Dialogue in the Workplace:
It's Happening Whether the Owners are an Active Part of it or Not
Written by: Mr. Dennis Zetting
It is fascinating how many companies lack active dialogue. By active dialogue I mean the participation of the ownership or executive management level to talk with their management and employees. I hear it over and over, "it takes too much time." Unfortunately, dialogue takes place within an organization whether the owners play an active role or not.
Passive dialogue occurs if active dialog does not. The problem is, most passive discussion has a negative affect on a company. It is no coincidence that companies that exhibit strong, open communication witness more loyal, more satisfied, and more engaged employees.
Passive dialogue comes in two forms. The first is through 3rd party conversation. This is when discourse occurs between the person with the issue and their friends, family, or other employees, instead of the direct person(s) involved in the issue. For our purposes in this article, this direct people are the owner, executive management and managers of a company. If the two direct people are not involved in the discussions, the dialogue is heavily dependent upon the perceptions of one person. The 3rd party involved in these situations chooses to either sympathize, empathize, gossip, vent their own personal frustrations, avoid the conversation, or be willing to support the company's views and give constructive feedback.
Of the six possible reactions of the 3rd party person, giving constructive feedback is the only choice that consistently supports the company's perceptions. Responding with sympathy or empathy focuses on the individual, not the issue, and as issues develop over time, tend to be pessimistic. If the views are pessimistic, the support of the 3rd party does not promote a positive mind-set between the person and the company. This is not good for the company.
Choices go from bad to worse. The 3rd party person can choose to partake in gossip, or worse yet, vent their own frustrations about the company. Both of these possibilities promote negative thoughts about the company.
Looking at the six choices, how many of them are attractive? For those who are gossipers or like to vent their own frustrations, these passive dialogue opportunities are very attractive. No wonder gossiping can run rampant in a workplace. It isn't very hard to find these people.
Giving sympathy, empathy or being willing to support the company can be exhausting and people tend to avoid being an ongoing channel of communication with needy people. As time goes on, unresolved issues tend to loose the neutral or positive feedback and migrate to negative support.
The second type of passive dialogue is personal "scripting". Scripting occurs when a person represents both parties of an issue by internally verbalizing what both parties would say in regards to an issue. With scripting, an individual typically defends their personal perceptions and fill-in what they believe the other person thinks. Under this scenario, there isn't much of a chance for a person to defend or explain themselves.
People left to passive dialogue and a lack of 1-on-1 conversation with the immediate person; eventually come to a conclusion that gives them a resolution. Often times, these decisions lead them to transfer departments, avoid people, become disengaged, or quit. These are not the types of decisions that motivate or encourage employees. Companies with rampant passive dialogue experience higher employee turnover than companies with active dialogue.
Active dialogue is essential to a healthy business environment and is the best defense against the negative affects of passive dialogue. Discussions between two or more people in direct connection to an issue promotes trust, hope, creativity, clarity and better understanding.
In addition, active interchange helps offset the need for people to seek other forms of dialogue (i.e. passive forms). People seek resolution. If a person can find resolution with the direct person associated with an issue, there is not as much need to seek resolution in other areas. Much depends on how well active dialogue is part of a company's culture.
Healthy active dialogue includes verbalization, respect, listening, and follow-through. Verbalization includes the forum for all parties to voice their perspectives. Active dialogue is not lecturing. Each party must realize there is more than one way to comprehend something, and therein, respect the other person's perspective.
Too many companies believe they do not have the time to engage in dialogue. Some companies spend enormous amounts of time "communicating" (1-way directives), their projects, plans, missions, goals, philosophies, direction, and visions of their company. Some companies do not communicate very much at all. These companies are not reaching their potentials. Many of these companies have silo managers, frustrated managers, underperforming managers, or non-creative managers. Remember, one way or the other, dialogue is taking place.
Immediate FX Consulting has come up with a revolutionary process that instills active dialogue in any business environment. Our easy to implement, easy to learn, process can transform a disengaged management crew into a group with renewed interest and buy-in.
How to Respect Someone When Perspectives Clash
Written by: Mr. Dennis Zetting
Give any topic and you’ll discover people will have to some degree, a different perspective. The disagreeing of perspectives occurs daily in work environment. Sometimes the degree of difference is slight and at other times the variance is vast. There may not be an issue when perspectives vary a little; however, it is vitally important in business to have a culture in place that handles significant perspective clashes in a positive way. Otherwise, you will end up with a de-motivated, disengaged and eventually departing staff.
Examine the following list: Seattle Seahawks football, recycling, smoking cigarettes, church, beer, the internet. How many perspectives can people view these topics? There are at least three continuums that a person views a topic; a) extreme conservative to extreme liberal, b) highly important to immaterial, c) very relative to irrelevant. Just taking into account these three scales the possibilities are endless.
As perspectives fall within these three continuums, it is because they are influenced by many factors, including, politics, propaganda, religion, media, parents, peers, and friends. In addition, certain events may influence us, such as, experiencing trauma, pain, or joy. Often times information comes to us enhanced, minimized, euphemized, masked, criticized, or acclaimed. All of these factors depend on the environment we were exposed to, our predisposition, and how we tend to perceive life experiences. So when two people are faced with opposing views, who is right?
Take the Seattle Seahawks football for example. Person 1 may view the topic as -- a Super-Bowl contender, Shaun Alexander is a key component to their explosive offense, they have an average defense, good value for your money. This person’s view is somewhat conservative, very relative to the topic and feels it is quite important. Person 2 may view the topic as -- who cares about football, it is a dumb sport, it costs way too much, the players get paid too much, but I like the cheerleaders. Person 2’s response is very liberal, is not an important topic to them and his comments are somewhat irrelevant.
What if these two people were involved in a business discussion? The two people are trying to decide if their company should purchase tickets for the upcoming football season to invite key clients and prospects. Would it be a wise decision? Are the two decision makers in this scenario able to put their personal perspectives aside and make the best choice for the company?
What do you suppose would typically happen if the President of the company was Person #1 and Person #2 was the Sales Manager? Chances are you would know where to find the President on Sunday afternoons. Now, what might occur if the Sales Manager was Person #1 and the President was Person #2? There is a good chance the Sales Manager would be looking for a different way to entertain clients. As in many business environments, the boss inevitably decides. Unless, these two people had mutual respect for each other’s views.
There is a better way to reach decisions than “whatever the boss decides”. In order to come up with the best solution the relationship needs to be one of mutual respect. Those who understand that every situation will encounter some degree of perspective disparity can believe to “agree to disagree.” This simple, time-lasting principle, is one of the foundations for respecting others. “Agree to disagree.”
With respect comes trust. When trust and respect are present, people don’t need to be as defensive. A respectful and trusting relationship enables people to focus more on the pros and cons of the decision making process. In our football example, additional factors can be brought to the table, such as, what does market research tell us about this type of investment, does it fit our company culture, can the money be put to better use, and can we afford it? Through mutual respect, businesses will experience better mutual decisions.
Take a look back at the list I presented. All of these topics are somehow integrated into a typical company’s list of issues. How aware of recycling is your company? Do you allow cigarette breaks? Is religion taboo to discuss? Is beer allowed at company picnics? What are company internet policies? The list is endless.
I assure you that if people not only contemplated their personal viewpoint, they listened and understood the views of their constituents; employees would feel greater respect, more motivated and become engaged in the business. In addition, the company would consistently make better decisions, and employees would be more in touch with the company’s culture.
In order to listen and understand fellow business associates you need dialogue. For many companies, this is not easy (see article: Top Reasons Why Company’s Don’t Dialogue). Immediate FX Consulting has come up with a revolutionary process that instills active dialog in any business environment. Our easy to implement, easy to learn, process is one proven way to incorporate respect into the culture of a business.
