed for group learning. Based on discovery learning techniques, the course components include DVD-based vignettes showing what discrimination and other work issues look and sound like today - harassment, national origin mistreatment, disability and religious accommodation issues, retaliation, and age bias.
The course has two complete training designs, one for all employees and one for managers. The comprehensive materials include a DVD with 5 vignettes that are used in both training designs and a CD containing the course material for a 100-minute workshop for employees and a 120-minute AB 1825 compliant worksop for managers. Each has its own facilitator guide, participant guide, and PowerPoint® presentation. The support package also includes post-tests and a Training Acknowledgment Form to document course completion. Also
available to license for streaming.
Special Note: The most effective way to preview this course is to review the facilitator guide and then view the 5 video vignettes.
The Next Year - The Next Decade - How's Your Crystal Ball?
In his depressing cover article in the December 7 issue of Time Magazine entitled The Decade From Hell, Editor Andy Serwer says, "This decade was as awful as any peacetime decade in the nation's history." Starting out with 9/11 and ending with the worst recession since The Great Depression there was little to cheer about.
Those of us in the so-called $55 billion Training Market have been particularly bloodied. The budgets and staffs of our customers have been decimated. What we consider E's (Essentials) like training personnel, resources and services have been slashed beyond recognition.
Labelling our Content as "soft skills" or "respectful workplace development" made it even more difficult to get customer attention.
Do I agree with Andy after 39 years (including several recessions) of careering in the Training Market?
One thing about entrepreneurs (and last time I looked, I still carried the label) - Hope Springs Eternal. We'll survive this Titanic sinking and emerge leaner, meaner, and with improved focus and dedication.
There will be lots of changes in the Training Market and Learning Communications' role in it as we start the new decade. Here's a Top Ten list from our Crystal Ball:
Customers will plan and implement Blended Solutions - Content, Technology and Services - when making training buying decisions;
Facilitated classroom delivery and individual learning at the PC will co-exist. It won't be one or the other;
Smartphones
and new gizmo's like Apple's new iPad will increase their role in delivering training for employees on the move (podcasting);
Other new technologies like webcasts and webinars will play an increasing role in both decision-making and content delivery;
The Internet will grow in importance for previewing and selecting resources as well as making delivery decisions;
Content is still King. We will continue to produce approximately 6-10 major video-based and e-learning courses per year with the top thought leaders, authors and subject matter experts;
Boring, e-learning page-turners will shrink as a percentage of total sales as customers realize that delivering compelling content is critical to achieving behavioral change, knowledge and information retention, and course completion;
Software-based LMS and LCMS's will continue to grow in importantance for e-learning with declining costs and increasing relevance for listing and assigning courses, recording test scores and completion information;
Management will increase their demand for ROI justification for training resources and services;
Outsourcing of significant components of the training function will continue its steep growth curve.
It should be an exciting ride for all of us!
Lloyd Singer
CEO
Learning Communications, LLC
Coming Soon
-Is It Bias? Making Diversity Work
Bias costs organizations billions in lost productivity, high turnover, and low morale, not to mention the risk of expensive litigation.
Getting rid of bias is within our control. It is not a mystery. It is a choice and we each have the power to make that choice.
This DVD-based course, featuring Dr. Sondra Thiederman targets the more subtle forms of bias that insidiously undermine our ability to build truly inclusive workplaces.
Is It Bias? Making Diversity Work can become the cornerstone for new training initiatives in diversity and inclusion or to enhance your existing curriculum.
The course is designed to provide:
Skills for identifying bias in oneself and others.
Immediately applicable tools for both reducing biases and controlling their impact on how we treat people who are different from ourselves.
Practical strategies to help managers deal with subtle and unconscious bias in the workplace.
Awareness that we each have the power and the responsibility to spot biases in our thinking and, in turn, to control the inappropriate behaviors that those biased attitudes create
Course Package includes:
DVD: Is It Bias? Making Diversity Work (17-minute video), Bias Reduction: Taking It to the Next Step (4 commentaries), How to Deal with Bias as a Manager (2 vignettes) CD: Comprehensive 76-page leader's guide with training designs for a 2½ hour or a 1½ hour Is It Bias? Workshop, a 45-minute Bias Reduction Lunch and Learn, and a 20-minute module on How to Deal with Bias as a Manager . a PowerPoint Presentation is included for each session. Book: One copy of Sondra Thiederman's book Making Diversity Work (additional copies available).
This course will also be available to license for streaming.
Product Review - OUCH! Your Silence Hurts - by Gary Tomlinson This article first appeared in the Carolina Business Connection. Reprinted by permission of the author.
"Learning from the school of hard knocks can be very informing, but often the tuition is
too high! We should learn from other people’s experiences." The purpose of this column
is to share great business wisdom from the experiences of authors like Jim Collins,
Michael Gerber, Gary Harpst, Michael LeBoeuf, Ron Willingham, Stephen M.R. Covey
and others. Because when you combine great business education with your own business
experiences the outcome you’ll receive is far greater than the sum of its parts.
The wisdom of Leslie Aguilar’s new video Ouch! Your Silence Hurts has been chosen to
share with you this week. "We all are naturally biased. We all have a tendency to let
some of our biases slip into our conversations whether we do so consciously or
unconsciously. When that happens, we all lose. Relationships can suffer, cooperation can
decrease and our ability to lead or influence others can diminish."
"Have you ever heard someone say something biased or demeaning and you didn’t know
whether to speak up? Have you ever said something unintentionally offensive and wished
you could take it back? Would you like to know how to present information and lead
discussions in ways that include everyone and avoid bias, stereotyping, discounting or
potential discrimination?" If you’ve answered "yes" to any of these questions, Ouch!
Your Silence Hurts is the video for you. Most of us want to speak up when we see others
stereotyped, disrespected or demeaned. But often we stand by silently because of
discomfort or the fear of saying the wrong thing or not wanting to look like we can’t take
a joke. Unfortunately, that silence can allow the disrespectful behavior to continue.
In her first book and video, Ouch! That Stereotype Hurts, Leslie opened the conversation
about stereotypes and why people don’t speak up. She shared techniques to use when you
hear others make biased or demeaning comments as well as how to recover when you are
the one to make those comments. Now, in her follow up video, Ouch! Your Silence
Hurts, Leslie continues the conversation about stereotypes by exploring more deeply the
pivotal role of the bystander. "Often, verbal disrespect is not just an interaction between
two people - it can be a group event. The bystanders create the audience or the context
for the demeaning joke, slur or statement. So, the bystander is an important player in the
scene and he or she has a choice to make, which affects the outcome. The bystander can
speak up or can silently collude." And a key message of her series is that "silence is often
interpreted as support."
Leslie’s new video is very emotional and will inspire conversations that are not always
comfortable, but should be had anyway, especially in our organizations. Ouch! Your
Silence Hurts challenges all of us by asking; "How will you personally respond next time
you witness somebody being treated with disrespect?"
Ouch! Your Silence Hurts is part two in her powerful series about stereotypes. The DVD
includes a 9-minute video, skill-builder exercises, leader’s guide and a 1-minute trailer
that can be used to introduce Ouch! to your organization. Both Videos, Ouch! Your
Silence Hurts and Ouch! That Stereotype Hurts can be standalone training pieces. But
when used together or in sequence, they will deliver an even more powerful impact.
Leslie wants the viewer to "remember that one person taking action can inspire others to
do the same." Her series on stereotypes can help all of us identify our own biases, explore
ways to reduce them and work to communicate in more inclusive, bias-free ways. That’s
what her book and videos are about. Leslie wants all of us to “Go ahead - Use your
voice! Speak up on behalf of respect."
Gary Tomlinson is an entrepreneur and founder of five successful businesses. Today he is
an accountability consultant and professional speaker. He works with executive teams to
help clarify and achieve their organizational initiatives. His speaking topics include "Top
Ten Messages from Ten Top Books" and the "Art of Telling - Communicating Your Way
to the Top." You can engage Gary at gary@gary-tomlinson.com or visit his website at
www.gary-tomlinson.com.
"A Few Extra Pounds" - by Sondra Thiederman, Ph.D.ndra Thiederman, Ph.D.
What comes to mind when you think of these people - actress Kathy Bates, singer/actress Queen Latifah, and CCN commentator Candy Crowley? Can you picture them? If so, you know that one thing these top-achieving professionals have in common is that they all carry what our North American culture would categorize as "a few extra pounds." Because we know what these three people do for a living and how much they have accomplished, their physical appearance probably doesn't lead us to jump to any conclusions about their abilities, energy, or self-discipline. But, what happens when we encounter people of similar weight in our workplaces? What sort of knee-jerk assumptions might we make about their potential to succeed?
A Growing Bias
Researchers are fond of reminding Americans that, as a group, we are getting heavier. According, for example, to the Center for Disease Control, excess weight among adults has increased by 60% in the last 20 years. I'm not disputing this statistic nor am I saying that keeping reasonably trim isn't a good idea. What bothers me is the conclusions we jump to - the bias we have - about what a few extra pounds means about the character and abilities of the individual.
It also bothers me that this weight bias is increasing at the exact time as the number of people who are considered heavy grows. Somehow I would have thought that, as being heavier becomes closer to the norm, the bias would subside. Also, it seems reasonable to assume that, because there are more heavy-set people, more of us would have had the opportunity to come to know them as individuals. As a result, more of us would have an accurate view of what weight does or not tell us about character and ability.
Sadly, the opposite seems to be the case. Despite the increased number of employees who wouldn't stand a chance in the anorexic world of Hollywood, biases against the heavy-set are on the upswing. Within the last year alone, three studies have appeared all of which agree that, in the workplace, heavy-set people are often assumed to be lazy, sloppy, and lacking in self-control. (Wayne State University, the Society for Industrial Organizational Psychology, State University of Detroit)
Some researchers even go so far as to say that weight-based stereotypes are stronger than race or gender bias. This at first seems unlikely, but begins to make some sense when we consider what Dr. Boris Baites, a psychology professor at Wayne State University, has to say. He theorizes that the reason weight bias is so strong and pervasive is because people assume that how much a person weighs is, unlike race or gender, within his or her control.
I'm not here to dispute the reality that, beyond some vaguely described limit, carrying extra pounds does impact health and, therefore, productivity and corporate health care costs. But, that's not the kind of obesity I'm talking about. I'm talking about those millions of healthy, productive, valuable human beings who are overlooked or rejected solely because they no longer, or never could, fit into a pair of size 8 jeans.
Oddly, only one state (Michigan) and a scattering of cities have declared it illegal to discriminate against an individual because of weight. The fact that your organization is probably not at risk for a law suit if weight bias prevails should be of little comfort, however. You are still in danger of failing to hire or retain valuable employees solely because of appearance.
What You Can Do
As with most solutions, the solution to weight bias begins with the individual. The challenge for each of us is to identify our biases and weaken them to a degree that will allow us to judge an individual's character and ability accurately. Here are some steps to get you started:
1. Get in the habit of watching your first assumption when encountering a heavy-set person. Do you find yourself immediately worrying that she will move slowly, be sick a lot, or have trouble keeping up with the pace around the office? If the answer to that question is "yes," follow it with: "Would I feel the same way about the person's character or abilities if she weighed a few pounds less?" If the answer is that you would feel differently - that concerns about health or pace would never cross your mind - you might just have a bias on your hands.
2. If you find you do have a weight bias, examine your past experience with heavy-set people. Do you have a negative association with this group? Did you have a relative who was substantially overweight and with whom you did not have a good relationship? Were you at one time overweight yourself and struggle not to associate yourself with those who are? The answers to these questions will help you understand the root of your inflexible belief, and, because the process calls on the rational parts of the brain, will automatically begin to erode the bias.
3. Think of three people you know or know of who do not conform to this bias. Kathy Bates, Queen Latifah, and Candy Crowley are a start, but I'm sure you personally know three more people who, by the culture's standards, could drop a few pounds. Ask yourself: What have those people accomplished? How hard do they work? How clean, neat, and energetic are they? My guess is that the answers to these questions will provide ample bias-defeating evidence that weight-based stereotypes are usually wrong.
4. Make a conscious effort to seek out and get to know three people who fall into this category. One of the researchers, Cort Rudolph, hints at this solution when he points out that weight bias is most apt to impact decisions at the hiring stage and less when it comes time to completing performance evaluations or making decisions about promotions. Clearly, the longer we know a person, the more apt we are to evaluate him as an individual human being rather than as a member of group against which we might hold a bias.
Knowledge is the answer - knowledge of ourselves and knowledge of others. The more knowledge we have, the harder it will be for bias to prevail.
Sondra Thiederman is a speaker and author on bias-reduction, diversity, and cross-cultural issues. Her latest book is Making Diversity Work: Seven Steps for Defeating Bias in the Workplace which provides practical tools for defeating bias and bias-related conflicts in the workplace. Most recently, she has completed work on the training video Is It Bias? Making Diversity Work which is available through Learning Communications.
WATCH FOR IT!
Coming in April - a free webinar from Dr. Sondra Thiederman. Coping With Bias in the Workplace. Cornerstone of your Diversity Strategy: Defining It, Recognizing It and Dealing with It!
Which Generation Am I?
When I was a junior in high school the Grammy for Album of the year went to Bob Dylan for Time Out of Mind.
A. Mature B. Boomer C. Xer D.Millennial
(Answer below)
The multi-generational workforce is the hot workplace training topic! Our two top sellers for all of 2009 - Mixing Four Generations in the Workplace and Managing Four Generations in the Workplace - are both Cam Marston videos. More than 1 million learners have seen the Cam Marston videos! If you haven't previewed both, you can preview online now.
Both of our Cam Marston videos are available on DVD or to license for streaming. Mixing Four Generations in the Workplace is also available in an e-learning version.
OK, we didn't forget. Here's the answer to our generations question:
D. Millennial. Bob Dylan was a folk icon in the 60s, but his album Time Out of Mind won the 1997 Grammy for Album of the Year. Surprised?
Always Do Your Best Work - by Rob Lebow
Henry Kissinger, the renowned Harvard professor, had just moved over from the White House as a Special Assistant to the President, to become the Secretary of State. He wanted to put his stamp on the organization and signal his proactive, creative leadership style.
Early in his tenure, Kissinger asked a staff member to prepare a report on an unraveling situation in Chile. When the young man brought in the report several hours later, Kissinger asked, "Is this the very best you can do?"
The man thought for a moment and said, "Let me do some more work on it this evening, Mr. Secretary, and I'll bring it back to you by 7:00 A.M. tomorrow." Kissinger nodded his agreement. Sacrificing his sleep, the young man toiled over the report.
The next morning the aide went straight to the Secretary's office, proudly bearing his new draft. Kissinger was waiting for him. With his famous poker face and heavy German accent, he thanked the young man. No more than a few minutes passed before Kissinger called the aide back into his office and asked again, "Is this the very best you can do?"
Almost frozen with embarrassment, the aide reluctantly volunteered the thought that, indeed, " ?with a little more time, the paper could be better." And so once again the young man took the report back to rework it.
That next morning Kissinger greeted the tired and bedraggled aide with a small smile. As the young man handed over the report, he looked Kissinger directly in the eyes and said, "This is the BEST I can do."
Kissinger was well satisfied. "Good!" he said. " Now I'll read it!"
Kissinger was always insistent that people do their best and take a position - whether right or wrong, popular or unpopular!
Printed with permission. Excerpt from Rob Lebow and William Simon's book When You Grab a Cat by the Tail.
Bias costs organizations billions in lost productivity, high turnover, and low morale, not to mention the risk of expensive litigation. 
"Learning from the school of hard knocks can be very informing, but often the tuition is
too high! We should learn from other people’s experiences." The purpose of this column
is to share great business wisdom from the experiences of authors like Jim Collins,
Michael Gerber, Gary Harpst, Michael LeBoeuf, Ron Willingham, Stephen M.R. Covey
and others. Because when you combine great business education with your own business
experiences the outcome you’ll receive is far greater than the sum of its parts.
Henry Kissinger, the renowned Harvard professor, had just moved over from the White House as a Special Assistant to the President, to become the Secretary of State. He wanted to put his stamp on the organization and signal his proactive, creative leadership style.
