In July 2009, the BBC World Service reported a $180 million cost to United Airlines, when Dave Carroll’s viral video “United Breaks Guitars” led to a share price drop of approximately 10%. www.longislandexchange.com

Carroll’s band and other passengers witnessed guitars being thrown on the tarmac by careless baggage handlers before take-off, and reported this to United staff. Three people showed no interest in their plight, and United dodged his $1200 claim for a $3,500 guitar for a year before denying it completely. Carroll’s song (complete with the badly-mutilated guitar) is apparently destined to become a United training tool. Enjoy it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOqozo

Disengagement is a major business problem, with many causes. These include a lack of skillful management, selection/succession procedures that do not put the right person in the right job, and inattention to climate and culture. And, of course,  measurable, affordable and effective learning interventions.

CPS is privileged to work with some truly excellent companies, who drive engagement from the top, and have a strong awareness of the cost of disengagement, and its consequences.  They have put the real numbers on retention,  productivity, service, quality, innovation, on-going process improvement, collaborative intelligence and the on-going development of competitive advantage.

Those who want to drive change in the engagement issue do best when they produce the numbers. No one gets out of their comfort zone without a compelling case for action, and many of the people who make key decisions have a background of thinking in terms of numbers, not on whether their people bring their whole selves to work.

Give them the real, hard numbers, plus the basis on which those numbers were derived (c-psolutions has things like how to calculate the cost of turnover etc if anyone needs them). Show them the hard research on why people go through the motions at work or leave their jobs. Give them valid metrics on the impact of disengagement on sales, service and customer retention.

Theory speaks to some people, but the business case is the best and most compelling reason to take the action needed to engage our workforce.

And to stop people breaking those poor guitars.

CPS is eligible to provide custom solutions to clients with state funding assistance, and helps our clients to source these. As a values- and ethics-based small business, CPS specializes in affordable, lasting solutions to people and business challenges.

Building trust and understanding between these diverse groups is not easy, either for the team members concerned, or for managers and learning specialists who facilitate the process.

Everyone has an “I” consciousness and a “we” consciousness. The “I” focuses on self achievement, self responsibility and autonomy. The “we” identity focuses on connection to our reference groups, and our relatedness. This emphasis varies from person to person, and from culture to culture.

I grew up in Africa, where many people have a mainly collectivist approach to life. In business, one usually asked African clients about their families, because it is impolite and cold to do otherwise, yet one discussed impersonal subjects like the weather and a little politics or economics with Caucasian clients. (In some cultures, like the UK, it is quite normal to discuss politics. Right after the weather, which always comes first!)

When working with learning groups from both Collectivist and Individualistic backgrounds (think of Puerto Rico and the US for example) it was often helpful to ask how some of these differences might affect group dynamics, for instance:

Innovative out-of-the-box thinking (I) vs. loyalty to group interests and approval (C)
Individual achievement (I) vs. group affiliation as a basis of group standing (C)
The right to have unpopular opinions (I) vs. the importance of group harmony (C)
Personal initiative (I) vs. consensus-based group action (C)

This concept can be used for team-building and inclusivity work, because people love to teach others about their worlds. People also love understanding what makes them tick – e.g. in Africa, Individualism is stronger in people who are more urbanized and whose tribal identity and affiliation are of lower importance. (This showed up as a factor in my first graduate degree thesis).

Create space for concrete and personal narratives, and jumpstart these by sharing a story of your own – e.g. I have an Anglo-Indian father, and Welsh, Irish, French, Dutch, African and Malay blood, and can trace threads of both traditions through my family and friends. It gets people thinking and talking.

A critically important issue when working with culture is to create a cheerful awareness that differences exist, that we’re learning to understand them, learning about each other, and that different is not wrong, it is merely different.

Heavy read: Try “The Geography of Thought : How Asians and Westerners Think Differently…and Why” by Richard Nisbett. It explains how people from Eastern and Western cognitive traditions often process information differently. Nisbett gives details of how a mix of thought patterns may offer a competitive edge, and lead to innovative breakthroughs in many industries.

Hilarious read: Watching the English: The Hidden Rules of English Behaviour by Social Anthropologist Kate Fox. Not related to Individualism/Collectivism, but an essential for any bewildered American who has to deal with the British, and a great gift for anyone who grew up in English culture, so that we can laugh at ourselves.

The cost, to both women and organizations, is high.

Research proves that when women do ask for what they want, they do not do so as clearly, quickly or as often as men do. GenX and GenY women are following in the footsteps of their Boomer and Traditional predecessors in this pattern.

Women also tend to think that what is offered (“what is on the table”) is all that is available. Men draw on their socialization (which includes things like being taught how to slip the Maitre d’ a few bucks for a better table) and assume that their wants and needs might be met if they speak up, irrespective of what seems to be on offer.

Organizations suffer. Their valuable women work and wait for rewards or options, then one day, *poof*! They’re working for your competitor or running their own small business, and you’re saying “why didn’t she TELL me she wanted that position, the same salary as John, that title, a new computer screen, a more flexible schedule, a space heater? It would have cost so little … a tiny fraction of what this is costing us now!”

Linda Babcock, Co-author of “Women Don’t Ask”, admits that those who ask, often get. She describes how she, herself, gave more resources and opportunities to men in her department, while she was researching the way women are socialized to wait for rewards, and why women don’t imagine possibilities outside The System. She did this because men asked.

Great read: “Women Don’t Ask” (by Linda Babcock and Sara Laschever) has some great strategies for managing men and women who are valuable assets to your organization, but do not ask clearly for what they want. It’s also a must-read for working women or parents of daughters.