Catherine Mattice's Blog, page 30

3 Examples of Implicit Bias & What You Can Do About It

We all have implicit bias, and it’s keeping us all from creating a truly inclusive workplace. 

Implicit, or unconscious, bias refers to the attitudes or stereotypes that affect our understanding, actions, and decisions in an unconscious manner. We all make assessments involuntarily, or outside of our intentional control, and those assessments affect our behavior. 

For example, this Harvard study found “whitened” resumes fare much better in the application process than those that include ethnic information, even when qualifications are identical. In other words, we assess resumes in ways we don’t even realize, and those assessments play a big role in whom we call back. 

Fortunately for survival, but unfortunately for our equity initiatives, our brains are wired to process information quickly and we always reach a conclusion regardless of whether there is enough or contradicting information. 

Research hasn’t found that we can eliminate bias, but we can minimize it through vigilance in self-awareness and education.

To that end, here are three types of bias and what you can do about them:

CONFIRMATION BIAS. We seek out information and draw conclusions that confirm our existing beliefs. As the Harvard study points out, we form opinions of candidates based on inconsequential attributes like their name, or school, or geography, and more. Everything you see on the resume will then serve to confirm that opinion, and during any interactions with the candidate you will seek to confirm that opinion.

What you can do. Locate an accountability buddy and promise to help each other stay in check. During the recruiting process, for example, talk about the resumes you’ve received and what you see in them. Your buddy can talk through your assumptions with you and help you identify where your biases are hurting candidates.

FUNDAMENTAL ATTRIBUTION ERROR. We generally blame context for our own failures and blame people or characteristics for their own failures. If you lose out on a promotion you might believe it’s because of the manager who doesn’t like you. When others lose out on promotions you might believe it’s that big mistake they made or their poor-quality work. However, minorities lose out on promotions all the time and indeed, it’s often because of context (i.e., systemic and subtle discrimination so engrained we don’t even know it’s there).

What you can do. Check yourself when you or others fail. Whenever you make a mistake at work – and when others make a mistake at work – journal about it. Write out what happened, what part the context played, and what part you or they played in the issue.  The benefit to this is two-fold: You will notice patterns in your thinking so that you can minimize your bias over time, and you will be able to hold yourself accountable for better blaming. (Wait, that sounded bad, but you know what I mean.)

COGNITIVE DISSONANCE occurs when our actions and thoughts don’t match up. The result is that we seek consistency by either adjusting our actions or our thoughts to bring them back in balance. These days we’re being told that our actions suppress minorities, but most of us see ourselves as fair, open-minded, and empathetic. Our actions and thoughts don’t appear to align, and we’re all experiencing cognitive dissonance.

What you can do.  Get comfortable with uncomfortable so that you can make a difference. If you are really focused on inclusivity, are you getting down into the uncomfortable stuff? Are you having hard conversations with people of color, with white people, with all the groups that make up your diverse workforce? If you’re not uncomfortable right now, you’ve got more work to do on inclusivity and equity.

To be a true ally, upstander, and crusader for equity, you must be aware of your biases and work hard on minimizing them. 

The good news is that we have a webinar coming up to help. Allyship Begins with Recognizing and Minimizing Implicit Bias is on July 23 at 10 am Pacific, and you can register here.

Learn more about biases and how to minimize them, and learn some simple but high-impact tools for being an ally. 

Reserve your spot before we’re out of them!

Sincerely,

Catherine and the Civility Partners Team

P.S. Attend live and get a list of 16 ways – or short scripts – to speak up against microaggressions, incivility, and even bullying or harassment.

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Actions Speak Louder Than Words

I’m sure you’ve seen many organizations release a statement about their support of the #BLM movement. I’ve seen them all too. 

What I haven’t seen is a list of tangible action items these organizations will take that will actually support their employees and the #BLM movement.

Silence isn’t an option, but empty statements are even worse.

During our last mastermind group discussion, we broached the topic of diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace. Our focus was on how employers should address injustices, and the important role of leadership in creating a safe space for all employees. 

It was such a great discussion, I thought I’d share some of the action items we came up with as part of our own commitment to change.  

First, offer educational opportunities to your staff.

Marginalized groups are calling for an awakening. They’re asking for white individuals to recognize racial issues that have been present for years, but not acknowledged. Rather than asking these marginalized groups to educate the rest of us, encourage and even require employees to educate themselves.

It’s also vital that you provide the resources to do so. At Civility Partners we’ve been watching webinars on whiteness at work and allyship. We’re also holding an internal book club on White Fragility by Robin J. DiAngelo and plan to meet every other week to discuss a few chapters at a time. 

Here’s a list by Brain Lair Books of Anti-Racist reading shared by one of our mastermind group members.

LinkedIn Learning is also offering EIGHT of their courses for free, all focused around becoming a stronger ally and having inclusive conversations.

Second, address anti-blackness at a micro-level, not just the macro-level.

The #blacklivesmatter movement has made it clear that systemic injustices are a real problem in this nation and the world.

While your organization must take a deep dive into its processes, procedures and policies to ensure equitable treatment, it’s also vital to address it on the individual level. 

You might, for example, train your staff on recognizing and mitigating their own implicit bias, in addition to giving them the tools they need to be a better ally to their coworkers. Individuals need to understand the role their actions play in creating an inclusive work environment.

We are actually hosting a free webinar on July 23rd, titled Allyship Begins with Recognizing and Minimizing Implicit Bias. If you’re interested, you can register you and your team here at this link. 

Third, organizations have a lot of tough conversations coming their way – and leaders and other employees need to get comfortable with being uncomfortable.

We are innately programmed to believe that “sameness” is safe, but in order to support and advocate for marginalized groups, everyone will need to be open to perspectives and ideas that are different from our own norm.

Managers must build trust with their employees and encourage them to share how they are feeling. Emotions at work can be taboo and uncomfortable, but they need to be addressed in order to create a safe and open environment. Be aware, however, that some may choose not to share how they are feeling, and organizations offering a safe space for people of color to come together to share with each other may be the best option. 

Bottom line – your organization must do SOMETHING.  Sending an email out to customers and employees is a start, but until your organization implements strategies for addressing equity and systematic injustice, nothing will change. 

Saying something and doing nothing will make things much, much worse. All that does is perpetuate the never ending problem – that many people say they believe in equity but don’t do anything to make it a reality. 

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Positive Impacts of the New Work From Home Normal

There’ve been some positive impacts for employees and employers since work from home kicked in, and we thought we’d share some of these highlights from HR California’s article on the subject:

More confidence in using technology. This period of remote work has forced us outside of our comfort zone and to hone in on some skills. Conducting interviews on Zoom, facilitating online meetings, effectively communicating through emails, and adapting to new software are just a few of the new skills we’ve acquired.Skeptics now know work can be done remotely. Before COVID-19 many organizations were skeptical that remote work on a grand scale was possible. Now we know what works and what doesn’t, and we’ve seen many trendsetting organizations announce that remote work is their new norm. It’ll be interesting to see how work/life balance and flexible work schedules change over time.Employees are more empathetic. In the process of returning to work, employees are more ready to help coworkers out during the transition. Having gone through the stress and isolation of staying at home and all that comes with it, employees are more understanding of each others’ varying needs.The intertwining of personal and work life has changed for the better. Remote work provided more empowerment to employees with children. Children at work aren’t taboo anymore, and employees have experienced a more flexible schedule. Giving employees more responsibility to maintain the two helps decrease their stress as they have more control.

Of course, it’s not all gravy as working from home while the kids were around has been stressful. Being flexible has often meant working weird hours and into the night. And returning to work will be stressful as employees are concerned for their safety. 

But hear this – we’ve all been pushed to grow personally and professionally, and through the ups and downs we’ve gained new skills and become adaptable to change.

You’ve made it this far, and you’re doing alright. Keep on keepin’ on. “Whatever makes you uncomfortable is your biggest opportunity for growth.” Bryant McGill

Catherine

PS. We have a webinar coming up on July 23rd, on the topics of implicit bias and allyship. Register if you want to learn more about your own biases, how to mitigate them, and how to use your awareness for good.  

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Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Discussion with Expert Eric Ellis

Check out my recent interview with Eric Ellis. Eric has been doing inclusivity work for 30 years and shared some great tips for #leadership and #HR for responding to #blacklivesmatter.

A few big tips – LISTEN. Learn. Build a foundation before jumping in with random actions – take a strategic approach. Build diverse relationships so you can feel comfortable to make mistakes and ask questions from your friends.

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It’s Not Enough to Stay Silent

We’ve been talking a lot about psychological safety as employers navigate COVID-19. We’ve even got a free webinar coming up next week – Beyond the Safety Aspects of Your Return to Work Plan – to help you reopen with your culture in mind.

Now we need to talk about psychological safety as employers help their employees navigate the Black Lives Matter movement catalyzed by the murder of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.

The systemic inequality plaguing our nation is being challenged, and underrepresented employees are asking majority groups to wake up. We’re all being challenged to pause, take time to try to understand, and help make real, deep, true change.

Some businesses, like the Nextdoor app, have jumped to release a public statement but failed to back it up with action. I wouldn’t recommend that.

Others are spending time learning and growing so they can be sure they’re making good choices moving forward.

LinkedIn is offering several FREE courses on diversity, inclusion, and belonging. LinkedIn Product Manager, Albert Hwang, gave his team a day from work so they could research and understand what’s happening. He’s spending another day with his team in open discussion about what they learned and next steps.

Fact is, reopening your workplace will not be void of conversations about equity, inclusion, and a better life for minorities.
You may feel helpless to get involved. You may be thinking your leaders won’t want to dive into making change.

Here are three things you can do, right now, as you open up your workplace and make people feel safe from COVID-19 and from inequity.

Get curious. Read, research, listen, and stay humble. Ask your team if they want to get curious with you. Explore, talk, discuss. Slow down and take the time to build a deeper understanding of the world around you.Make room for emotion. I’ve been saying that your employees are traumatized thanks to COVID-19, and #BLM adds another layer. Make it comfortable for your employees to talk about anything, no matter how emotional it is. Conversations in a safe space are the most powerful gift you could possibly give right now. Understand racism versus bias. Many people are afraid to have conversations about race because they fear saying something that makes them sound racist. You can move mountains by taking the pressure off and helping people see they simply have something all of us have – bias. If we can get comfortable talking at least about that, we can make progress. For example, a study at Harvard Business School found that minorities who “whiten” their resumes get twice as many calls for an interview over those who don’t. It’s not racism, it’s unconscious bias. Solving the inequities in your hiring process is certainly a step in the right direction.

Bottom line is that we all must step up our inclusivity and equity game. The list of things we need to do as individuals, organizations, communities, and a society is long. All of us have a whole lot to learn.

Doing nothing is not an option.

Catherine

P.S. I do hope to see you on our webinar. It’s on June 16th at 10am PST. You can register here at this link.  We will talk about reopening your workplace with psychological safety and inclusivity in mind. 

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HR, You’re Needed Now More Than Ever

Organizations across the globe are in turmoil, and they’ll need their workforce to function at maximum capacity to survive. Meanwhile, employees are struggling mentally and physically because of the stress a pandemic brings and are trying to muster up the energy to get their work done. 

HR is key to managing all of this.

You, HR, are in a unique position to build trust with staff while simultaneously pushing them to meet strategic long-term objectives – and your organization will need to lean on your ability moving forward. 

HR, you are also in a unique position to manage this pandemic because you’re especially equipped to deal with crisis. Let’s face it, regular, pre-COVID days were sometimes (dare I say, most of the time?) high stress and feeling crisis-y.

Here are four areas I know you’re focusing on right now, making you uniquely valuable right now.

Employee success and, in turn, business continuity. You keep employee anxiety down and trust in leadership up. You can bet that employees who lost income due to layoffs or furloughs will seek ways to regain it, and a plaintiff’s attorney is an easy route for them to take. You’re doing everything you can to prevent this.

Compliance. You’re ensuring the organization is 100% compliant now and in the future. Compliance keeps you out of trouble, but COVID-safety compliance sends the message your organization cares about employee well-being. Bonus: it keeps your organization away from bad press, and you’ve got some material for your employer branding.

Employee-centric perspectives and communication. In crisis mode it’s easy to cut costs related to perks, hours, or benefits. While preserving cash is important for long-term survival, employees are going to reach their own conclusions unless you’re transparent. You’re ensuring decisions, and communication about them, are employee-centric.

High productivity and low negativity. You’re ensuring employees feel their mental well-being is cared for, and your loyalty to them will translate into their loyalty for the organization. Culture initiatives may also increase employee retention once this is all over – employees will remember the way they were treated during difficult times. 

A new normal is coming and at the end of the day, everyone has an important role from lower level employees all the way up to senior management. In fact, we made a one-pager for you with all the various roles being played.

You’ve been preparing your whole career to manage crisis on a large scale, and you can make a huge difference in the success of your organization now and in the future.

You got this.

To help, my team and I put together a webinar entitled: BEYOND SAFETY: Reopening & Rebuilding Your Workplace with Employee Needs & Organizational Culture in Mind.

It’s on June 16th, and you can register here. 

We know there’s a ton of information out there on regulations and safety, so we’re not going there. This webinar is about reopening with core values, emotions, and people in mind. 

Learn more and register here.

Sincerely,

Catherine Mattice Zundel, CEO

PS.  I’m going to lay out some tips for your communication plan as you reopen, share some insights on your employees, and discuss infusing your culture with safety. 

Register here. 

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How to Manage Abusive Conduct While Working Remote

Lately, everyone has been on edge. I know I’ve been feeling a roller coaster of emotions as my team and I have been adjusting to remote work and other external stressors caused by social distancing (parents, you know what I am talking about!).

My stress got me thinking about how many of my coaching clients tend to lash out when they feel anxious or uncomfortable. I’ve found that high stress can lead to an increase in toxic behavior, including abusive conduct, harassment and incivility – and my hunch was confirmed when Google searches for abusive conduct increased 127% last week.

With everything going on, Rebecca and I thought we’d jump into an epic (and long) blog post to share our thoughts and predictions on the dynamic of abusive conduct in this new normal, and some strategies for keeping your workforce civil and safe.

What is Abusive Conduct in the Workplace?

Abusive conduct, or workplace bullying, manifests in a variety of ways. According to California law, abusive conduct is defined as:

“Conduct of an employer or employee in the workplace, with malice, that a reasonable person would find hostile, offensive, and unrelated to an employer’s legitimate business interests.”

I like to point out, though, that abusive conduct doesn’t need it’s own definition. The definition of harassment found on EEOC.gov does just fine at describing abusive conduct if you remove the part about protected characteristics (e.g., race, religion, gender, etc). Harassment is unlawful when:

“enduring the offensive conduct becomes a condition of continued employment, or the conduct is severe or pervasive enough to create a work environment that a reasonable person would consider intimidating, hostile, or abusive.”
In other words, the behaviors involved in harassment and abusive conduct are the same. The only difference is who you aim them at.

What Does Abusive Conduct Look Like?

Abusive conduct can be broken into three categories – aggressive communication, humiliation and manipulation.
Aggressive communication may include repeated remarks or insults, and other verbal abusive behavior directed at a particular employee or multiple employees.

Humiliation may include chastising employees in front of others or asking employees questions they couldn’t possibly know the answer to in a group setting.

The final category, manipulation, is easiest to keep under the radar and might include gratuitous sabotage and undermining of others. For example, if a meeting starts at 8am but a coworker tells you it starts at 8:30am, that would be considered a form of manipulative bullying when coupled with other abusive behaviors.

Normally, all three of these categories occur simultaneously. I’ve yet to meet a bullying leader who was only exhibiting one or two of them.

When behaviors like these are not addressed, they can escalate into workplace violence. In fact, I submit to you that aggressive communication is a form of workplace violence.

How to Manage Abusive Conduct While Working Remote

When employees were working in the same office, abusive conduct may have been easier to detect. For example, if a manager was yelling, others might hear it.

I suspect that abusive conduct has become more targeted and under the radar as communication has been limited to emails, one-on-one calls and group meetings. Thus, those who aren’t experiencing the behavior firsthand wouldn’t know it was happening unless the target spoke up. Not only does this empower aggressors, it also makes being an ally to targets much more difficult.

In addition, employers may have tunnel vision around physical safety, which could cause them to miss indicators of the people stuff, like a toxic work environment. During these challenging times, keep in mind that employee safety also involves protecting the workforce against toxicity like abusive conduct and other negative behaviors.
Here are a few tips to help with managing abusive conduct while employees are working remotely:

Establish what abusive conduct (workplace bullying) is. Often employees fail to acknowledge behavior like bullying and harassment because they really don’t know how to define them. One way to ensure targets and witnesses come forward is to educate them on exactly what constitutes abusive conduct. Sure, your harassment prevention training mentions it if you’re in California, but that’s not enough to help people really understand the confusing and lonely journey of being a target. Also share some examples of what abusive conduct looks like in a remote work environment or create new ground rules for communicating while working from home.Reestablish a protocol for reporting abusive conduct. Before, you might have encouraged employees to walk over to HR and discuss the issues they are facing immediately after they occur. Now, in a remote work environment, this system might need to be redefined. Employees may need to schedule time with HR since they can’t see if anyone is in the office or not, for example. You might also encourage employees to report behavior via a video conference since body language and nonverbal cues are lost over the phone.Empower individuals. Now that there may be few to no witnesses, employees need to feel comfortable coming forward on their own and standing up for themselves. When targets fail to speak up, the power difference between the bully and others slowly begins to increase – as does the severity of the behavior. Give employees tools to speak up for themselves in the moment. Check out my LI course on Workplace Bullying for some tips to share with your workforce (or share the course with them!).Establish a buddy system. Implementing a buddy system during a crisis can help employees in a variety of ways. Buddies can support one another and listen to each other’s concerns around work, family and whatever else they feel comfortable with. Having a buddy may also encourage targets to share if they’ve been on the receiving end of negative behavior. Make sure to allow employees to choose their buddies to ensure they are comfortable being open and honest about their feelings.Make room for emotions at work.Employees have a lot on their mind right now, including job security. So they may be hesitant to speak up in fear that creating waves could cause them to be targeted during layoffs or furloughs. Send employees the message that it’s okay to be in distress, especially with everything going on. Also let them know that negative behavior, no matter the circumstance, is unacceptable – and you want to know about it. Train managers to recognize the warning signs of toxic behavior. With remote work allowing abusive conduct to fly even more under the radar, it’s important managers know how to recognize when employees are in distress. In addition, they should be trained on how to properly address poor behavior and foster a culture of civility and collaboration. Identify ways to help employees relieve stress. Stress and anxiety are fuel for negative behavior. Even the most reserved employees may exhibit incivility or unprofessionalism as they cope with the stressful challenges they are currently facing. Finding ways to reduce their stress can help reduce the risk of negativity seeping into the remote work environment. Mental health is important now more than ever. 

Employers are responsible for safeguarding the mental and physical safety of their employees no matter the circumstance. It’s vital that leaders remember that maintaining a positive culture matters and recognize that abusive conduct can still occur outside of a shared work space. In fact, it can even be much worse.

Taking a few small steps can make a world of difference for your employees and your organization.
Sincerely,

Rebecca Del Secco, Consultant
Catherine Mattice Zundel, CEO

P.S.We are hosting a FREE webinar on June 16th at 10am PST titled Beyond Safety in Your Reopening-the-Workplace Plan: Reopening the Workplace With Compassion and Workplace Culture in Mind – and would love to see you there.  As culture experts, we want to make sure you are prepared to safeguard your culture while also maintaining employee safety, as you try to get your workplace back to normal. Check out more on what will be covered here at this link. 

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5 Department-Specific Digital Tools to Increase Productivity

Workers everywhere are doing their best to adapt to this uncertain and ever-changing world. Some are finding ways to push forward, and others are not so lucky. 

Operating a business from home is filled with its own set of stressful challenges: the kids are home, the dog needs to be walked, and everyone is sharing the WiFi. Many professionals find it difficult to find a quiet place to work in at home free of distractions. Aside from these logistical changes, managing a business remotely requires a whole new way of thinking and a little help from our devices.

Whether you are looking for ways to be more efficient or are simply trying to stay afloat, here are a few digital tools to help your business embrace a digital frontier: 

Accounting & Finance

If your business typically keeps physical copies of expenses, taxes, payroll, and other financial records, making sure you have access to these documents can be a real hurdle when working off-site. Consider switching to a finance app or opening a digital bank account to ensure all of your finances are stored and managed in one secure place. 

The accounting team will appreciate the benefits of accessibility and organization afforded by digitizing their workflow. You will be grateful for the increase in productivity and efficiency due to the streamlined system.

Human Resources

Speaking of money, payroll is one element of your business that may have already switched to a digital environment. With everyone working remotely, your human resources department may be searching for a new way to track everyone’s hours so that payroll can go off without a hitch.

A time-tracking software for small businesses can make your life a lot easier, and your HR team happier. This allows for one less document trail that your team will have to store at home while they’re away from the office, too.

Account Management

Another concern for some businesses is the lack of one-on-one contact between account managers and clients. For sales or marketing-centric companies who make their bread and butter by meeting contacts in person, social distancing has created a sudden barrier. 

Using communication software, cell phones, and webcams can help eliminate any miscommunication occasionally found in email or text and provide an audible and visual way to connect with your clients. A scheduling application can also alleviate some headaches by organizing your meetings. All of these tools can apply internally to your employees as well as externally to customers.

Information Technology

Your technical support and IT teams are not exempt from the obstacles presented by working from home. While much of their work will be spent on their computers and assisting remotely, efficiency can always be improved.

Providing your tech teams with a secure cloud storage platform allows them easy access to data logs, digital records, and more all from a safe, collaborative digital drive. The rest of your company can benefit from using this, too, creating an interconnected network that will create an effortless ecosystem whether you work from home or on-site.

Marketing and Design

Creative teams may find additional inconveniences during the global pandemic. A graphic designer who typically works with paper or a marketing team that typically works things out on a whiteboard may not have access to some of their previously relied-on equipment. 

Making the switch to cloud-based apps covers just about every creative need your company might face and then some. Plus, when purchased for the entire company rather than individually, many of these services provide steep discounts. Again, collaboration is a mouse click away saving everyone time and money.

These are just some of the incredible digital tools on the market today designed to help you and your business thrive. Hopefully, they will provide helpful answers to some of your daily questions and provide some much-needed stress relief. 

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Your New Normal Must Include Room for Emotions

During these past few months, we bet employees haven’t been totally honest about how they’re feeling.

There are two reasons they’ve been hiding the truth: 

First, showing emotion is socially unacceptable at work. It’s considered weak and unprofessional to cry, show sadness, or share how you’re feeling. (Though yelling and even bullying is considered okay, but that’s a whole ‘nother blog post.)

Second, with potential layoffs looming, employees have made it a point to appear strong and resilient while silently suffering from anxiety. 

As your organization looks at reopening, however, you simply can’t ignore the fact that your employees have just been through a traumatizing experience, and that it’s not over yet. 

Now, more than ever, it’s time to change the paradigm about emotions at work. You have to encourage employees to be honest and embrace their emotions, so that they can move past them.

Here are five tips for doing just that: 

Remind people they belong by engaging in some post-COVID onboarding. Employees will feel uneasy about their role in the organization post COVID-19, and a warm welcome can go a long way. Brainstorm ways to reconnect employees with the workplace and the organization itself. Get out your onboarding program and figure out how you can apply it to your returning workforce. Check out this article if you need some inspiration. 



Set an example by sharing your own emotions. Although everyone plays a role in establishing company culture, leadership has the power to set the tone. If you share your own emotions others may follow suit. Don’t be shy to talk about how it was to be remote, the challenges you faced, and your ups and downs. Employees will build camaraderie around this tough time they’ve gone through together, and will get to know each other better, which encourages collaboration. 



Hold regular check-ins with employees. Many leaders, managers and supervisors instituted regular check-ins with employees to ensure open communication while everyone worked remotely. Continue this practice in-person, as it’s effective to individually reach out to employees and makes it more likely for them to come forward about what they are going through. Use this list of questions for inspiration about what to ask.



Help employees remain cognizant and aware of their own emotional states. There are several emotional intelligence apps out there these days to assist individuals with their emotional wellbeing. The information isn’t for you to collect, but it’s important to encourage employees to stop and consider how they’re feeling from day to day. Invest in offering this or other types of apps such as meditation, journaling, or happiness, to show employees their mental health and wellbeing is important to you. 



Use your core values to inspire ideas. We mentioned previously that it’s important to take a look at your core values and identify how they may change as you reopen the workplace and develop a new normal. Mental health and wellbeing should be included in that conversation. Review your core values and let them inspire your mental health and wellness programs. 

This is an excerpt from our up and coming Reopening the Workplace eBook. Keep your eyes peeled for it’s release in the next few weeks!

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Using Your DISC Profile to Get Back to the Workplace

News is starting to look more positive and hopeful, and talk of reopening is a brewin’.

I don’t know about you, but I could use some serious hugs from all of my colleagues!! (Yes, I’m a High I.)

We thought a little insight about how DISC profiles play into coming back might be fun.

If you’ve never taken the DISC assessment before, that’s okay. You can probably make some guesses based on this handout we made for a past webinar. Or we can send you a link and you can take the assessment.

By the way, the information below is based on an excerpt from a Reopening the Workplace eBook we’re working on, so stay tuned for that. Our ebook will include safety tips, but since those are widely available online it will mostly be focused on safeguarding culture, leading through change, trauma-informed management, and more.

So here it is, our thoughts on how the four profiles might respond to returning to the workplace.

HIGH D (Dominance) will be energized by the opportunity to tackle the challenge of getting the business back on track, and will ensure efficiency in the process. High D’s must be cautioned, though, to make their task completion also about the individuals involved. They’ll want to focus on the work, but others will want social connection.

Rely on your High D’s for any delegation needs, and to get things back in order and moving forward quickly.

HIGH I (Influence) will be invigorated by the ability to be social again and can bring connection and cohesiveness to the team. HIgh I’s must be careful about monopolizing the social time, though, as others will want to share and talk too.

Rely on your High I’s to bring everyone together again and begin to rebuild that important social component of your company’s culture.

HIGH S (Steadiness) will be comforted by the opportunity to return to a level of stability and normalcy. High S’s must be careful to balance out the teams emotions and procedures, as High S’s will take in all that stress themselves.

Rely on High S’s to bring a calm-under-pressure approach. This will help stabilize the team again after a long separation, and bring the overall levels of anxiety down for co-workers.

HIGH C (Conscientiousness) will be stimulated by tackling complex procedures and systems. From a technical standpoint, the High C’s were shining while working remotely, so continue to pull on their strengths once physically back at the worksite. High C’s may have a hard time integrating back into a social environment, however, as High C’s are very task-driven.

Rely on C’s to ensure that any policy adjustments or new procedures are accurate, and to ensure that information on these changes will be delivered in a logical easy-to-understand manner.

Back at Work

If you and your team haven’t taken a DISC assessment yet, it’s a great way to prepare for what’s to come. Employees will gain insight on their own styles and can refer to their reports as they work through the many issues we will all face as we return to work.

These are just a few of the tips that will be included in our reopening your workplace eBook. We plan to pack it full of everything you’ll need to get your employees and your organization back on track.

Sincerely,

Toni Herndon

Civility Partners’ Training Extraordinaire & Resident DISC Trainer/Coach

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