A Working Labor-Management Committee Part 2

This last week we continued our work with the labor-management committee from our blog on May 14^th.

The previous week, we worked on some basic problem solving skills with some specific techniques to help labor and management come together.  We talked about brainstorming and how to get the most from brainstorming sessions.  There are some techniques that can help with contentious relationships and also to get everyone participating. We also spent some time on consensus.  One of the biggest fears groups have is not being able to come to consensus so we focus on some ways to help with consensus decision making and do some practice with it.  We also talked about prioritizing a long brainstormed list of items and how to come to agreement on a starting point.

The group we have been working with brainstormed a list of items on how to interact with local committees.  The list consisted of more than 25 items on how to build a good relationship with local committees.  Most of the items were positive behaviors we encourage all groups to have.  Some of the examples are:  make sure everyone is heard, be open-minded, be a good listener, be honest and use ground rules.  We wanted the statewide committee to come to consensus on their roles.  I am happy to report they did.  For every item listed, we asked if it was an item that needed to stay on the list.  With some tweaking on some of the items, we came up with the list.

We also asked the questions what they should not be about.  That list was not as long.  It had more than 10 items but the items on the list were just as good as the other list.  Some of the items included: don’t be controlling, don’t criticize, don’t dominate and don’t take a position.

We also did another real-life exercise on consensus about the advantages to having local committees and barriers to local committees.  Once again, the lists were great!  We divided the group into 2 small groups to work on the lists and to practice technique.  What were some of the advantages?  They included items like better communications, improved morale, and ownership.  What could ever be a barrier?  There were some and included attitudes, culture, personal agendas and lack of support from both sides.  The barriers provided some work for the committee to overcome.

People always expect certain items from one side whichever side they are referring to.  It always seems to surprise people both sides come up with the same things about their own individual side.   It’s funny how people forget we are ALL people and names and labels really are not necessary.

I’ll give some additional information about work with this committee in another blog.

How Does Safety Affect the Bottom Line in Your Workplace?

This week, I read a new publication about health and safety in the workplace. It is an OSHA pamphlet, Safety and Health Add Value, and it was great to see how their ideas line up well with ours. We both believe in the importance of involving everyone in the workplace in improving safety.

Safety has a direct impact on the bottom line for employers. OSHA notes that businesses spend over $170 billion per year on costs associated with occupational injuries and illnesses. This is money that comes directly from the bottom line of the company, and is a cost that does not need to be incurred at all. OSHA states that businesses with effective health and safety practices can cut costs by 20-40%, but the companies with which we have worked have experienced even greater savings.

In addition to the direct costs of accidents and injuries, the intangible costs are even higher. An effective safety program also has the benefit of improving employee morale and productivity. Employees are more satisfied, they go home to their families uninjured, and the bottom line is improved.

Workplace safety is a great way to begin a program to improve labor-management relations. No one is opposed to safety, but employers have struggled to find a program that produces a lasting impact in safety. Involving employees is the key to establishing a lasting, effective program.

I have to agree with OSHA. Effective safety programs are good for the bottom line of the employer and beneficial to employees and their families. That’s why our Safety Always program is designed to establish a lasting culture of safety in the workplace using the commitment of everyone to build safety.

Next time we will discuss another OSHA publication about safety and employee involvement. For copies of these publications and more information about how CALMC can help you establish an effective safety program, contact us.

A Working Labor-Management Committee

Tomorrow we are working with a statewide labor-management committee that is working on their role as a statewide group in relation to local committees and communication between them and the local committees around the state.  They all belong to one department but the committees around the state are local to their worksite.  The members of the statewide come from some of the local worksites.

One of the first things we are doing, in addition to helping them with their committee skills, is to help them identify how they, as representatives from the statewide group want to interact with the local groups.  We are using some techniques we have shown them in a practical approach to work through this issue.  We started at our last session by simply brainstorming a list of expectations.  Tomorrow we will review the lists and ask for any other expectations they may have thought of between sessions and also to give people who were not at the first session an opportunity to come up with their thoughts.  Once we have our lists complete, we will work on consensus on the roles identified.

We have some other items, too, we will be working through with this group.  Not all groups can move through “real-life” workplace issues as quickly but this group is at a level of readiness to do this.  They are a more mature group in their abilities.  The issues we are working on are not too difficult for them to work on but will be a starting place for them as they determine what they are to do and what the local committees need to work on as well as to help them utilize techniques we are showing them.

I don’t want to give too much info out as to what we are planning but we will follow their progress in a later blog.

More About Job Creation Efforts in Ohio

At our membership meeting last week, Daryl Revoldt, the Legislative and Community Outreach Director at Jobs Ohio and Karen Conrad from the Ohio Department of Development spoke about job creation efforts in the State of Ohio.

Daryl noted there is a great deal of misperception about Jobs Ohio and its mission. It is a 501 (c)4 not-for-profit created to lead Ohio’s job creation efforts. It focuses on growing jobs by targeting nine industries (energy; polymer and chemical; automotive; aerospace/aviation; advanced manufacturing; financial services; food processing and agribusiness; biohealth; and information technology) and four business functions (headquarters; logistics; research and development; and back office).

By working through 6 regional organizations, Jobs Ohio hopes to speed the process of bringing in new employers and helping existing businesses expand. They also assist businesses with the acquisition of new facilities for expansion. By cutting the time required to put together a package of incentives for new employers, they hope to make the state more attractive to business expansion.

In the Jobs Ohio model, information about business development opportunities passes from one of the regional partners to Jobs Ohio. It then makes requests to various State of Ohio agencies, such as the soon to be renamed Department of Development or the tax credit authority to utilize existing incentive opportunities.

Daryl also spoke about the overall structure of Jobs Ohio and how it will interact with communities and employers. He noted that the next enabling bill for the organization is currently under consideration by the legislature. The legislation was approved by the Senate this week.

Karen Conrad spoke of how the remaining elements of the Department of Development will assist in the job creation effort. As a former manager of the Ohio Labor-Management Cooperation Program, she recognizes the importance both groups play in economic development.

Karen is serving as the liaison between Jobs Ohio and Development during the transition to the new organization. She indicated Development will play a primarily back-office type role, providing support and funding for programs recommended by Jobs Ohio. Development will also maintain its interest in energy and other programs they have managed for the State of Ohio.

 

Economic Development in Ohio

CALMC had its second breakfast membership meeting for 2012 last Wednesday.  About 25 – 30 people attended the meeting to hear about the new economic development efforts in Ohio.  The audience consisted of local government representatives, local area business people, public sector officials, neutrals who help labor and management with bargaining and other issues and union representatives.  In other words, it was a good cross section of people who had an interest and concern in the economic initiatives for Ohio.

Many questions were asked of the presenters, Daryl Revoldt from JobsOhio  and Karen Conrad from Ohio Department of Development, on how the new public-private relationship will work.

The one thing I took away from our meeting wasn’t necessarily the message from our speakers but the interest the audience had and the excellent questions they asked about this major change.  It didn’t matter whether you were from a union, a business, the private sector or public sector you had an interest in Ohio’s economic development.

Our last membership meeting, Tim Burga, President of Ohio AFL-CIO, talked about economic development from the perspective of labor and management working together to assist with job preservation and economic growth.  He also talked about how he was working with a newer industry to Ohio, the oil and gas fracking industry.

Economic development is a topic everyone has a mutual interest in.  We may look at it from different perspectives but we all recognize the importance of it especially when it comes to our existence as a community.  Everyone has ideas to share.   Smaller community organizations need to be involved, too, not just big economic organizations.  Home, in the broader perspective, has a special place in everyone’s heart and we all want that economic well-being and feeling of security.

My hope is those from JobsOhio and Department of Development will also recognize everyone has an interest in economic development and the importance of getting the information to the smaller communities and small community groups.  Everyone should have an opportunity to speak out about Ohio’s economic future and have an opportunity to ask questions.  As the politicians like to bring up, it’s taxpayers’ dollars at work.  A road show around the state of the two organizations to tell their story to other smaller, community organizations would be a start.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Job Creation in Ohio – CALMC Membership Meeting

This week, CALMC will host our Spring membership meeting. In addition to the opportunity to meet and network with other CALMC members and guests, our program will feature presentations on job creation and preservation in Ohio.

Karen Conrad from the Ohio Department of Development will discuss remaining programs in the department and how they benefit employers and employees. Karen is a former manager of the Ohio Labor-Management Cooperation Program, so she is very familiar with CALMC.

Daryl Revoldt from Jobs Ohio will discuss the initiatives of this new public-private venture created to speed up the process of attracting industry to Ohio.  Daryl is also familiar with OLMCP, having served on the Board of Trustees of one of our sister organizations.

The meeting will be Wednesday, April 25, and will be hosted by the Ohio State University Department of Facilities, Operations, and Development. The Mechanical Contractors Association of Central Ohio will provide the breakfast. Let us know if you are interested in attending.

We will have information about the meeting in a future blog.

 

 

Individuality in Teams

Recently I posted on Facebook and LinkedIn a link to an article about individuality in teams. Apparently the author is concerned individuals are lost on teams but that’s quite the contrary.

Individuals are very much needed on a team – whether it’s labor-management, any work team or non work team. Every person brings their individual experiences, backgrounds and perspectives. In fact, individuals should be encouraged to speak.

The author is correct if teams or groups are not operating properly (allowing individuals to speak up) than teams won’t work.

Sometimes people use “team” loosely. In other words, they proclaim, “we’re a team,” but without real meaning or not allowing the true team concept to prevail. Proclaiming, “we’re a team,“ does not necessarily mean team.

In a true team process, the team leader, or facilitator, and members need to encourage everyone to provide ideas. That’s what a team is all about – every single person brainstorming new ideas, new ways of doing things instead of the standard “tried and true.”

The author of the article, I also understand, is concerned introverts are left out of teams. Once again, she does have a point – if teams are not managed properly. If someone is uncomfortable speaking out or is quieter than other team members or others dominate the process, it can be difficult without proper facilitation or leading.

The author is really identifying why teams sometimes get a bad rap. Poor management of teams, like anything else, does not provide results or success.

For those of you who have reading our blogs for labor-management cooperation, it’s the same story. Labor-management cooperation can’t happen if everyone can’t bring their ideas to the table. It doesn’t mean the contract is violated. It’s not trying to split or break the union or split management. Every individual is a member of the labor-management team.

Several years ago, we were working with a labor-management team (they truly identified themselves as a team) who had an issue that was extremely sensitive to labor. There was a concern from the entire group discussing the issue could cause them to go backwards in their relationship and abilities. The group was really surprised when they found out they could discuss the matter. Individual union members spoke their own opinion of the problem which gave some clarity of the issues. This was a major turning point for this group. This group turned out to be one of the best committees because of their ability to work on very difficult issues. It may have been because of this situation and the individual contributions.

Becoming a real team is not always easy. It takes time and patience. It’s not always best to go it alone. Some people don’t understand why teambuilding training is important but if you are truly interested, committed in building a team, training and facilitation may be your best option so you can get the most of your team experience.

How Often Should Labor-Management Committees Meet?

A question that sent people to our blog last week dealt with how often labor-management committees should meet. Our answer is definite. Committees need to meet frequently on a regular schedule.

No one really wants more meetings on their calendar. We are all very busy, and time spent in another meeting is not what we want. This aversion to meetings is probably caused by the nature of most meetings. They tend to be dull and accomplish little. They are often sessions where we are simply told information with little chance to interact or be involved in any decisions.

If meetings provide an opportunity to participate in decision making or deal with issues meaningful to our jobs, the sessions have a purpose. Whether we are talking about labor-management committees or any other group, when there is an opportunity for real participation, members become more involved and engaged in the process. When there is a reason to meet besides listening and rehashing, we are willing to commit the time.

If committees do not meet frequently, they will not be able to learn the tools necessary to solve problems and work together effectively.  If they come together only when problems arise, they will not have the relationships and trust levels necessary to solve problems. The result will be traditional, non-productive behaviors.

We ask new committees to meet as soon as possible after our training. This enables them to build on the skills and camaraderie they have been building. We had one committee decide to meet at 6 A.M. the day after training, and had a very effective meeting. While the meeting does not have to be quite this soon, we encourage teams to meet within a month. We also recommend the meeting utilize a neutral facilitator.

We also encourage committees to meet at least monthly at first. This enables them to continue to build upon the cooperative relationship they are developing in order to work productively. They can deal with the initial problems they have identified or been given. Later, as they have further developed their ability to work cooperatively and have been able to solve problems, they may be able to meet less frequently.

We have worked with many committees that have chosen to continue monthly meetings long after the training. While they may have been reluctant to do so at first, they recognize the value of meeting and maintain the regular schedule.

Natural Enemies

Lions and livestock.
Wolves and deer.
Snakes and a mongoose

All of these are examples of  animals that are natural enemies, where the kill is the only outcome.

Should labor and management be on this list?

We see and hear of too many examples where that is exactly how the sides treat each other. Each side blames the other for unemployment, declining wages, productivity issues, and other problems in the workplace. They attack the other side and approach each issue with one goal in mind – defeating the other side at all costs.

When this happens the conflict escalates. Solving problems becomes secondary to winning. Problems continue and worsen while the conflict continues.

While the ultimate goal is victory, the parties lose sight of a basic fact – the other side is not going away. When one side wins the battle of the day, the outcomes ripple through the workplace with negative results. The losing side becomes more interested in showing they are right while planning how to win the next time.

We waste time, resources, and careers fighting battles using methods that keep our organizations from growing.

Beyond just labor and management, we see the same battles happening other places in our lives. Did you watch the coverage of the health care arguments before the Supreme Court?  It is a win-lose game, as it has been from the beginning of the development of the health care act. Not only have the enemies been doing battle, the hyenas on the sidelines have been howling wildly. What has been lost throughout the process has been the more important question, “What is the best way to be certain Americans can afford quality health care?”

At CALMC, we work to help organizations move beyond the struggle between enemies. We help them work together, using the collective wisdom of everyone in the organization to make the work system stronger. We’ve seen it work to help companies retain and expand jobs and products. It’s not as easy as the fight between enemies, but the outcomes are much more satisfying.

What Is CALMC?

We’ve written a lot of blogs on here, 95 to be exact, but we never really discussed what Columbus Area Labor-Management Committee is all about.  We left that up to our website but many of you are looking for ideas, suggestions, or just plain help and it would be good for you to know about who you’re getting that assistance from without going to the website.

CALMC, a neutral, non-profit organization, was formed in 1986 under the Ohio Labor-Management Cooperation Program, or OLMCP.  Neutral means it is neither labor nor management but helps both to build relationships.  The OLMCP was designed to help improve Ohio’s image of a bad labor climate and to help retain good paying jobs in Ohio.  Other neutral organizations similar to CALMC were formed around the state.  Each received a grant from the state of Ohio under the Dept. of Development to deliver services that would help labor-management relationships.

CALMC was initially set up to serve the Columbus, Ohio, area but CALMC has assisted organizations outside of the Columbus area and Ohio.  CALMC has a governing board of trustees representing community labor and management leaders plus representation from local government.  Here’s what we do:

• As a non-profit, CALMC provides low-cost services to both union and non-union facilities.
• In any organization, unionized or non-union, CALMC provides customized services.  It could be team training or leadership training.  When we do these trainings we have one goal in mind and that is to bring everyone together to look at new ways of doing things to remain competitive and help retain jobs.

Look at our blogs on Skinner Diesel.  Skinner is an excellent example of how jobs have been retained and how they continue to look at other areas to be competitive.  We’re currently working with the supervisors to start with other issues to help remain competitive.

• Services in unionized settings could be just getting labor and management to talk or maybe it’s forming that labor-management committee.  It could be taking the labor-management committee to the next level, strategic planning.

• Facilitation and facilitator training are available to help groups and teams.  After a team has gone through training and returned to everyday life at work, it is very easy to get caught up in the workplace issues instead of focusing a new tool or technique.  Facilitation following the training can help groups learn better how to apply the tools to real-life issues.  Sometimes it’s much easier to have someone from the outside help with new ways of doing things than trying on your own.  There are some trainers who will leave after the training is completed thinking everyone has learned it – not necessarily.
• Facilitation is especially important when labor and management want to improve their relationship.  There have been lots of interest about labor-management cooperation and the common interests of both. It is much easier if you have a facilitator to help.  Learning to work together takes times and commitment from everybody.  The best groups did best because they were committed, not because of CALMC.
• We have free breakfast meetings three times a year with speakers who talk about workplace topics which may include current events.  Our board members provide the location and the meal.  Our next breakfast meeting is April 25th, at Ohio State University. Speakers from the newly created private sector JobsOhio organization and the state agency formerly responsible for economic development will be talking about job retention and expansion for Ohio.
• The annual golf outing helps to bring everybody together to have a good time – even for the non-golfers!
• CALMC also helps those who are being laid off, especially state workers.  By providing services to people who will be laid off, it helps them adjust so they can transition quicker into a new job.
• Another service we will be doing soon is webinars.  We will be starting with Intro to Facilitation.  Watch for more details.

We at CALMC will continue to do this blog and provide other services.  If any of you need help or have questions, we are here.  Keep reading our blogs for more ideas.  Thanks!