POWERFUL STORIES OF PEOPLE WHO FOUND THEIR VOICE AT WORK

Challenging a Corporate Myth (p.105-106)

"In the corporate world, there is often a division between employees who directly generate revenue and those who don't. The latter are often referred to as 'overhead' or worse, 'burden' and often it feels like this group are second-class citizens. This kind of stereotyping can be damaging to people's ability to work together and undermines respect for the unique contribution each person makes in his or her own way."
Shona Welsh [1]

Colleen is a woman with a mission.
A corporate communications specialist, Colleen and I worked together on an initiative designed to take the pulse of a rapidly growing company. The senior leader in Canada wanted to know if newcomers were buying into the company's family culture. Was everyone aware of efforts to capture how they accomplished their jobs and shared best practices? Had their managers adequately explained career advancement opportunities? Investigating these questions, we learned that as the company grew, the division between sales and the rest of the organization was proving an impediment to innovation and collaboration. Administrative staff and employees in the company's manufacturing and technical facilities felt their work was undervalued. Rewards and recognition flowed to the sales staff, who in turn were often critical of the work habits and outlook of other employees.

To address these misunderstandings, Colleen sought an expanded role for internal communications. I collaborated with her on the collection of stories from a good cross-section of field offices and departments. We were aiming for stories that answered the CEO's questions and illustrated how ordinary people solved the challenges they faced. What we found were a range of creative solutions delivered with integrity.

Sharing stories of their successes put each of the interviewees in a positive light and reinforced support for the company's values. It became glaringly apparent to us that most of the accolades and company perks went to those working directly on sales accounts with major corporate clients. Colleen set out to champion the cause of each and every department by publishing the stories we had collected and researching others on her own. These were heart-warming tales of getting it right for the customer, collaborating to realize organizational goals, and contributing to the communities where they work. Colleen's articles gave people a voice.

Month by month, Colleen has published these stories in the company's newsletter. Readers cannot help but observe that employees in accounting, human resources and the manufacturing plant all perform crucial work on behalf of customers. As a result of our fact-finding mission, senior leadership realized that attendance at regional gatherings and opportunities for training and development needed to be extended to the whole organization.

The newsletter continues to provide a window into daily life in every aspect of the company, and to create support and respect for each position and department. With rapid growth in the company's workforce, this kind of bonding keeps a dispersed and diverse group of people working together as a family. Stories remind people about the values they share when it comes to their families and community, values they carry over into their work for the company. Colleen's newsletter is a more sophisticated publication than when she started, but its heart is still in the same place proving that stories can and do create an understanding not easily found through other means.