Image by: Christopher Schwartz
By Giovanni Fields
No one likes a brown-nose, but the problem is they can be extremely convenient–from fetching you a cup of coffee, to filing those reports you’ve been slacking on, to dealing with those tiring phone calls you’ve been dismissing. Rudolph the brown nose reindeer to the rescue!
But the problem is it’s gotten to the point where your underlings are so jealous of Rudolph that you can start to feel the animosity weigh down on you like a shower of anvils. That feeling can be intense, and can have a very detrimental effect on the workplace, distracting other co-workers from focusing on their tasks.
But how does one deal with such an issue without sending Rudolph home with his tail between his legs? That’s simple–what you do is you find more brown-nosers to even the score, so many in fact that after a while you start to resemble the human centipede. Okay, sorry for that disturbing image, I deeply apologize. Before I digress too far, let me go ahead and share the few methods I concocted that will show you how to create a more inclusive environment that will encourage a more diverse and genuine atmosphere.
#1) Set an Example
A lot of responsibility comes along with being in charge, and yes that includes setting an example and becoming a role model. Now I’m pretty sure you don’t need some random writer telling you how to perform your job, but in order to foster inclusion in your workplace it’s a must that you fully understand both diversity and inclusion. When you hear diversity you might strictly think that deals with ethnicity and race, but it also accounts for things like military status, gender, sexual orientation and age.
Being open to different perspectives from the norm and realizing that everybody’s story is important is the epitome of what inclusion is all about. You can be a role model by valuing every persons opinion and making them feel comfortable about sticking their neck out and trying to better your company–regardless of there age, skin color or sexual orientation.
It would be your duty as manager to recognize that your actions have a strong effect on the workplace experiences of all employees, including individuals with disabilities. Your behavior toward individuals with, say for instance disabilities, will influence the behaviors of your other co workers toward those with said disabilities. You know what this means, right? Be accommodating and nice (to a reasonable extent) and it may rub off on the rest of the employees.
#2) Promote Inclusiveness
Engage with those requesting accommodations, as managerial respect is a key predictor of workplace productivity. If you’ve got somebody who’s having trouble getting the job done the way it needs to be done, not only will the person you’re helping gain respect, but so will the entire workplace–therefore exerting a more approachable orbit and having a contagious effect of inclusion.
There are ways you can even promote inclusiveness without being blatantly obvious such as gathering your team to centralize a funding model for covering different costs that may be associated with disability related accommodations, advertising job positions on media and boards that expresses the value for persons with special circumstances (i.e. disability)
When employees who symbolize diversity interact with supervisors and colleagues, it is imperative to treat them courteously and equitably. Therefore you should take action to train or mentor any other supervisors, mentors, or colleagues in favorable positions to address reasonable behaviors and attitudes for communicating with an inclusive culture.
These days, customers need to hire talented, diverse candidates to compete with limited resources, narrowing profit margins, and revamped attention to the bottom line while supporting all of these valued workers. Yea, it’s a big job, think you’re up to the task?
#3) Communicate & Motivate
A key factor in creating an inclusive, decision making environment without conflict and discrimination is to acknowledge and respect all team members. Be flexible when it comes to the needs of your colleagues and promote cooperation and team-work. Executing these three crucial methods will all but ensure the integrity of the workplace is maintained, and therefore, lessening the chances of breeding a brown-nose, and instead molding people that do tasks because they think it will benefit the company and not because they will receive some kind of advantage or gain.
By communicating these points in the workplace, your colleagues will grow cognizant of what it takes to operate a successful business, and therefore will make your environment that much more inclusive. Amazing, right?
Another useful little method you can use to ensure your employees are acting inclusively is to consider incorporating this type of behavior in performance evaluations to motivate colleagues to think about their own behavior in regards to this matter. Cultural events within the company as well as equitable treatment of diverse coworkers will certainly suffice as criteria.
Are you successfully running an inclusive organization completely free of brown-nosers? Tell us the advantages that come along with having people on staff who would rather work to achieve their goals than kiss ass!