By Phil Eastwood

I want you to think back to yesterday and then tell me how many red Ford Mustangs you saw driving around on the roads.

Your first response might, and probably should, be, “What an odd question to ask. What does that have to do with anything respectful workplaces?”

The question relates to an important analogy regarding respectful workplaces. Sometimes we get so accustomed to a workplace, that even a disrespectful one will feel normal after a while. We only realize this when we go to a different environment and notice how everyone treats each other and the positive, encouraging language used.

so, back to the analogy.

The point of my initial question is that unless you are specifically looking for red Ford Mustangs, you generally won’t see them. They are just other cars in a sea of traffic—faceless vehicles moving from Point A to Point B as they have ever since Henry Ford first commercialized his ‘iron horse.’

The point is, if I ask you to count the number of red Ford Mustangs that you see tomorrow, you will definitely see them—not everywhere I grant you since they are not sold in the same numbers as other vehicles, but you will see them with surprising regularity. In fact, I can assure you that you will see so many of them that you might think were practically blind before doing this exercise.

Let’s go back to your workplace for a moment and let’s look for red Ford Mustangs there; however, let’s replace the words red Ford Mustang with the words “disrespectful behaviour.”   You see, what I’m asking you to do is to look at your workplace with a specific lens  to see things that have been there all along.  However, as with red cars, they are things that unless you are searching for them specifically are most likely lost in the “traffic” of daily work life—because they’ve been there all along.

Just like the red Ford Mustangs.

At each of my Respectful Workplace training workshops, I use this analogy. It works extremely well. People get it. Following one of the energy breaks in a day of training in Vancouver recently, a participant approached me to excitedly share that she had seen three red Ford Mustangs in the 15 minutes that she had been gone. She continued by saying that she had had no idea how many there were on the roads until today.

Obviously, when you are actually looking at your own workplace, the last thing that I want you to see is lots of red Ford Mustangs since that would indicate that there are things to be concerned about. I can almost guarantee you will see one or two.

And what should you do when you do see those red Ford Mustangs?

In some respects, it depends on your role in your organization, but regardless of what your job is or the position you hold within your workplace, having spotted those red Ford Mustangs and now realizing that there are things that should be done—there are many things you can do as an individual to make significant differences for you and those around you.

For those, we use another analogy: Starfish!

More about that next time.

Phil Eastwood is presenting the Bullying vs. Conflict in the Workplace webinar on March 14. For more information on this and other professional development opportunities, please refer to BC HRMA’s online calendar.

Phil Eastwood brings with him over 33 years as a police officer in London and British Columbia. He spent his career dealing with people in crisis and has learned the power that professional and respectful communication can have in people’s lives. Fiore Group Training is focused on “Creating Incredibly Safer Workplaces” by showing leaders, managers, supervisors and employees of organizations everywhere that by fine-tuning how people communicate with each other – remarkable changes are possible! Phil is a highly motivational and energetic trainer whose unique and personal style constantly educate and inspire his audiences.