Are you an Ally?

Together.  We.  Win.   I say that often.  I believe in those three words.  I also believe kindness is currency.  If you read through many of my blogs, you will see these two themes are pretty consistent.  Last week they came to a wonderful union as I worked with our teams across Gannett to focus our energies on becoming an Ally.  An Ally to those we do not understand, an ally to those who are different than us, an ally to someone who needs an ear.  I want to enhance our culture at Gannett by helping us all to look through the eyes of others. 

Recently, some of our employees completed Unconscious Bias Training and I’m sure many of you reading this have also read about unconscious bias. Hopefully, as you learned more about unconscious bias, these new insights sparked some introspection and self-reflection.  For those of us at Gannett who completed the training {as an aside, over 95% of the employees we offered it to, completed the training}, there was a segment in the course about how someone can go from being a “Bystander” to an “Ally”.  To further our understanding of unconscious bias, we wanted to re-introduce the concept of being an Ally to all our employees.  We want our employees to feel comfortable being who they are all the time.  Being an Ally means understanding yourself and deepening your understanding of others, supporting your peers (even if you may have differing views), not being complicit when you see biased behaviors, taking responsibility when you make a mistake, and showing you are an Ally by using appropriate, respectful and thoughtful words.

What does it mean to be an Ally?

Being an Ally means examining your beliefs about people or groups who are different from you and asking yourself if some of those beliefs are stereotypes or biases. Being an Ally is the process of working to develop individual attitudes, environments and a culture in which all employees feel valued. An Ally is a person who works to facilitate the development of, and to improve the experience of, all employees in our workplace. To be the best Ally, challenge yourself. Dig deep to assess your perceptions and be mindful in your judgment of others.

What an Ally is NOT.

Being an Ally is not being an expert, for example, on disabilities, veterans affairs or gay rights. It is about supporting each other, regardless of differences. 

So, with that to consider and digest, here are some tips on how to be an Ally:

1. Be aware of and challenge unconscious biases or biased behaviors you may have.  
2. Try to be a focused, thoughtful and empathetic listener. Encourage and support differences.
3. Try to be more open-minded, aware and available to discuss issues and ideas.
4. Invite colleagues with different perspectives to your meetings, lunches and social events.
5. Know that negative comments about race, gender, religion, disability, orientation, etc. are harmful. 
6. Don’t see or hear something inappropriate and stay silent. Defend colleagues against discrimination. Speak up.
7. Treat all people regardless of race, gender, religion, disability, orientation, status, etc. with dignity and respect.
8. When interacting with those who are different from you, look at the world through their “lens”.  Seek to understand more. Learn from each other.

Together.  We.  Win.  

Even taking small steps in this direction helps us move our nation’s culture forward for everyone. We need to continue to educate, empower and embrace our differences. We can also continue to learn from each other. We want to build a culture where everyone is comfortable being themselves.  Because truly, together we do win.

Dave Harmon
People Division
“Kindness is Currency”
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/davidharmonhr

Look for us on: LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, The Muse, Glassdoor and USA TODAY NETWORK Careers

Functioning Dysfunction

How is your team functioning?  This question surfaces regularly for most of us–and it usually comes from our boss or our bosses boss in a routine check-in. There is a good reason for making sure things are working well as most business leaders view high-performance teams as essential to business success.  Yet, very often as leaders, we struggle the most on teams, especially leadership teams that are often full of team members who don’t mesh and often endure a dynamic one would hardly call a team.

As leaders, we come together from very different professional and business perspectives, such as functions, product, or lines of business. We often need to wrestle for resources, influence, and sometimes even “the” promotion. This is all part of the deal–to represent our unique perspectives, to have a say about our beliefs, and ultimately to grow and develop.

Patrick Lencioni authored “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team” years ago and it still rings true today.   It is apparent today (more than ever) that you can apply it to not only your team, but your family, your peers, your church, your PTA, your Homeowners Association, or even our nation (eg: government). 

True teamwork is so powerful, yet so rare.  Think of those once in a lifetime teams that overachieved.  It was not usually talent, but it was the teamwork which pushed them to greatness.  The boat in the water analogy when everyone is rowing in the same direction…still rings true.

So how do we learn to function at a higher level?  It starts with trust.  Democrats trusting Republicans.  Pitchers trusting catchers.  Husbands trusting wives.  Bosses trusting subordinates.  Neighbors trusting neighbors.  You get the idea. 

How do we achieve that – well (as Leoncini stated) it starts by being vulnerable and open and candid…   From there, we need to overcome the fear of conflict.  Can you have unfiltered debate and discourse (Nike commercial anyone?) without taking it personally?  If we cannot do this, we veil our discussions and provide half-truths and guarded commentary.  And leaves us unsatisfied with outcomes.  And a sense of not being heard.  So if we cannot get our ideas and thoughts “on the table”, then how do we gain commitment from each other (NFL and players).  We lack trust, we do not engage in healthy debate, therefore commitment becomes almost impossible.  See the building blocks here?   Okay, we are progressing up the pyramid of dysfunction.  No trust, no debate, no commitment.  Where does that leave us on accountability?  We tend to avoid it.  If there is not a commitment to a clear and logical plan, if there is not candid and honest feedback to each other – how do we expect to hold each other accountable? 

Why am I telling you all this – because when you add all these together – it just builds to a lack of results.  So imagine for a moment a Congress, a President and a Nation that trust one another, engage in open and honest debate and discourse, making commitments, holding each other accountable and focusing on results?

Liane Davey, the author of You First: Inspire Your Team to Grow Up, Get Along, and Get Stuff Done, presents the simple idea that is perhaps the most profound: if you change yourself, you will change your team.  Specifically, Davey teaches that you need to have five responsibilities every day. Easy to explain and much harder to live:

Start with a Positive Assumption

Short-circuit your biases, unpack your baggage, and truly appreciate the value that your teammates are bringing.

Add Your Full Value

Show up, get off cruise control and bring the benefit of your experiences, your relationships, and your personality instead of just doing what is in your job description.

Amplify Other Voices

Loan your credibility and your airtime to teammates whose minority perspectives are usually shut out of the discussion.

Know When to Say “No”

Retrain yourself when and how to say no to the things that would dilute your focus, stretch your resources, and slow you down.

Embrace Productive Conflict

Tap into the value of different points of view by disagreeing about the issues in a way that promotes understanding and reduces defensiveness.

At work, people’s fears fall into 3 main categories:

• Being misunderstood (their motives or credibility questioned)

• Being excluded (ostracized for not conforming)

• Being invisible (not heard)

All of these fears are inextricably tied to our core feelings of value and sense of worth and if your team is spending the majority of their days outside their psychological safe zone, then it is draining their creative energy and productivity — and likely leading to dysfunctional behaviors.

Strong leaders learn how to manage conflict in ways that maintain psychological safety of the people on the team, in order to have the needed conversations necessary to productive growth. Unfortunately, we are all not strong leaders.

We don’t communicate as well as we think we do…

We think we’re communicating effectively, but the evidence clearly shows that everyone overestimates their ability to communicate.  As a team leader, we need to take this insight to heart to understand how each of our team members thinks and feels so we can best tailor our communication style to what suits them. This small effort to adapt on our part will help build strong relationships and enhance trust.

Maya Angelou said it best: “People will forget what you said and did, but they will never forget how you made them feel.”  Next time you find yourself thinking about the dysfunctional behavior with your team members, take a step back and explore how your attitudes and behaviors are contributing to what you’re seeing. Your team will not begin to work better together until you look at your role in it.  Be the first to change.

Together.  We.  Win.

Dave Harmon
People Division
“Kindness is Currency”
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/davidharmonhr

Look for us on: LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, The Muse, Glassdoor and USA TODAY NETWORK Careers

Just Get It

Today I am writing about something most people have an opinion about.  I am not taking sides, I am seeking to understand...a little bit more.

Nike aired its first "Just Do It" ad, narrated by Colin Kaepernick, during the NFL season opener between the Atlanta Falcons and Philadelphia Eagles. This ad created a buzz a few days earlier when Nike put it on social media.  The two-minute spot highlights superstar athletes LeBron James, Serena Williams and others, and touches on the controversy of NFL players protesting racial inequality, police brutality and other issues by demonstrating during the national anthem. These protests have generated controversy and sparked a public conversation about the protester's messages and how they've chosen to deliver them.

Kaepernick says: "Believe in something, even if it means sacrificing everything."

Kneeling before the flag is not how I would personally choose to protest. Never will.  My father was in the US Navy.  We ALWAYS stand for the National Anthem, remove our hats and face the flag.  54% of Americans in a recent poll stated they have issue with folks who do not stand for the National Anthem.  That said, I UNDERSTAND the other side.  But to be fair and to help us understand both sides of this issue, we first need to recognize these demonstrations are not about "protesting the flag".

Let me explain and provide some more insight from both sides (from ProCon.org):

• When one believes the United States is not living up to its ideals of freedom, liberty, and justice for all, refusing to stand for the national anthem is appropriate and justified.
• Refusing to stand for the national anthem shows disrespect for the flag and members of the armed forces.
• When a national figure such as an NFL player refuses to stand for the national anthem, it shocks people into paying attention and generates conversation.
• Not standing for the national anthem is an ineffective and counterproductive way to promote a cause.
• Not standing for the national anthem is a legal form of peaceful protest, which is a First Amendment right.
• Refusing to stand for the national anthem angers many and sows division in our country.

When Kaepernick began taking a knee, he explained that he was doing so to raise awareness of police brutality in America against people of color. Whether or not you agree, Kaepernick offers at least a simple, straightforward rationale for why these players elect to do what they do. It is not about a flag, or a song, or troops. It is about the fact that too often, as Kaepernick put it last year, “when a police officer shoots a black person in this country, the black person ends up dead and the law enforcement officer gets paid leave.”  All of the kneeling NFL players will tell you it is not about the flag.  Whether we choose to believe this or not, I think we all can agree we do have bigger race and violence issues that America has not addressed very well. 

According to the U.S. Code’s “Flag Code” section, which was unveiled in 1924, all those present during a national anthem, flag hoisting, lowering or passing, should stand at attention with their right hand over their heart. But the conduct does not mention specific rules surrounding kneeling or peacefully protesting.  With this said, we need to be fair and objective if we are singling out following the rules.  I have done some research and the rules on how Americans should act around their country’s flag are regularly broken.

Here are some ways Americans have “disrespected” the flag, according to the federal code:

• “The flag should never be used as wearing apparel, bedding, or drapery. It should never be festooned, drawn back, nor up, in folds, but always allowed to fall free,” the code reads. That means flag shirts, sweaters, hats, swimsuits, etc. are all considered disrespectful, even though they are widely accepted.
• “The flag should never be carried flat or horizontally, but always aloft and free.”  The American flag should always be vertical, and never carried horizontally, but it is regularly carried that way during sporting events (as an example).
• “The flag should never be used for advertising purposes in any manner whatsoever.”  But it often is — especially during Fourth of July celebrations. From packaging for fireworks to TV commercials, the American flag is regularly used.
• “No part of the flag should ever be used as a costume or athletic uniform.”  The U.S. flag is not meant to be displayed on athletic uniforms, but we have all seen numerous examples of this happening.

When the Founding Fathers affixed their signatures to the Declaration of Independence, the first act of courage in United States history, the American flag was not in existence.  And it would be a hundred plus years later before the Star-Spangled Banner was adopted as the national anthem.

Our Founding Fathers were not deficient in love of country for not having our flag. In splitting our political ties with Britain, Thomas Jefferson set forth the premise of the United States, the core ideas around which our country rallied: “that all men {women} are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” 

Today, as it was centuries ago, allegiance to those founding principles is what defines a patriotic American, not whether he or she stands or kneels while an anthem about the flag is performed.  The anthem and the flag are symbols, interpreted differently by people. In fact, their meaning can change for the same people in different moments.  A person can also salute the American flag with tears of affection in his eyes. But if he deprives others of life, liberty, or the pursuit of happiness, he is still a bad American. That, I think, we all can agree on.

Consider this - the athletes, kneeling together in public protest of what they believe to be unjust treatment of a significant percentage of Americans, are pledging their honor and risking their wealth in political protest; their issue is the government failing to secure the rights of all Americans. In particular, it is failing to protect their lives and liberty.  I think we all will have a hard time disagreeing with this.

The players are kneeling in an effort to defend the very core of the Declaration of Independence. In fact, U.S. Army veteran Nate Boyer convinced Colin Kaepernick to kneel, rather than sit, while protesting police brutality during the national anthem.  "Colin sat down and exercised his right to protest, which is something that I feel like we all swore an oath to defend," said Tom Baker, a Navy veteran who served in the Iraq War.

As Salil Puri stated in his Washington Post piece this past weekend, “We should be able to dislike something without seeing it as a personal affront. We should be able to oppose something without becoming frothy-mouthed and obsessed, as some veterans online have done over Nike’s ads. We should embrace Special Forces veteran Nate Boyer’s insistence that we show compassion for those we don’t agree with, while also acknowledging that everyone is free to boycott and destroy their Nike gear as they see fit."

 

These are just my thoughts.  We all have choices we make and America allows us to do so.  I will stand for our National Anthem, but I UNDERSTAND those who choose to protest.   

Together.  We.  Win.


Dave Harmon
People Division
“Kindness is Currency”
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/davidharmonhr

Look for us on: LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, The Muse, Glassdoor and USA TODAY NETWORK Careers