This post may be a bit tardy, but since I haven’t seen enough other people do it, I’m going to take this opportunity give kudos and thanks to the National Technical Institute for the Deaf at RIT for its annual job fair held October 14, 2009. It was a first-class event; well organized and executed. I particularly appreciated the hospitality of John Macko, the Director of NTID’s Center on Employment. Notwithstanding all of the work he and his staff were engaged in to ensure the fair was a success, John still found a way to be a most hospitable host.
It was, of course, great to see the numerous federal and state government agencies represented at the fair. But what was particularly impressive to me was the number of private sector employers who participated. It was fun to see big names like Bank of New York Mellon, Eli Lilly & Co., IBM, ITT, Microsoft and Raytheon competing for talent even in a tough economy.
But it quickly became clear to me why they were there when I interviewed two outstanding candidates for potential positions at NexTalk. I was impressed with background and credentials of both of these students, as well as their people skills. It was treat getting acquainted with. Clearly NTID has an eye for talent. In fact, it may be too good at that for its own good, as shown by its loss of AlanaHurwitz to Gallaudet, which just hired him as its 10th president. But fear not. There are plenty of other equally impressive people at NTID, so look forward to more good things to come!
And for the rest of us, I’d suggest looking at the list of companies supporting great employment opportunities for these students and supporting them with our business. You can find the list by pasting this address into your browser – http://www.ntid.rit.edu/NCE/jobfair_students.php.
Todd D. Wakefield is CEO of NexTalk, Inc. ( http://www.nextalk.com ). He lives in Park City, Utah with his wife of 20 years and four kids.
In my previous post, I tried to make the case for how important it is that there be passion for the organization shared among the members of a workplace team. I promised that this time I would try to offer some specific things I’ve found that can can help stoke that that passion. My personal favorite is this: pick a fight!
OK, maybe not an outright fight, but at least get your colleagues to disagree with you. Get them to do it vocally, with feeling. And get them to do it on matters that are important, that you feel strongly about. Get them to argue with you. Really. And it’s not about raised voices, but strong opinions. Get them to debate even though many of them will at first be terribly hesitant and uncomfortable trying to do. Help them grow into it.
Debate is a remarkable tool in a work environment. Done respectfully, it fosters respect among co-workers. Done regularly with wide participation, it cultivates engagement. Done with broad participation, around the truly important issues, it encourages ownership, commitment and loyalty. And when you have a team where the members are engaged, loyal, committed, and feel a sense of ownership, you have the key ingredients of passion. Unless the group simply has terrible chemistry or there is severe dysfunction elsewhere, passion should be ready to emerge and grow.
But debate is hard enough without a language barrier. How do you ensure that it extends to and includes deaf and hard-of-hearing colleagues? It’s not easy. But there are things you can do.
Be vocal and up-front about wanting that debate to occur. There may be situations where there’s an advantage to quietly, invisibly and slowly cultivating a culture of healthy debate. This is not one of them. Come right out and say it – clearly, broadly and repeatedly. A workplace with language and communication gaps is no place to be subtle. Tell all of your colleagues you want them to argue with you, but tell deaf workers they can and should be more firm about it than anyone else. Tell everyone (who has a sense of humor) that if worse comes to worse and something gets a little too firm or harsh sounding, they should blame it on the interpreter! Anything to get deaf colleagues to insert and assert themselves in the debate.
Also, don’t just tell your team what you’re trying to encourage, but ask them to hold each other and you accountable. And, by all means, reward them for doing it – in front of everyone. If every team member feels like he/she is expected, and empowered, to hunt down and eliminate debate-squelching behaviors, you’re halfway home.
If, as a leader, you need to cut off a debate for some reason, or you need to make a decision that goes against the direction the debate pointed, tell everyone that’s what you’re doing. And as best you can, tell them why. And when you do so, make absolutely certain you have a direct conversation with your deaf and hard-of-hearing colleagues about the fact you’ve done it and why.
This may be obvious, but sometimes the obvious is worth restating: if someone on your team is struggling with getting into a debating mindset (deaf or hearing), talk with them about offline and get their permission to actively draw them in when a debate is or should be happening. Then go ahead and start interrupting your debates to seek their thoughts, questions, concerns, etc. Ask them open ended questions. Don’t wait for what feels a natural place in the discussion to do it. As soon as it occurs to you that someone may be having a hard time, you’re probably right. So stop and ask for their input.
There is, of course, more you can do, but this is starting to become too long of a post. So I’ll come back to the topic again in the future to flesh it out more. For now, just remember that workplace passion is the best insurance policy you can have against a tough and unpredictable environment. And that passion is something you can cultivate in your organization. One of the best ways to start is get your co-workers in on the dialog of your organization. Get them into the conversation – into the debate – not as “yes-men,” but rather as “don’t-you-think-we-should-consider-this-too-men.” Make your workplace a place for healthy debate, and you’ll have a healthy – and more passionate – workplace.
Todd D. Wakefield is CEO of NexTalk, Inc. ( http://www.nextalk.com ). He lives in Park City, Utah with his wife of 20 years and four kids.
Every organization faces tough times. It’s not a matter of whether, but when you’ll run into turbulence. The interesting question is how will you navigate it.
Why is it that some organizations break under the strain of hard times while others navigate storms with grace and emerge stronger than before? I’m not cocky enough to pretend I know all of the reasons. But I have had the good fortune to be involved with organizations that successfully weathered some pretty severe storminess. Looking back at those experiences leads me to one inescapable conclusion: passion in the workplace matters when times get tough (that’s passion for the organization, not for the hot looking guy/gal you work with).
Passion burns away fear and pettiness. It inspires extraordinary effort, and somehow clears the way for creativity and resourcefulness to work their magic. A passionate team is powerful force. It doesn’t break up in rough waters, and when calm returns, a passionate team makes headway at a pace nobody can touch.
“That’s all good and fine,” you say. “Tell me something I don’t know, something I can use – like how to infuse a team with passion. And tell me how in the world this all relates to deafness and hearing loss in the workplace.” Tune in to my next and we’ll dig in to the nuts and bolts of organizational passion, one of the tools you can use to infuse your workplace with it, and some thoughts on how to use that tool.
Todd D. Wakefield is CEO of NexTalk, Inc. ( http://www.nextalk.com ). He lives in Park City, Utah with his wife of 20 years and four kids.