Access Respect and Learn to Innovate

Posted on May 14, 2012 by Erica Pinsky

Like most of us, I assumed that the ability to be innovative what somewhat innate, like creativity.  If we’re left brain we’re creative and innovative, if we’re right brain we’re not.

It seems I was wrong, affirming that old expression about assumptions and how they make a you know what of you and me.  A new book from authors Jeff Dyner, Hal Gregersen and Clayton M. Christesen, published by Harvard Business Press, claims that innovation relies on five skills: skills that can be learned by anyone interested in fostering innovative thinking and problem solving.

The Innovator’s DNA: Mastering the Five Skills of Disruptive Innovators is based on the authors’ research on some of the world’s most innovative companies.  They discovered five skills common to all innovative leaders: questioning, observing, networking, experimenting and associating.

At the foundation of developing an innovative mindset is the requirement to move away from a fear based, “support the status quo” mindset, to an attitude of curiosity, openness and engagement.

Innovative leaders ask challenging questions.  They watch the behaviour of customers, suppliers and competitors to identify new ways of doing things.  Rather than network with other that “look like them”, they embrace the true wealth offered by diversity. They seek opportunities to talk to people with different life experiences and perspectives.  They try new things, construct interactive experiences and build prototypes to gain new insights.  They look for associations within unrelated fields  to discover unexpected connection  in places one might not expect to find  them.

The authors call these skills  discovery skills.  Their research shows that CEO’s in innovative companies spend 50% more of their personal time engaged in discovery skills than do CEO’s in less innovative companies.

What is most interesting to me is that I talk about curiosity being the foundation of a respectful attitude.  In Road to Respect: Path to Profit, I argue that it is this attitude that allow for creativity and innovation because of the presence of relationship based leadership across both functional hierarchical power  lines, combined with an interest in fostering constructive conflict – where different or divergent opinions can be openly expressed and discussed.

So next time you have a challenging problem to solve, adopt a respectful attitude characterized by the five discovery skills described above.  Not only will you end up with an unexpected and innovative solution, you’ll reap the added bonus of building trust and developing relationship in the process.

 

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Are You in a Toxic Relationship?

Posted on April 30, 2012 by Erica Pinsky

On April 26th I spoke at the BC Human Resources convention in Vancouver.  During my presentation I talked about the fact that in spite of my overwhelming interest in supporting my clients to be proactive and preventative,  the main focus of my work is “fixing” relationships that have gone off the rails,  relationships that have become unhealthy, have become toxic for the individuals involved.

In most cases is it disrespectful, power based behaviour that causes these relationships to become toxic.

There are two critical steps in preventing  or dealing with toxic relationships: one is to recognize them, the second is to take effective action to deal with them.

Would you recognize potentially toxic behaviours?

In my experience many of us don’t.   This creates a huge liability for us, both in our workplaces and in our personal lives.

To support you to take action before a relationship you are involved in becomes toxic, here’s a list of “red flag” behaviours.

Comments, or actions that have the effect of undermining your self-confidence or    sense    of self.

Insulting, degrading or humiliating comments, including those disguised as jokes, particularly in front of others.

Frequent fits of anger, temper tantrums, emotion such as yelling, shouting, crying.

Actions that have the effect of excluding or isolating you from others.

Refusing to speak to you, giving you the “silent treatment”, being condescending or patronizing.

Intruding on your personal privacy.

Any type of physical violence or threat of physical violence.

Blaming you without justification, or taking credit for your work or accomplishments.

Being overly controlling or dominant, cutting you off, interrupting you, refusing to listen to you.

Withholding information you need to be successful.

Just like at the beach, the red flag means potential danger.   What is critically important is to recognize the red flags so that you can be proactive and take steps to protect yourself from any potential danger to your psychological well-being.

Next week’s post will focus on  what those steps might look like.

Posted in Equallity, Human Rights, Respect, workplace bullying, workplace harassment, workplace respect | Leave a comment

Income and Ethics – An Inverse Relationship?

Posted on April 23, 2012 by Erica Pinsky

For most people 2011 was not a very good year, at least in terms of their finances.  Plunging share prices and double digit declines in the markets have resulted in many aging baby boomers postponing plans for retirement.  It has been  dismal and challenging for Gen Y’s looking to enter the job market.  The hopes of paying off ever higher student loans are fading rapidly for many.

Income inequality, the raison d”etre of the Occupy movement, is something we are hearing more and more about these days.   In both the US and Canada, the gap between the rich and everyone else continues to widen.

There is lots of data coming out of the US to support what President Obama calls  “the defining issue of our time ”  While incomes for the majority of US workers have  barely moved in the last 30 years, the incomes of those in the  top 1% have almost tripled in that same time period.  Recent  economic data confirms that   93% of all the benefit of the economic recovery in the US has gone to the top 1% . http://tinyurl.com/6rnxxhp

A recent investigation from Business in Vancouver should alert Canadians, in particular those of us living in BC, to the fact that the growing disparity between rich and poor is not confined to those living below the 49th parallel. BIV found that 80 corporate executives and directors collectively cashed out more than $112 million in personal profit through  share trades  made by BC public company insiders in the last six months of 2011.  (Business in Vancouver, Issue 1162).  The article went on to state that despite ongoing market fluctuations this trend is likely to continue, with company executives gaining even greater profit simply by exercising their stock options.

Because I have blogged about the Occupy movement I was recently contacted by someone  that thought I might be interested in some data suggesting that it is  not just money that distinguishes the wealthy from the not so wealthy.

It seems that there is an ethical gap as well. Except in this case the ratio is reversed.  Higher  income appears to encourage  less  ethical behaviour.

I spend a lot of time speaking and writing about the dynamic of power. Money is a critically important source of power. Apparently that old saying about the relationship between power and corruption is just as relevant today as it was 500 years ago.  A rather depressing statement on the evolution, or lack thereof, of our species, particularly in light of the fact that we celebrated the 30th anniversary of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms earlier this month – a document intended to promote the values of tolerance, fairness, justice and mutual respect.

The facts highlighted in this graphic (link below) confirm that when it comes to economic fairness and justice, we are trending in the wrong direction.

Here’s the thing though.  Money is only one source of power.  Power  of knowledge, and power of  association are also important sources of power. Both are potentially much easier for most of us to access.

If this alarming trend in income inequity is going to be stemmed, we have to come together, inform each other and use our collective power to speak up about it.  I hope you will choose to share this information about the relationship between ethics and income  http://tinyurl.com/82wkxuu with others you think might find it of interest.

 

 

 

 

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Spread the Love on Pink Shirt Day

Posted on February 29, 2012 by Erica Pinsky

Today is Pink Shirt Day designated to raising awareness about bullying – a growing epidemic in our society.

As I was driving back to the office after dropping my daughter at school, I heard a story on the radio about an Arizona Senator who has proposed a new law which would allow parents access to the text messages of their minor children.  Given the growing prevalence of  cyber- bullying, particularly among young people, the interest is  to ensure parents know if their kids are being targeted, or are targeting others.

My first thought was that if parents could read their kids texts, kids would probably stop texting.

I get that parents want to keep their kids safe.  I have a 15 year old daughter.  I am very concerned about her safety.  However, I am confident that  if my daughter was being bullied, or was bullying others, I would know.  And I wouldn’t need to read her texts to find out.  I would know because of the dynamics  of our relationship.  I would know because  she would tell me. I know that because she has told me, both when she was directly involved, and when she had friends that were affected.

My relationship with my daughter is and has always been my number one priority.  I made it my business to be around, to be available, to ensure I know her, her friends and her friend’s parents.   Did that mean that my social life was affected?  You bet.  I basically had no social life because I made the choice to stay home with my daughter in the evenings, to ski, skate, swim, whatever with her until she was no longer interested in hanging out with me.

Did that mean my business has been affected?  Absolutely.  I chose not to travel much so that I could be here with her.  There is no doubt that I could have achieved greater financial success had I chosen to put business first.  I didn’t because financial success has never been that important to me.  It was far more important to me to ensure that I raised a healthy, happy, well-adjusted child.

I am not trying to set myself up as the world’s greatest parent.  However, I deal with bullies all the time in my work.   I have yet to meet one that is not, at their core, insecure, angry, in pain, and/or emotionally damaged.  Those behaviors almost always relate to a lack of love; genuine, unconditional, I’ve got your back love.

Bullying is a growing epidemic.  There is no doubt in my mind that raising kids in a society that places material wealth and what we look like above all else, one where greed, selfishness, envy , and  divisiveness reign, is the reason for it.

Pink is the colour of love.  What our kids need, what we all need is more love; love that is not expressed by the material possessions we get for each other, but through a willingness to spend quality time with each other,  to demonstrate genuine compassion, respect  and kindness to each other.

Passing a law allowing parents to access kids personal messages is a power based response to a power based behaviour.  Bullying is all about power.  Those that have power use it in a disrespectful and destructive manner to target those they perceive to have less power.  This approach will not stop bullying.  If anything it will just cause it to become more prevalent and covert than it already is.

To combat this problem requires a paradigm shift.  We need to use our power to empower others.   We need to use our power to speak up about the moral vacuum that characterizes contemporary society.    We need to use our power to demonstrate and model the behaviors we want our kids to emulate – love, compassion, respect, kindness, and generosity.  We need to use our power to create healthy, caring, vibrant relationships, families and communities.

So please, don’t just wear pink and think you are doing your part.  Make a choice to be pink. Make love your fallback position. Make love your conditioned response.

I want to make love, rather than bullying, a growing epidemic.   Care to join me?

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The Cost of Love

Posted on February 14, 2012 by Erica Pinsky

Have you heard the old expression the best things in life are free?

These days love, which certainly makes the list for me, seems to come with a hefty price tag.  Valentine’s Day, a day to celebrate those we love in our lives, seems now to be another opportunity to demonstrate our love for spending money.   Flowers, chocolates, jewellery, gift baskets, treats to the spa must all be procured by men so that the women in their lives will know that they love them.

Apparently, according to everything I have been hearing lately, if women like the gifts they receive, they will let their men know they love them by having sex with them.  There is a price to be paid for physical love on Valentine’s Day.    In countless ads I have seen and heard,   the covert and sometimes rather overt message is either no  gift, no sex or better gift, better sex.

Sorry, but this sounds an awful lot like prostitution to me.  Last time I checked, prostitution had very little to do with love.  It is a commercial exchange.

It’s time for a wakeup call here folks.   First of all, love and sex are not the same thing.  Second of all, while sex can be bought, love cannot.  End of story.

Love, when it is genuine, is freely given.  It supports us, sustains us, inspires us, empowers us.  We all have the ability to be loving.  It is not something we have to learn to do.  We simply have to make a choice to open our hearts; to be vulnerable, forgiving and generous.   Not generous with our money, but with our time, our patience, our compassion, and our energy.

We need a whole lot more love in this world.   The energetic properties of love are strong and healing.  Most of us would benefit if we learned to really  love ourselves, as well as those with whom we share this physical plane.  Love should be our fallback position.  At the end of the day, love is everything.

So this Valentine’s Day, why not make a choice to show those you love that you love them by making a comitment to be truly loving towards them.  And while you’re at it, why not create an intention to be loving, compassionate and kind today and every day.

We’ll all be the richer for it.

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“Rotten” Apples – The Human Cost of IProducts

Posted on February 7, 2012 by Erica Pinsky

I got an IPad 2 right before the winter break.   Do I love it?  I did, until this past Friday night, when I saw the latest segment of  Real Time with Bill Maher on HBO.  Bill’s first guest was Mike Daisey, currently starring in a one man off  Broadway show called The Agony and  the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs.

Mr. Daisey, a self-described Machead, shared some very disturbing information about the manufacturing of the Apple products that so many of us can’t live without.  While many of us assume that the manufacturing process is automated, the fact is that people are making these products by hand.  And they are dying, literally, as a result.

My IPad,  along with devices make by  Nokia and Hewlett-Packard, was made at Foxconn, a company that employs more than a million people in China.  To prepare for his show,  Mike Daisey travelled to Shenzen,  where  430,000 employees  work for Foxconn making IPads and IPhones.

Mr. Daisy said that he was shocked by what he saw.  He saw employees as young as 12 and 13, working all day polishing glass.  He saw employees working on massive productions lines, doing the same task over and over again, living in 12 by 12 cement  dormitories , with 15 beds in each one, stacked like boxes one on top of the other.

The workers live in dormitories because although the shifts are supposed to be 8 hours long, in fact the standard shift is 12 hours and more often extended to 14 or 16 hours, especially when a new product is coming out.  While Mr. Daisey was there an employee died after working 34 hours straight.

He stood in a room with 10, 000 workers and heard not a sound.  They are not allowed to speak or to take breaks.   They are filmed to ensure they are working quickly enough.  They earn less than $1.00 an hour.  Their wages were recently raised from $250.00 a month to $298.00 a month.

Outside the factory he saw people whose hands were destroyed because of the repetitive nature of the work they are performing.  He spoke to workers who told him they used “Hexane” to clean the IPhones.  Foxconn uses Hexane because it dries faster than other products so it speeds up production.  It is also a neuro- toxin, which causes uncontrollable shaking in the hands of employees who use it long enough.

He saw nets all around the buildings.  He learned that the reason for the nets was that in 2010, increasing numbers of Foxconn employees  committed suicide by jumping off the roof.   Rather than address the working conditions, Foxconn responded by putting nets around the building.

The reason that none of this could happen here is because we have labor laws that outline minimum working conditions.  Bill Maher asked Ms. Daisey about China’s labour laws or lack thereof.  I was surprised to learn that China’s laws mirror our own.  The problem, according to Mr. Daisey,  is that they are not enforced, making  it a perfect place for companies like Apple to set up shop.   They get an unlimited supply of cheap labour.  At Foxconn, when employees are injured and can no longer work, they are fired.

Replacements are easy to come by.  “What I was really shocked by was institutionalized dehumanization,” Mr. Daisy says. “The systems that are put in place are working and the objective of them working is to work people, basically, to death.” http://tinyurl.com/6reh79g

Is it possible Steve Jobs, and current CEO Tim Cook don’t know what is going on?  Not according to Mr. Daisey, given Steve Jobs micro-management and the fact that it was Mr. Cook that set all this up in his former position with Apple.

Apple is the most profitable company in the world, raking in over 100 billion at last count.  Their market cap hit $400 billion this week and their profits have risen over 400% in the last 5 years.  Can they really make the argument that they can’t afford to pay higher manufacturing fees?  Can they really expect us to believe that if we want their workers to be treated decently the only option is  for us  to be prepared to pay a lot more for the devices we are clamoring for?

Well, they can make the argument but it is simply a load of crap.  Apple can easily ensure that those Chinese employees are treated decently and still make huge profits.  But like scores of other Western companies only interested in making more and more  money, they won’t, particularly when people are lining up all night to get their devices.

But they might if people stopped lining up and started speaking up.   They might if enough people learned the truth about the human cost of their beloved devices and demanded changes be made.

So next time you pick up your IPhone, IPad or IPod,  why not use it to forward some information about this human tragedy  to another Apple user.

We live in a global community.  We are all responsible for what takes place in it. We should be raising the bar for employees, regardless of where they live and work.  We should be demanding that our labor standards become the norm everywhere.

Otherwise we risk losing them altogether.  If you doubt that, read about the Caterpillar plant in London, Ontario that asked it’s unionized employees to take a 50% pay cut, and then closed the factory when they refused. http://tinyurl.com/7gqt2tv

Caterpillar plans to relocate.  Care to take a guess where?

 

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Dying for Dishonour – The Shafia Murders

Posted on January 30, 2012 by Erica Pinsky

Yesterday Canadian courts handed down a guilty verdict in the trail ofMohammad Shafia, his  wife Tooba Yahya and their son Hamed for the murder of 4 female family members.    Zainab, 19, Sahar, 17, and Geeti Shafia, 13, and Rona Mohammad Amir, 50,  Mohammad’s first wife in his polygamous marriage were all found dead in a Nissan that had been pushed into the Rideau canal.

Like Aqsa Parvez, another young  Muslim woman killed by her father and brother in Toronto  who I blogged  in June 2010, Zainab, Sahar and Geeti were killed because their father deemed that their actions were bringing dishonour to their family.   The girl’s interest in integrating into their new country by wearing Western clothes, listening to Western music and dating was cause enough for their father to consider them “whores”.   In Afganistan, where Mohammad grew up, whores like his daughters deserve to die.  So he killed them.

Leaders in Canada’s Islamic community are reacting to the verdict by applauding the outcome but characterizing the crime as one of domestic violence rather than honour killings.  As reported by CBC news,   Samira Kanji, president of the Noor Cultural Centre in Toronto, warned on Monday against “focusing unduly” on the purported honour-killing motive.  http://tinyurl.com/6tacyf3

While I can certainly appreciate why Ms. Kanji might want to downplay the “honour killing” aspect of the murders,  I must respectfully suggest that taking that kind of approach will simply lead to the killing of more women and girls.

The evidence that emerged in the trial was that the girl’s father repeatedly referred to them as “shameless” and “honourless”.  This was not a case of domestic violence.  This was premeditated murder,  the rationale for which, as  Justice  Maranger  stated in his decision  was  “that the four completely innocent victims offended your twisted notion of honour, a notion of honour that is founded upon the domination and control of women, a sick notion of honour that has absolutely no place in any civilized society.” http://tinyurl.com/8xygbog

The United Nations Population Fund estimates that over 5,000 women and girls are murdered each year by members of their own families for similar crimes.  Once confined to remote and isolated countries like Afganistan,  the Shafia family’s country of origin, these crimes are now spreading across the globe and their numbers are climbing rapidly. Recent research by the Iranian and Kurdish Women’s Rights Organization,  showed that police in the United Kingdom recorded almost 3000 such honour attacks in 2010. Last month Pakistan’s Human Rights Commission reported that in the first nine months of 2011, 675 women and girls were killed in honour slayings.  http://tinyurl.com/7cxzj8c

As James Baldwin once wrote “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.”   The verdict in the Shafia case has sent a strong signal, but until leaders within the Muslim community are prepared to face up to the reality of what is happening to women and girls within their communities, these killings will continue.

The fact is that for millions of young Muslim women their choice is subjugation or death.  As this case and countless others so clearly demonstrate, the fact that they live in countries like Canada that have human rights laws is irrelevant.   Until the communities themselves truly embrace such laws, nothing will change.

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Sarah Burke – A Legacy to Live Up To

Posted on January 20, 2012 by Erica Pinsky

Today the world mourns the untimely death of freestyle skier Sarah Burke, who died 9 days after a fall during a training run in Utah.

It is a tragedy any time an individual, like Ms. Burke, dies in the prime of life.  In this case, her death is even more tragic because of who she was, how she lived her life: the loss of her continued contribution both to the world of sport and the promotion of gender equality.

Sarah Burke wanted her sport, superpipe free style skiing, to become an Olympic sport.  She wanted women to be able to compete on a level playing field with men.  And while she talked about what she wanted to see happen, she made it happen by choosing to truly walk her talk.  She followed her gut, and her heart.  As a teenager, she wanted to ski and complete but there were no competitions for women.  So she joined the guys,  skiing with them, demonstrating that women could compete with them.

She continued to make her case  until women were invited to join the ESPN-sponsored action sports showcase.   She proved her point by winning 4 gold medals at the X games, and being the first woman to land a number of tricks including a 720, a 900 and a three revolution trick called a 1080.   She advocated tireless to get her sport recognized as an Olympic sport for the upcoming winter games in 2014 in Sochi.

Scores of young women will be empowered because of the choices she made.  She lived her passion and refused to allow either injuries or the status quo to define or limit her.  Instead she committed herself to achieving her vision, and by doing so has inspired and opened the door for countless other young women, who can look to her and say Yes I Can.

May her example, passion and commitment continue to live on and inspire all of us – to step into our power, challenge the status quo, and refuse to let fear imprison us or prevent us from discovering and living our purpose.

 

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Join the Movement of People For Good

Posted on January 19, 2012 by Erica Pinsky

It’s a New Year.  In spite of the fact that according to the Mayan calendar it is also going to be our last, I am feeling very optimistic about 2012.

One reason for my optimism is the fact that Values.com http://www.values.com, The Foundation for A Better Life,  an organization that I blogged about last year has not only survived, but is thriving.   It now has the economic clout to advertise in multiple media streams to promote the importance of values in making a positive difference in people’s lives and communities.

During the holiday season I passed a billboard that caught my eye because, rather than yet another ad for some product we all just have to run out and buy, it had a simple slogan about doing good.  PeopleforGood.ca, http://www.peopleforgood.ca/  like Values.com, is interested in making the world a better place.  They don’t want us to buy anything.  They just want us to do good: to be generous, compassionate, respectful and kind, precisely what I am dedicated to create in our workplaces.

Apparently, there are some very compelling reasons for us to consider joining this movement.  PeopleForGood cites research which establishes that when you do something nice for someone, you get a natural high that can last for weeks even months.

Can it be possible that, in spite of all the evidence to the contrary that we see in contemporary society, Anne Frank was right when she wrote

“In spite of everything, I still believe people are good at heart.”

Last week I attended a meeting of the  International Coaching Federation.  As we went through the obligatory table partner introductions, I learned that the woman next to me spends her time coaching unhappy C suite leaders.

Given the fact that salaries for Canadian CEO’s rose by 27% last year, while remaining frozen for the rest of us, you might be wondering what these folks have to be unhappy about.  They have power and privilege. They have money and lots of it. They can buy all the latest stuff, go on great holidays, live in a huge house with a big staff and lot of cars.   In short they can live the American dream, a vision which has been held up for years as that which we should all be aspiring to because, let’s face it, money is the most important thing in life.  You know that old expression, Money can buy happiness.

Oops.  I think I got that wrong.  That old expression is that money CAN’T buy happiness, which is why the woman I met last week has a thriving coaching practice working with all these rich executives.  As she explained it,  in spite of the fact that they have all the “stuff” that should make them happy, all of them are really unhappy and have no idea why.

I do hope that in some sense the Mayan’s were right.  I hope that 2012 will be the last year we continue on the path to bigger, better, faster, the path to mass consumption and disconnection which is destroying our planet and all of us that live on it.

I’m hoping that 2012 will be the year that sees the seeds that were sown in the Occupy movement of last fall start to bloom.  I’m hopeful that 2012 will be the year when those of us, and I absolutely believe we are in the majority, that embrace ethical values will reach that critical tipping point that Malcolm Gladwell talks about: the point at which the balance of power will shift to ensure that respect for people and planet becomes  the norm rather than the exception in our world.

What about you?  Care to join us at PeopleforGood?  Set an intention today, and every day, to do something nice for someone.  You’ll enjoy that natural high and contribute  to a global  shift in our cosmic energy.

 

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The RCMP – Zero Tolerance for Respect

Posted on November 16, 2011 by Erica Pinsky

On November 7th the CBC broke the story that Catherine Galliford, for years the public face of the RCMP as its official spokesperson s in B.C, had filed a complaint of sexual harassment.  The following day I appeared as a guest on CBC radio’s BC Almanac with Mark Forsythe to discuss this latest allegation of sex harassment within the RCMP. (http://tinyurl.com/7vw5xab)

Ms. Galliford’s allegation did not remain the latest allegation for long.  After her story broke, another former female Mountie, Krista Carle, spoke up about the harassment she had experienced during the course of her 20 year career.  She
and Ms. Galliford were fellow graduates in the class of 1991. Now they are both
on medical leaves, both  diagnosed with  post-traumatic stress disorder.  Ms. Galliford put up with the abuse until 2007.  Ms. Carle lasted 2 years longer,
until 2009.

Curious as to how the RCMP responded to these  serious and damaging allegations? ”The RCMP is committed to providing all its employees a work environment free of harassment, discrimination and conflict, where all employees are treated with respect and dignity. While we cannot speak to specific allegations, we continue to encourage our members to report incidents of harassment when they occur so they can be investigated immediately.”

Isn’t it curious then, that Ms. Carle says that when she tried to report the
harassment she was subjected to, rather than investigate, management tried to
cover up the complaint.  Ms. Galliford had a similar experience.  Ms. Carle
alleges that she knows a number of other women that have been harassed on the
force.

I take it she is referring to women who have not yet come forward.  The harsh reality of sex harassment as a condition of employment for women within the RCMP was established years ago with the case of Nancy Sulz, who received the highest monetary amount ever awarded in BC Supreme Court, just under a million dollars, to compensate for the “serious psychological harm” which she suffered
from her commanding officer and two of his  subordinates while working as an RCMP officer.

And yet In every article that has appeared since the Galliford story broke, we continue to read about the fact that the RCMP, like all other Federal  Government agencies, has a “zero tolerance” policy with respect to harassment.

Isn’t is also curious then, that In spite of the zero-tolerance policy and  a public commitment to providing a harassment free work environment,   Ms. Sulz’s
experience mirrors that of her  colleagues, Ms. Carle and Ms. Galliford.   SHe
tried to get someone to investigate her complaint.  In point of fact she tried 48 times.   When the RCMP finally did investigate, none  of her allegations were substantiated.

One has to wonder though, how the BC Supreme Court, hearing the same  evidence, came to such  a startlingly different conclusion. The Court found that she had been so damaged by the harassment   she might never be able to work again.

The other interesting fact is that Ms. Sulz’s case was decided in 2006, when both
Ms. Galliford and Ms. Carle were still working.  Yet, despite their zero-tolerance policy, and the clear confirmation that this policy had been breached, the RCMP continued to do business as usual, which within the RCMP means a disrespectful, command and control style of leadership combined with sexual harassment for those members of the force who happened to be female.

Here’s the thing about a zero-tolerance policy.  It means nothing unless those in
positions of power decide to enforce it.

It is beyond evident that those in positions of power within the RCMP have little or not interest in doing so.  If they did, they would have already done so.  It’s not like they don’t know what is going on.  Since the Sulz decision, everybody  has known.

The reality is that the RCMP, like every other federally regulated employer, was
required to hire women because of employment equity legislation.   A change was “forced” upon the force, and I have no doubt that those at the top would prefer things the way they were, when men were men and women were nowhere to be seen within the ranks of the RCMP.

And that is the beauty of thes hollow, politically correct policies, statements and  posturing.   Doing nothing and allowing ongoing harassment will make sure there soon won’t be any women working as RCMP officers.

In an interview after her award, Ms. Sulz stated that she would not want her daughter to be a police officer.  The latest allegations will work to ensure  that scores of other young women  will make a similar decision not to  choose a
career in the RCMP.

As a result there will be no more of these high profile sexual harassment  complaints.  The RCMP will proudly say that it’s zero tolerance policy is working.

I believe that the RCMP has a zero tolerance policy. But it is not zero tolerance
for harassment.  It is zero tolerance for equality. Zero tolerance for fairness.
And zero tolerance for respect.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Posted in Diversity, Equallity, Human Rights, Respect, workplace bullying, workplace discrimination, workplace harassment, workplace respect | Leave a comment