Post on 06-May-2015
description
7 Secrets to Union-Management
Success with Teams
Partners in Progress ConferenceMichigan Labor Management Association,
East Lansing, MichiganApril 10, 2014
Your Presenters
Fenwick Koller Associates• Ron Koller• Rick Fenwick is on assignment with a
client
REVELN Consulting• Deb Nystrom
Context – Learning Outcomes
• Gain new & different perspectives on managing union-management differences
• Understand latest research into why union-management relationships fail
• Learn a PROVEN approach to improving union/management relationships
Why Union Management Relations?
Good
Great
Adapted from Huzczo & Hoyer (1994). Used with permission.
Starting with you
Table discussion:• How many labor leaders do we have?
– Managers? – Consultants? – Other?
• How does Huszczo’s theory compare to your reality?
• What are the most pressing union-management issues you’re facing?
Passing ships in the night …
Union Says Management Says
1.Management are dictators
2.We can’t even agree on basic things
3.Bad communication
1.Union ignores the business
2.They fight everything
3.Bad communication
High Performance Partnerships
Union-Mgmt
IneffectiveWork against each other’s
interests
Compliance & non-compliance
Destructive conflict
No Union
My way or the highway
Compliance
Little conflict
Union-Mgmt Effective
Working with each other
Ownership & Commitment
Constructive conflict
=> Resolution
Lower Performance
HigherPerformance
HighestPerformance
7 Secrets to Union-Mgt Success
1. P artnership (in practice … not theory)
2. R ecover from Inevitable Mistakes
3. O perate w/ Joint Guidelines/Boundaries
4. inVolve the frontline
5. E ngage in One Agenda
6. N avigate Conflict
7. N ever Check the Box! Go for
Sustainability
#1 – Hit Partnership Reset
Domination, Compliance Trust, Persistance
Left: Factory Worker, by Rob – Flickr cc, Right:, ABC news report
Roles
Rules
Relationships
Goals
Foundation
How most work groups spend time
But what happens when the going gets tough?
Roles
Relationships
Goals
Rules
What if there was a way to do it differently?
Roles
Goals
Relationships
Rules
#2 - Recover from Inevitable Mistakes
Source: Cohen-Rosenthal & Burton (1994)
10,000 Mistakes
Our greatest weakness lies in giving up.
The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time. - Thomas A. Edison
Thomas Edison around the time he invented the phonograph by Library & Archives Canada
Inventing
I never perfected an invention that I did not think about in terms of
the service it might give others...
I find out what the world needs, then I proceed to invent...
"Thomas Edison And Henry Ford" by Tom Raftery
#3 Operate w/ Boundaries/Guidelines
Freedom is actually
a bigger game than power.
Power is about
what you can control.
Freedom is about
what you
can unleash.
~ Harriet Rubin
"Freedom" by Dee Teal - Flickr cc
#4 –Victory involves Everyone
“Change is a threat when done to me,but an opportunity when done by me.”
Rosabeth Moss-Kanter
People Progress at Different Speeds
ENDINGS
NEUTRALZONE
NEW BEGINNINGS
People in an organization may be experiencing all phases at the same time:
Not yetbegun New BehaviorsTime...
Table Talk
1. What did you hear?
2. What are your reactions?
3. What questions of understanding do you have?
Spokesperson
#5 – Engage in One Agenda
Source: ABC News
Model by Stephen Denning,
the former Program Director of Knowledge Management at the World Bank
His original model, Organizational Tools for Changing Minds – is posted on “There’s No Such Thing as Leadership? Pull, Influence and ‘Open Space’ vs. Power” - REVELN.com
Vision, Storytelling, Persuasion, Conversations, Role-Modeling
Inspiration
Tradition Ritual Management Performance Systems
Information
Coercion Threats Fiat Punishments
Intimidation
NegotiationPlanning....
IncentivesControl Systems
Promotion
#7 – Never Check the Box, Go for Sustainability
Never Check the Box
þþþþ
Photos: Sponge, by rob.knight Flickr cc
_______
Beyond Resilience
Don’t wait to collaborate
2007
Platinum award
Wixom
1st NA plant since 1999 to win on a
platform of union & management cooperation
Don’t wait to collaborate
It closed the same week.
It was completely demolished in 2013.
7 Secrets Re-cap
1. Partnership reset
2. Recover from mistakes
3. Operate w/in B&Gs
4. Victory involves Everyone
5. Engage in One Agenda
6. Navigate conflict
7. Never Check the Box, Go for Sustainability
Social
Technical
Getting bothleadership teamson the same page
(Tops)
Getting theorg board
(Middles/Bottoms)
Human side(politics & conflict)
Work on behaviorvaries over time
A
B
C
7 Secrets Re-cap
1. Partnership reset
2. Recover from mistakes
3. Operate w/in B&Gs
4. Victory involves Everyone
5. Engage in One Agenda
6. Navigate conflict
7. Never Check the Box, Go for Sustainability
Social
Technical
Getting bothleadership teamson the same page
(Tops)
Getting theorg board
(Middles/Bottoms)
Human side(politics & conflict)
Work on behaviorvaries over time
A
B
C
7 Secrets Re-cap
1. Partnership reset
2. Recover from mistakes
3. Operate w/in B&Gs
4. inVolve the Frontline
5. Engage in One Agenda
6. Navigate conflict
7. Never Check the Box, Go for Sustainability
Social
Technical
Getting bothleadership teamson the same page
(Tops)
Getting theorg board
(Middles/Bottoms)
Human side(politics & conflict)
Work on behaviorvaries over time
A
B
C
Table Talk
1. What did you hear?
2. What are your reactions?
3. What questions of understanding do you have?
Spokesperson
What is Open Space Technology?
REVELN.com & KM Solutions Showcase™
H. H. Owen’s assumptions:• If the boss orders it, not
much will get done. • The best way to get
something done is to give it to those who have a passion for it.
Open Space TechnologyPrinciples:
1.Whoever comes are the right people.
2.Whatever happens is the only thing that could have.
3.Whenever it starts is the right time.
4.When it’s over, it’s over.
32
The Law of Two Feet
What challenged
you? What
inspired you?
What surprised
you?
33
Reflection &Wrap-Up
Photos & slides will be available via:• REVELN.com/Tools/• Visit Fenwick Koller
Associates: www.fenwickkoller.com/
Following Up
Email Presentation
C = Conversation
Follow through...
• Sign up at www.unionmanagementrelations.com with your email address and receive a free handout of the “ABC’s of the 7 Secrets.”
Appendix
Other Workshops Available
• Implementing change• Building commitment to change.• Using empathy in leadership to produce
high performance and high commitment.• Resolving conflicts in the workplace.• www.UnionManagementRelations.com• www.FenwickKoller.com• Reveln.com/Tools (adaptive change,
antifragile, Best of the Best newsletter)
Corporate leaders get antsy when dealing with the human side of change.
It is territory that most are painfully uncomfortable with, are unprepared for, or simply do not know how to navigate.
-- J. D. Duck, The Change Monster
Partnership
“Partnerships refer to agreements between competing actors who
deliberately choose to co-operate instead of maintaining adversarial
relations.”
Source: Harrisson, Roy & Haines III (2011).
It’s about Trust
“Often there is greater confusion within management and within
the union about what is the desired relationship than there
is between the parties.”
Source: Cohen-Rosenthal & Burton (1994)
3 Keys to Clear Boundaries
• Use a problem-solving mentality; address “real” concerns of workers and managers.
• Top management and union leaders commit to the new boundaries.
• Use of mediation techniques to build consensus to the boundaries.
Secret #3: Operate through Clear Boundaries and Guidelines
• Take the time to jointly set clear expectations and boundaries in a document that is jointly developed and focused at the right level of detail.
• 100% Commitment to boundaries equals Empowerment, direction, & consistency
And
High Performance!
Secret #3: Operate through Clear Boundaries and Guidelines
• Take the time to jointly set clear expectations and boundaries in a document that is jointly developed and focused at the right level of detail.
• 100% Commitment to boundaries equals Empowerment, direction & consistency
And
High Performance!
Secret #3: Operate through Clear Boundaries and Guidelines
• Take the time to jointly set clear expectations and boundaries in a document that is jointly developed and focused at the right level of detail.
• 100% Commitment to boundaries equals Empowerment, direction & consistency
And
High Performance!
Majority of Employees & Managers
Majority
Research supporting Secret # 4
Involvement Leads to Commitment
“Change is disturbing when it is done to us, exhilarating when it is done by us.”
Rosabeth Moss-Kanter
Keys to InVolve the frontline
• Union and management need to be sensitive to the majority of employees and their issues on a change.
• Leaders need to demonstrate joint support for change.
• Create readiness with others by describing the changes and the expected results from the worker’s point of view.
• Make results visible.
Secret #4: InVolve frontline supervisors/employees
• Management and union leaders have to involve managers and employees in decisions around the change.
• Union leaders need to be sensitive not to get too far ahead of the workforce.
• Poor planning results in resistance.
“The most successful cases of labor-management cooperation involve parties
who strive to reframe, to consider different perspectives. With reframing, the union-management partners have been able to escape their rutted, outmoded beliefs and
challenge lingering problems.”
Source:Cohen – Rosenthal (1995)
Secret #4: InVolve frontline supervisors/employees
Why Union-Management Relations?
Model of union-management relations
Source: Husczco & Hoyer, 1994
3 Levels
Roles Union Management
Set the direction
Bargaining Chair & President
Top manager & top HR
Coordinate the work
Union rep’s Middle managers
Perform the work
Workers Supervisors
3 Levels of Working Relationships
Secret #6:N avigate Conflict Constructively
• Use constructive confrontation• Caucus as needed to build agreements• Do not hold the process hostage
3 Keys to Constructive Confrontation
• There are times when each group needs to meet separately to build and maintain consensus.
• Focus on facts, not judgments• Do not hold the process hostage
Mediation example
• Use of breakout groups.• Testing for consensus.• Open communications to maintain
agreements.• Professional joint meetings even when in
disagreement.
If you think change is hard
• Change is hard
• Sustaining change is even harder
Research for Never Check the Box!
• A study prepared for Northeast Ohio that reviewed the literature on labor/management cooperation (2002), it stated that working cooperatively together for a period of 3 years promotes sustainability.
• The same report stated that practicing multiple characteristics of effective labor/management cooperation increased the probability of sustaining effective relationships.
The same report stated that practicing multiple characteristics of effective labor/management cooperation increased the probability of sustaining effective relationships.
Secret #7
Never Check the Box
þþþþ
Don’t wait to collaborate
In 2007, Wixom became the first NA plant since 1999 to win the Platinum award on a platform of union-management cooperation.
It closed the same week.
It was completely demolished in 2013.
Why Union-Management Relations?
• A recent Cornell study found effective union-management partnerships save on OT costs, staff turnover, communication & Improves bottom line performance.
• A NIST report attributed lower productivity in the construction industry to the growth of non-union firms (training).
• In a Maritz poll of 1,300 workers, 49% said union-management relationships were lukewarm or negative.
Common Point of View
Union Says Management Says
1.Management are dictators
2.We can’t even agree on basic things
3.Bad communication
1.Union ignores the business
2.They fight everything
3.Bad communication
Follow through...
• Sign up at www.unionmanagementrelations.com with your email address and receive a free handout of the “ABC’s of the 7 Secrets.”