Ignoring Ignorance is Ignorant
By now, you have probably heard of, or watched, episodes of a popular television show on NBC called “The Office”. The office manager, “Michael Scott” does things, and makes comments that get him in trouble in and out of the office in almost every episode. In the real world, he would likely have been fired a long time ago. I would quote any one of his now famous offensive comments if I didn’t think it would be offensive here. But I assure you, there are a number of websites dedicated to just this one character’s bumbled, offensive and harassing comments if you care to learn what NOT to say or do.
The point is that the reason this show has become so popular --the reason the humor works-- is that it resonates with people--they identify with it on some level. This is a sad conclusion to draw, but it must be at least a little true. So while thousands, if not millions, of “Office” fans learn each season what NOT to do or say in the workplace, many in the workforce are actually committing these offenses daily in their places of work. Okay, I’m sure they are not as “over the top” as dramatized on T.V. but the point can still be made: harassment, offenses, and “less effective” ways of doing things are happening within our companies every day across the globe.
I suppose it may come as no surprise to some that these kinds of things are happening under our noses. The humor of the situation may be entertaining on T.V. but when these people are under your employ it is no laughing matter to say the least. This “un-funny” reality can cost the company hundreds of thousands of dollars to muddle through litigation, process the turnover of employees and don’t forget the cost of customers lost to employees’ poor communication skills.
So what do you do about it? What tools do you have, what knowledge base do you have to combat this “un-funny” reality? You have three choices:
- Send employees out to expensive knowledge bases (training seminars) that can be a logistical nightmare—with only a fool’s hope that the employee will retain and share that training with any success to fellow employees.
- Rent a knowledge base (guest speakers, harassment lawyers, etc.) to visit your place of business for a yearly brush-up—and hope that any sick or otherwise missing employees that day will glean the information sufficiently from the other employees in attendance.
- Own the knowledge base, easily distribute the expert information to each employee’s computer monitor at any time—even on the road, or at home, and be able to review the topics with a given employee at any time. Also be able to track and report progress, measure comprehension and prove to a lawyer that you indeed gave them sufficient training to get you off the hook when a lawsuit comes your way.
The first group of new titles contains courses that will help grease the wheels of success:
Sales Preparedness, Giving and Receiving Criticism, Connecting with Customers through Customer Service, Helping Customers through Quality Service, Quality Focused Supervision, Working as a Team, The Power of Telephone Courtesy, The Rewards of Telephone Courtesy, The Cornerstones of Sales and Customer Service, Coaching for Performance: Getting Employees to Deliver their Best.
The second group is focused on methods of prevention to protect your company’s success:
Hazardous Materials and Your Rights, Accidents in the Workplace, The Employee Hunt: Quick Tips to Finding and Recruiting Good People, The Legal Aspects of Interviews and Hiring, The Harassment Free Zone, Eliminating Harassment in the Workplace, Investigating Incidents, and Decoding FLMA, along with Understanding the Requirements of ADA, and finishing off with The Fair Shake-EEOC.
