Effective Communication in a Diverse Workplace

About the Intercultural and Diversity

Training Program of Manitoba

We work across the province of Manitoba.

We work with industry, educational organizations, communities and government.

We train leadership and employees.

About the facilitator:

Julie Bell

• EAL teacher and workplace education coordinator
• since 1995.
• Diversity trainer since 2008.
• Diversity for many organizations including manufacturing companies.
• A variety of projects that help companies with diverse populations.

Quiz Results

1.What does a respectful workplace look like?

2.What do you want to feel like when you come to work?

3.What do others do or say that demonstrate respect in the workplace?

4.What do others do or say that demonstrate disrespect in the workplace?

How does the corporate policy on respectful workplace

align with what we came up with in the previous activity?

The Company seeks to promote a work environment that fosters:

• Communication
• Productivity
• Creativity
• Teamwork and
• Employee satisfaction.

This environment enables Boeing people to:

•  contribute to the goals and objectives of the company while at the same time
• achieving their own personal goals.

A respectful workplace

has the following characteristics:

People are treated with respect, fairness, and dignity

regardless of their, national or ethnic origin, colour,

religion, age, sex, marital status, family status, and

physical or mental ability.

People are valued for the work they do and have

access to the tools and assistance needed to do their

job properly.

People are respected for their unique perspectives and

encouraged to participate fully in the workplace.

People treat each other in a respectful and professional manner.

People follow and support policies, procedures, and

practices to maintain a respectful workplace.

Respectful Behaviours

Polite and Courteous

Listening to Each Other

Communicate in a respectful way,

where all employees feel included.

Welcome others who are

different from themselves;

practice inclusion

Promote and encourage respectful behaviour.

Work together constructively

to solve issues, both work and

interpersonal challenges

WHAT is Employment Equity?

Legislation which exists to ensure equal employment opportunities for members of the four designated target groups.

WHO are the designated Target Groups?

Women, Aboriginal people, members of the visible minorities, and persons with disabilities

HOW are we doing?

These graphs illustrate our current workforce based on the four target groups.

Overall, Boeing Winnipeg has a fair and representative workforce. Statistics will be posted quarterly.

CULTURE

What words come to mind when

you think of diversity?

It is what someone in a group knows that everyone

knows as well.

What is Diversity?

It is the mosaic of people who bring a variety of backgrounds, styles, perspectives, values, and beliefs as assets to the groups and organizations with which they interact.

Diversity brings creativity and innovation.

Four Levels of Culture

The organizational culture of Boeing is changing for many reasons, including the changing demographics of applicants.

Perception:

The process of selecting, organizing, and interpreting the world and what’s happening around us.

A supervisor gives an employee instructions and says, “Do you understand?” The employee nods, walks away and does the wrong thing.

Two co-workers speak a language that you do not understand in front of you.

Don't believe everything you think!

Assumptions HURT - In fact, they are often

the most painful part of conflict.

Culture = values, perceptions and beliefs

A employee is silent

during stand-up meetings.

An employee is reluctant

to report an accident.

How would you feel if I told you that you had to talk this way for the entire workshop?

How would you feel if you had to talk this way every day at work?

Examples of Communication Challenges in English . . . . .

Situational Practice

Two coworkers are speaking a second language while at work.

You do not understand the language that is being spoken. What do you do?

Cell Leader: Susan I see that you are adjusting well to your duties around here. You may want to try sending the samples back for a quality check prior to sending them to the customer. I believe the training session covered this with you. Ok? Otherwise it looks like you’re doing well. Thanks Susan, I appreciate it.

The Message you think you are sending out might not be the message being received.

We cannot afford to make mistakes like Chevrolet made when it first tried to sell the Chevy Nova in Spanish speaking countries. In Spanish, “No va” means “It does not go.” Needless to say, the Nova never sold well in Spanish speaking countries. Similarly, when Pepsi started marketing its products in China a few years back, the Chinese translated the slogan “Pepsi brings you back to life” quite literally. The slogan in Chinese really meant, “Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the grave.”

Strategies for Building a

Respectful Workplace in

a Diverse Environment:

Action Plan

Tips for Employees

who speak English as

a first Language:

CULTURE

Inventory

Where do you fit on the scale?

Individual

Organizational

Check Your

Assumptions

Like in troubleshooting a computer – things are not always as they appear

Culture: The system of shared beliefs, values, customs, behaviors, and artifacts that the members of society use to cope with their world and with one another, and that are transmitted from generation to generation through learning.

Group

Four Levels of Culture

Low Context Cultures and Communication

Examples

1. Won’t make eye contact

2. Someone says that they

understand when they don’t

3. Speaks very quietly

High Context Cultures and Communication

Every individual is a walking culture.

Culture = values, perceptions and beliefs

ethnic

Cultures are dynamic and changing.

Ning is a programmer and is currently unemployed. He has had one programming job in Canada. He is surprised that he was laid off, because he is a very experienced programmer. He has experience working in a large IT company in his native country. He says that the reason that he was laid off was because of a personality conflict with his supervisor. He would often ask what he should do next, and his supervisor told him that she can’t “babysit” him.

Melenie, his supervisor, said that Ning was a great programmer, but he didn’t take initiative. He wanted someone else to make the decisions that he should be making. She found that he needed so much support that when employees had not be chosen for lay offs, he was an obvious choice.

QUESTION: What cultural issues can you identify?

Most of the meaning of the message is contained in the actual words that are used.

• Most of the meaning of the message is contained in the surrounding circumstances and in the people who are communicating

• Very little of the message is contained in the words

• Details like who is part of a team, where and when it meets for the first time, who introduces team members are considered to be very important.

(Hall, 1976, p. 79)

• Job tasks are usually kept separate from relationships
• Individual initiative and decision-making are valued
• Communicators rely on verbal communication
• Background information and data are required to make a decision
• More direct style is used

• Have to spell everything out
• Communication loses some of the nuance and possibly becomes more mundane

The Context Scale: Comparison of Various Cultures around the World

Information implicitly received

High Context Society

Far East (Japan, China, etc)

Indian subcontinent

Arab countries

Latin America

Eastern Europe

Latin Europe, UK, Quebec

English Canada

US

Scandinavia

Germany

Switzerland

Low Context Society

• Task is seen as a function of the relationship
• Relationships are built up over time and are stable
• Decision-making is expected within the relationship
• Silence is respected and utilized
• Verbal message is indirect

Information explicitly

conveyed

Now, pair up and rephrase what you have just learned about Context, in your own words.

Low Context

High Context

non-traditional

heterogeneous cultures

traditional, homogeneous

cultures

Effective Communication in a Diverse Workplace

Total learning time

Source: bloom's taxonomy and the digital world

Review

Optimizing on Diversity

A Respectful Workplace Strategy

1. Review: Boeing Winnipeg - A Respectful Workplace

If you speak English as an Additional Language:

1. Remember to speak English during working hours.

2. During break times, it's ok to relax and speak your

first language. If someone nearby doesn't understand, consider speaking English, even if they are not participating in the conversation.

3. In face to face meetings, face the person that you are speaking to. Reading lips can increase comprehension.

4. Beware of the sandwich!

5. Check your assumptions!

6. Practice makes perfect.

1. If a word or concept is not understood, do not repeat the same thing over again louder or slower as though the listener has a hearing problem. Reword your thoughts.

2. Ask the listener to confirm instructions in their own words.

3. Consider whether the best form of communication is being used. For example, instructions given in a memo are not as effective as a demonstration of the technique.

4. Give the person time to respond. Sometimes a person who speaks English as an additional language needs to think about the concept first in their first language and then translate their thoughts.

5. In face to face meetings, face the person that you are speaking to. Reading lips can increase comprehension.

6. Beware of the sandwich!

7. Check your assumptions!

8. Never use the phrase, "Do you understand?" when you want to confirm whether you have been understood.

9. Practice makes perfect.

•To provide some insight in how to help IEP's (Internationally educated professionals) to find success at Epic

•To learn about how "context" impacts communication at Epic

•To learn about how the receiving of feedback varies across cultures

A bakery in Winnipeg employed a number of women from the same country. The supervisor is very frustrated. Someone asked the employees why the supervisor is frustrated. They said, "We don't know. We didn't hear anything bad." That same person asked the boss and he said, "I told them over and over and over and they won’t change."

Why did we do this introduction?

Communication Tips

Linda Maxwell

rutabaga rutabaga

Introductions

In your groups, share one thing

that no one in the group knows about you.

Workshop Goals

At Boeing Winnipeg, there exists a diverse workforce with varying skill sets, personalities and perspectives. Our diversity contributes to Boeing's world-class innovation and success. The purpose of this workshop is to:

• Recognize and appreciate the value that diversity brings to Boeing
• Recognize the behaviours of a respectful workplace
• Identify inclusive and respectful

strategies in a diverse workplace

Agenda

•Cell phone should be on vibrate or silent during the session

•Be present and engaged for the whole session

•Respect each other’s comments, ideas and

suggestions

•Honour time limits

•Refrain from the “we did that in the past and it didn’t / won’t work”

•Share openly and in the spirit of inquiry

•Keep your energy levels high

•Actively participate

•Share your experience and expertise

•Only one person should speak at a time

•Attack challenges, not each other

•Ask questions and seek clarification at any time

•Confidentiality

•Others?

• Find out who “won the quiz”
• Discussion on respectful workplace
• Culture 101 – quick review
• Communication activities
• Case studies
• Communication tips

What is culture?

Introductions

Centre: your personality

Internal Dimension:

- what you are born with

- can't change

Organizational Dimensions:

such as job classification

External Dimensions:

Probably how we describe

ourselves to others

Culture: The system of shared beliefs, values, customs, behaviors, and artefacts that the members of society use to cope with their world and with one another, and that are transmitted from generation to generation through learning.

Individual

External

The Individual

+

Personal History

+

Cultural Background

+

The Situation

___________________

= The Whole Person

Adapted from Working Together: George Simons

music, dress, dance,

language, art, greetings,

food, gestures, religious

practices

See

• Explicitly Learned
• Easily Changed
• Objective Knowledge

Touch

Hear

Culture: The system of shared beliefs, values, customs, behaviors, and artifacts that the members of society use to cope with their world and with one another, and that are transmitted from generation to generation through learning.

Organizational

1. What is your first impression?

2. Refer to the diversity blueprint. What

diversity dimensions do you think are represented in this individual? (examples: background, language, birth country)

Every individual is a walking culture.

Group

Internal

Cultures are dynamic and changing.

Beliefs

Values

• Implicitly Learned
• Unconscious
• Subjective Knowledge

approach to time, family,

gender differences,

communication styles,

motivations,

rules of relationships,

tolerance for change,

comfort with risk,

difference between

private and public,

religious beliefs,

respect for authority,

rules, elderly, need for space

Thought

Patterns

Myths

Ethnic

1. What is your first impression?

2. Refer to the diversity blueprint. What

cultural dimensions do you think are represented in this individual? (examples: background, language, birth country)

(all four groups!)

Culture = values, perceptions and beliefs

1. What is your first impression?

2. Refer to the diversity blueprint. What

diversity dimensions do you think are represented in this individual? (examples: background, language, birth country)

President has top floor office

An employee is appointed employee of the month

Hockey player break the rules

1. If a word or concept is not understood, do not repeat the same thing over again louder or slower as though the listener has a hearing problem. Reword your thoughts.

2. Ask the listener to confirm instructions in their own words.

3. Consider whether the best form of communication is being used. For example, instructions given in a memo are not as effective as a demonstration of the technique.

4. Study and evaluate cultural generalizations. Understand that even valid generalizations have to be reconsidered when applied to individuals.

5. Give the person time to respond. Sometimes a person who speaks English as an additional language needs to think about the concept first in their first language and then translate their thoughts.

6. In face to face meetings, face the person that you are speaking to. Reading lips can increase comprehension.

Check Your

Assumptions

Like in troubleshooting a computer – things are not always as they appear

Take a moment to write down

one or two unwritten rules you have

encountered in a company.

Thanks for filling out the evaluation!

Thanks for participating!

Manager: Susan I see that you are adjusting well to your duties around here. You may want to try sending the samples back for a quality check prior to sending them to the customer. I believe the training session covered this with you. Ok? Otherwise it looks like you’re doing well. Thanks Susan, I appreciate it.

Tips on Giving Feedback

Sensitivity to

Feedback

1. Name and role

2. How you’re doing today –

scale of 1 to 10 and why

3. Share anything else that

you would like us to know

Share with your neighbour something you have learned or remembered that is helpful.

International Educated Professionals:

- Don't be defensive

- Be adaptable and open to change – what does this mean to you?

- Learn about managerial styles in Canada

- Be aware of sender’s nonverbal messages

- Be aware of your nonverbal messages – make eye contact

- Check that you understand by:

Summarizing what was said

Ask questions to clarify

Asking for definitions

- Explain your reasons for doing a task a specific way

- Check back with you "buddy" to see if your interpretation

of the feedback is accurate

Managers, Supervisor, Team Leaders:

- Start at the same point as you usually would.

a. If you notice that the employee is not reacting, then this could mean that he or she is less sensitive to feedback. Try stating the situation more strongly.

b. If you notice that the employee is reacting strongly, you may want to try giving feedback less strongly next time.

Do you value “saving face”?

Some cultures are more direct. Evaluations are short and succinct, even when negative.

Honesty and openness are valued.

Other cultures are more indirect. Bad news may not be given directly. It may be given through a different person. Saving face is very important.

Where you do fit on the spectrum?

Direct ……………………………………………………. Indirect

Where do you think Canadians in general fit on the spectrum?

Direct ……………………………………………………. Indirect