“You might never fail on the scale I did,” Rowling told that privileged audience. “But it is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all–in which case, you fail by default. You will never truly know yourself, or the strength of your relationships, until both have been tested by adversity. Such knowledge is a true gift, for it is painfully won, and it has been worth more to me than any qualification I ever earned.” (Excerpt from “The Bounce Back Chronicles” by Joe Kita, as printed in the May 2009 Reader’s Digest)

Over the years the definition of success we cited in the introduction has changed. We at Hanamura Consulting now define success to mean “moving steadily toward your goal day by day.” This implies that success is a verb, a journey in route to a destination or vision. But before you can embark on a journey you need to set goals in place to guide you. Not only are goals an important part of the journey, but you will need to equip yourself with a foundational education, necessary skills, and a support system that will give words of encouragement along the way. Most importantly, know that failure will be a part of the process.

Failure happens to all of us whether as a result of our own choices or due to circumstances beyond our control. The question is how do some people rebound with lessons learned, while others merely wallow in the morass of it all? Truthfully, some failures can be averted if we are properly equipped. What’s important to understand is the implications of failure and how it impacts success.

Former NBA player Dennis Rodman never thought he would miss when he shot at the basketball hoop. But no one, not even the superstars are 100% accurate. The key factor for Rodman was his expectations – if you expect success you are more likely to achieve it. But failure should be viewed as a learning tool to improve skills and realign goals. In Rodman’s case, making the basket was only one of the skill sets required. He also needed knowledge of the sport, knowledge of the strength and weaknesses of his teammates, awareness of the other teams’ abilities and the willingness to follow directions from the coach.

Very early in my life I thought of myself as a failure regardless of how hard I worked. This was due in part to messages I received early in life that I was a second class citizen. The attribution theory kicks in here. An attribution is that phenomena where someone’s opinion of you is based on a group or groups you come from (i.e. blind people are helpless and unable to work; Japanese people are not leadership material). Although I come from a strong, supportive family, had a good education and basic skill sets I experienced a clash between the two sets of messages.

I felt like a failure in part because I was comparing myself with what I perceived others to do and be. Trying to be someone else is a great waste of time and energy. Certainly we can learn from others’ experiences but only as they apply to me, not you. We also sabotage our own success when we fear repeated rejection or even fear success itself.

In order to see success in the workplace we need to develop an environment that allows for creativity; there needs to be willingness for people to redirect themselves and to acquire needed skill sets that will maximize the possibility of success.

Joe Torre, a major league baseball manager was addressing a group of fortune 1000 leaders three days after his New York Yankees lost the World Series to the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2001. He shared with his audiences seven leadership principles that I feel set up a successful workplace:

Surround yourself with good people

Tell the truth

Failure is part of the process

Find the positives in failure

Recognize effort by everyone on the team

Play it one game at a time

If you got out of bed and made it through the day you’ve been successful

In a world where we are all striving to get better at what we do, we must be careful not to dwell on our failures, but at the same time examine the lessons learned from those experiences. Even when we see the world as going well for us, be mindful of how the same experience might be perceived differently for others. Stay in the dialog about each other’s respective perceptions and experiences before moving on.

Steve Hanamura, president of Hanamura Consulting, Inc., and author of I Can See Clearly: A Different Look at Leadership, has 30 years of experience working with organizations ranging from Fortune 500 companies to regional not-for-profit institutions. He is widely sought after in the areas of leadership development, building effective teams, leading diversity initiatives and managing generational differences.

He can be reached by phone at 503-297-8658 or by e-mail at sh@hanamuraconsulting.com

Could it be that this is why we are having difficulty with leaders in the world today? Are they being driven by the need to be recognized, to be important? Is greed their driving force?

In my seminars I teach the concept of Collective Identity – we are judged by the sum of all our parts before we are recognized and acknowledged for our individual contributions. I believe that the collective group known as leaders is doing a poor job. We have lost trust in them; they appear to be people who are out of integrity both in their corporate and personal lives; they are greedy.

The world is almost starving for true authentic leadership. With my parents as role models, I’ve learned that true leadership is more about serving others than the position one holds in the organization.

Because I have a deep concern that we are in a leadership crisis the next few editions of the newsletter will focus on 16 things that we believe all leaders must have moving forward in the 21st century. Some of what we will write about is not new, but its positioning may need to become different. I am also mindful that some of the skills leaders had to get us to where we are today may not be the skills needed to go forward into tomorrow.

Here then is a preview of the 16 points for good leadership we will be writing about in depth in future issues: Interview and select the right people; Utilize the strengths of each team member in a way that will bring out all parts working for the good of the whole; Have a detailed vision; Don’t treat everyone the same, treat them as individuals; Know when to help someone go beyond what they think they can do; Know when not to push someone beyond their level of readiness; Know when to get out of the way and let the individual do what they know how to do; Be able to set boundaries; Create a positive climate so all members on the team can flourish; Be open to receive feedback from members of the team; Set an example of how to function when team members are discouraged; Honor individual requests when the need arises without compromising the needs of the – team or department; Make personnel changes when things are not working out properly; Have the ability to work in a multi-cultural setting; Be able to adapt to and lead change; Be able to give instructions in a timely manner.

Steve Hanamura, president of Hanamura Consulting, Inc., and author of I Can See Clearly: A Different Look at Leadership, has 30 years of experience working with organizations ranging from Fortune 500 companies to regional not-for-profit institutions. He is widely sought after in the areas of leadership development, building effective teams, leading diversity initiatives and managing generational differences.

He can be reached by phone at 503-297-8658 or by e-mail at sh@hanamuraconsulting.com

I was angry because something that I wanted to purchase seemed to be readily available only to those who are “photo dependant” or as we used to say in my blind school days “sighted dudes.” Well the sighted dudes prevail again leaving the blind folks out. This was an interesting notice. Why was I so upset? In one store I started to get animated with the sales person about accessibility. Becky had to nudge me because this individual was not the right person to go off on.

What I do know is that anger surfaces when you don’t have control over your situation or when others have more options than you do in life. It was a great wake up call to remember that there are still injustices in the world. People either intentionally or unintentionally don’t think about how their actions may impact a group who might be entirely off their screen. As Becky and I debriefed the situation later we both began to realize that not only do the tiny phones with tiny numbers and touch screens leave blind folks out of the mix, senior citizens and people with arthritis and diabetes are also affected.

The good part of this experience is that it helps me remember to never lose touch with where you come from. I think all too often managers lose touch with their employees; government workers clearly lose touch with the real people. You become both insulated and isolated from the needs of other people. This cell phone experience is a reminder to me to work hard to stay in touch with the broader good for all people.

In the sophisticated language of diversity practitioners, we might refer to this experience as an example of a “micro inequity” – that experience where people in dominance have more options than do individuals who represent particular groups. We will write more about this concept in a future issue. The impact on me individually is that in the past I used to feel less than because of my disability. I no longer feel that way about myself. I now know I have value, something to contribute, and that in a small way is perhaps why my anger surfaced. I know what I know and I know what I don’t know.

I pledge from this day forward to continue to stay the course as a difference maker and invite all of you to do likewise.

Steve Hanamura, president of Hanamura Consulting, Inc., and author of I Can See Clearly: A Different Look at Leadership, has 30 years of experience working with organizations ranging from Fortune 500 companies to regional not-for-profit institutions. He is widely sought after in the areas of leadership development, building effective teams, leading diversity initiatives and managing generational differences.

He can be reached by phone at 503-297-8658 or by e-mail at sh@hanamuraconsulting.com

“What do you mean?” the director asks. “He’s one of our basses.”

“He can’t sing because he’s blind!” the producer states.

“What does being blind have to do with his singing?”

“The choir must run on and off the stage at a fairly fast clip. There are lots of cords on the floor and he may trip and knock over the microphones and lights.”

Knowing that I am a rather outspoken person the director said to the producer, “You tell him.”

What followed was a rather heated discussion between the producer and me as to whether or not I would be allowed to sing. I realized that I wasn’t getting anywhere so I asked if he would be willing to let me try it during practice. If I messed up, then I wouldn’t sing during the performance. He agreed. Practice went well so I was allowed to sing with the Ensemble during the performance.

To his credit, the producer came up to talk with me after the show. “Steve”, he began, “I’m sorry about what happened. You see two days ago we had a blind woman in Los Angeles who didn’t know how to teach her sighted guide how to help her get on and off the stage. She bumped into the lights, knocked over a microphone and we had to stop the performance.”

Dr. Roosevelt Thomas, talks about the importance of focusing on the necessary requirements of the job and not emphasize what groups people come from. In this case the producer had a previous bad experience with a blind individual who couldn’t meet one of the requirements for participating in the concert. The impact on me was that the producer now had an assumption that all blind people were incapable of getting on the platform without affecting the performance. This attribution almost cost me the opportunity to sing with the group at the Barry Manilow concert.

There are many other examples of how attributions of an individual based on the group they belong to impacts perceptions, possibilities and the ability to be included in a job. People for whom English is a second language and speak with an accent are considered as not smart. We can’t give direct feedback to people with disabilities because we are afraid of hurting their feelings. We are hesitant to promote African Americans because they tend to be angry. Gays and Lesbians cannot bring their partner to a company party for fear of retribution.

One of the definitions of inclusion we sited in a previous news letter comes from Dr. Bernardo Ferdman. He says inclusion is individual and collective. Both are important for creating conditions in which everyone has the opportunity to be authentic, appreciated, to feel safe, valued, engaged and excited to be in the workplace.

When attributions are made about people based on groups they belong to it may have the following impacts:

You are denied opportunity to participate on a job regardless of your capability

You assimilate so as not to appear different

You can’t compete with the “superstar” in your group

You withdraw or shut down

You are thought to be good at something whether you are or not

An example of the last attribution happened when our oldest son was a sophomore in high school. His math teacher was Japanese American and one day as the teacher moved about the classroom returning test papers, he came to our son last. The teacher slammed his paper on his desk and said, “You are an embarrassment to us!” Our son had gotten a “C” on his test and the teacher was making an attribution that all Asians should be “A” students in math. The impact on our son was that it was not okay for him to be a mediocre student since he was Asian.

There are some things each of us can do to break through to inclusion. First, say “hello.” I am baffled by all the research that is being done when some basic tenants of human interaction are ignored. While conducting an organizational audit, a colleague and I had to make a recommendation to a group of executives to “say hello to the employees in the elevator.” In our last newsletter we introduce the five dimensions of inclusion. The first of these was to create connection. You can’t even begin the inclusion process until you have connection. Sometimes this connection begins by saying “hello.” People with disabilities often talk about this as a puzzling social phenomenon, but no one mentions this in research terms.

Secondly, seek knowledge. Sometimes the knowledge you need will come in the form of employees who are already in your places of work. Ask them questions that will help the educational process to become more adept at relating with people who are different. If appropriate, read books, articles, periodicals, etc. to learn about general tendencies of particular culture groups.

Third, make sure you understand that diversity and inclusion are a part of the overall business conversation. This will help you avert the concern that “we are just adding one more thing to our plate of an already busy work flow.”

Fourth, examine your own prejudices and biases that may be getting in the way of your ability to connect with a certain group of people.

And fifth, examine your threshold for managing change when it comes to dealing with human behavior. Sometimes change forces us to enter territory where we don’t feel confident about what needs to be done.

Remember that diversity is not a program, but a process that includes dialog, vision and respect.

Steve Hanamura, president of Hanamura Consulting, Inc., and author of I Can See Clearly: A Different Look at Leadership, has 30 years of experience working with organizations ranging from Fortune 500 companies to regional not-for-profit institutions. He is widely sought after in the areas of leadership development, building effective teams, leading diversity initiatives and managing generational differences.

He can be reached by phone at 503-297-8658 or by e-mail at sh@hanamuraconsulting.com

As I make my way through the food line I am reminded of a similar incident some 50 years previous when I was a student at the California School for the Blind.

I was in the infirmary we shared with the School for the Deaf during a mumps epidemic. My roommate was deaf and I was blind making it virtually impossible for us to communicate. And now here I am in 2007 on the Gallaudet campus faced with the same dilemma. Then it hits me – you can’t have inclusion until you have connection. What a revelation!

From that revelation the Five Dimensions of Inclusion are born:

1. Connection Had it not been for the intervention of this woman to tell me what was going on, I would have never known that someone was aware of my need to get breakfast. Even though the wait staff person was aware of me, the two of us had no language for communicating with one another. Could it be that is the struggle we are having in this country with diversity and inclusion? Because all of us come from so many different cultures and languages we are unable to connect. Therefore feelings of uncaring, anger and animosity surface instead of working to find common ground for resolution.

2. Inquiry Once you realize the need for connection you are in a position to make inquiries of how to relate with one another (note – we still aren’t having inclusion, but the dialog is beginning). I have had people say to me, “This is my first time being around someone who has no sight. Tell me what to do.” I love that kind of dialog for it allows me to go into a teaching mode. I’ve also had the opposite happen. Well meaning assistants in the airport have tried to grab the other end of my cane and pull me where they want to take me. This is very offensive and it is one of the few times I almost lose it instead of trying to teach. The key here is to ask questions if you are meeting someone for the first time. When you get their answer, do what they tell you to do instead of doing what you think you should do.

3. Awareness At this point in the conversation a relationship is being established. You begin to be aware that the world as you see it is not necessarily the same way as others see it. Through constant dialog or teaching, relationships begin to build. You start asking questions of each other and lights of insight are going off all over the place.

4. Appreciation As your world begins to expand and you become aware of the great diversity surrounding us, appreciation for those differences should begin to grow. Those of us with more than one child know that no two are alike, yet we love and appreciate the uniqueness of each one.

5. Commonness Although the world expands as we continue to learn and grow from others, the world also becomes smaller as we begin to see the common denominators that bind us together. All of us know pain, joy, sorrow. We all have desires to be productive members of society and through our collective differences we also experience the oneness of striving for similar goals and aspirations.

As we work to build inclusion into our places of work watch out for deterrents such as:

fear of the unknown

judgments that are made about us because of certain groups we belong to

lack of believability in the individual even though you care about their welfare

no points of connection

If we practice the Five Dimensions of Inclusion, then we will be ready to build and create an inclusive environment in our respective places of work as well as within our families.

Steve Hanamura, president of Hanamura Consulting, Inc., and author of I Can See Clearly: A Different Look at Leadership, has 30 years of experience working with organizations ranging from Fortune 500 companies to regional not-for-profit institutions. He is widely sought after in the areas of leadership development, building effective teams, leading diversity initiatives and managing generational differences.

He can be reached by phone at 503-297-8658 or by e-mail at sh@hanamuraconsulting.com

Personally inclusion has been with me since I was a child. As a blind Japanese person I learned very early the difference between exclusion and inclusion. I have learned how to be engaged with this topic at all levels of life both personally and professionally. It wasn’t until I reached college that I realized that there were lots of people who had to struggle with needing to feel included.

The late Will Schultz, in many of his writings asserted that inclusion was the first phase of a relationship that needed to be addressed. He said that inclusion deals with matters of significance and insignificance. The extent to which someone felt either significant or insignificant was a deciding factor in how successful they could become in building and maintaining effective relationships at any level whether personal or professional.

What Is “Inclusion”?

During my sophomore year in college, I was walking through the snack bar and noticed all the different groups of people conversing with one another. How does that happen I wondered to myself? How do different individuals hook up to talk with each other and how do they determine what to talk about. I guessed they must have something in common to discuss.

During that time in my life my disability was the detractor for me to engage in dialog with others. Looking back I have to assume some responsibility for my inability to connect. It was at that moment, however that I decided that whatever I did for work would need to have a component of helping people to connect with each other.

Dr. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, an expert on issues of death and dying once said, “If you are trying to find direction for your life, go to the deepest corner within yourself and you will find your purpose.” I went to the deepest corner of my life and found that disability, diversity and inclusion were cornerstones in helping me define my purpose in life. As the diversity movement began we saw organizations struggle to comply with the legislated mandates. Over time diversity moved from compliance to education to business imperative and is now shifting toward creating an inclusive environment for all people.

Since inclusion is relatively new on the scene definitions are still being formulated. Here are a few from some of my colleagues: Judith Katz and Fred Miller of the Kaleel Jamison Consulting Group define inclusion as “a sense of belonging, feeling respected, valued and seen for who we are as individuals; there is a level of supportive energy and commitment from leaders, colleagues and others so that we individually and collectively can do our best work.” Dr. Bernardo Ferdman, professor at Marshall Goldsmith School of Management defines inclusion on two basic levels – individual and collective; both are important for creating conditions in which everyone has the opportunity to be authentic, appreciated, and to feel safe, valued, engaged and excited in the workplace. The Institute for Inclusion says inclusion is engaging the uniqueness of the talents, beliefs backgrounds, capabilities and ways of living of individuals and groups when joined in a common endeavor. Inclusion is engaging in diversity to create a culture of belonging in which differences are valued and honored. Dr. Roosevelt Thomas says inclusion is creating an environment that allows everyone to contribute to his or her potential (note, Dr. Thomas also thinks about diversity in this way). Our definition of inclusion is “to belong to, to be a part of, to not be discount.”

It is important to note that some individuals and groups may be asking for inclusion in different arenas. It infers that to be included means I will or we will get exactly what we want. I want to dispel this as a myth of what it means to be included. I think what inclusion does is to allow for the conversation to occur. You may or may not get what is wanted or desired. However, conversation is a very good first step. I think that is where we are now in “the work” as Robert Hayles would say.

Why write about inclusion? There are several reasons. First of all, it’s very personal and I think that it is important for those from education and research to understand that there is still a gap between theory and behavioral practices that are necessary to truly create inclusion among different groups of people.

Secondly, we need to bridge the gap between sectors to demonstrate that the construct of inclusion is more of a universal attribute that is needed if we are going to get along with one another.

And third, to share some thinking by others in the field who are now embracing this as a topic to be dealt with. Subsequent news letters will get into some desired behaviors and suggestions for creating inclusion in different domains.

Steve Hanamura, president of Hanamura Consulting, Inc., and author of I Can See Clearly: A Different Look at Leadership, has 30 years of experience working with organizations ranging from Fortune 500 companies to regional not-for-profit institutions. He is widely sought after in the areas of leadership development, building effective teams, leading diversity initiatives and managing generational differences.

He can be reached by phone at 503-297-8658 or by e-mail at sh@hanamuraconsulting.com

Like so many other things in life we tend to pay attention to those things that are tangible or that we can see. Underneath what is visible are the intangibles. This is also true when we approach the issue of safety. In addition to physical safety, consider three other types of safety that need to be addressed: political safety, emotional safety and spiritual safety.

Political safety has to do with employee fear of repercussions (i.e. losing out on a promotion) by saying what’s really on their mind. Emotional safety deals with being ostracized for not conforming to main stream or normative culture. And spiritual safety focuses on the struggle we have in allowing for religious differences in our workplace.

Several years ago I was working with a government agency that had a fairly strong diversity initiative. A significant conflict arose between the Christian and Gay/Lesbian affinity groups that impacted all the other groups. The administrator directed all affinity groups to go away for two days with the directive to work out the conflicts or else he was going to shut down the entire diversity program. I was the consultant in the room with members from these different groups.

We began our work to break down stereotypes and misconceptions each group had of the other. Most notably the Christian and Gay/Lesbian representatives had to have some very hard discussions about the fears and prejudices they had towards one another. Both groups came to realize that they were being victimized by different stereotypes that weren’t necessarily true for individuals who came from those particular groups. They began to see the common denominators and impacts of pain and prejudice. At sessions’ end, they agreed to tell all employees about their respective groups and they also agreed to have dinner with each other from time to time. The net result was that when we went back nine months later we found that the groups were working together respectfully while still being clear about the issues they couldn’t agree upon.

Respect does not mean compromising your values or beliefs. Likewise, speaking one’s mind doesn’t mean you can say anything you want when you want. But we do need to create an environment where people can be heard; where they will be treated as people of value; where they will know that their work makes a difference to the team and organization at large.

So what do employers need to do in order to create a safe work environment? Consider the following suggestions:

Create a positive climate. Make sure the individual worker can be free to say what is on their mind without fear of reprisal.

Strengthen your ability to listen to different view points while still maintaining your own belief systems.

Discuss and develop rules of engagement. Be clear about what are acceptable and unacceptable behaviors.

Make sure people are clear about what is expected. Examples like honoring timelines and agreements, using appropriate language, etc.

Increase your awareness of different communications styles which may be impacting group interaction. Many times we have found that individuals mean well, but have no idea that the conflict they are experiencing is due to communication style differences.

The managers and leaders of today’s workplace need to steadily increase their competence in serving a diversified employee base. This includes the need to pay attention to safety issues which, from my vantage point is the place to begin establishing harmony on the job.

Steve Hanamura, president of Hanamura Consulting, Inc., and author of I Can See Clearly: A Different Look at Leadership, has 30 years of experience working with organizations ranging from Fortune 500 companies to regional not-for-profit institutions. He is widely sought after in the areas of leadership development, building effective teams, leading diversity initiatives and managing generational differences.

He can be reached by phone at 503-297-8658 or by e-mail at sh@hanamuraconsulting.com

Both Mom and Dad were committed to making sure that my brother, Mike, and I would grow up and become a success in life. They were committed to doing whatever it took to see this happen. In my case it meant enrolling me in a residential school for the blind 400 miles away from the time I was 4½ years old until I graduated from high school. For nine months out of the year I was far from home and family. We missed each other, but their vision to make sure I had the best possible chance to succeed overrode their desire to keep me home.

As students at the school for the blind we knew we were different; we were not in a school with “normal” (sighted) kids. Therefore our definition of success became very clear – work hard, get through school, marry a sighted person, get a job and have two children. Our norms were driven by the popular TV shows of the day: “Father Knows Best,” “The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet,” “Leave it to Beaver,” and “The Donna Reed Show.” How times have changed!

Today a good portion of our work is devoted to helping organizations examine how they can get the different generations to work together in order to reach organizational success. We help participants identify different key values that drive how each generation approaches their jobs. That is, how they view work and how they view success. We have learned that the group known as Boomers (born between 1945 and 1964) grew up with a strong drive to succeed, a value passed on to them from their parents, the Veterans (1922 – 1944). In contrast, as stated in our previous newsletter, we determined that Generations X and Y are more interested in becoming people of value or significance.

So what does it mean for someone to become successful? Webster defines success as “the achievement of something desired, intended, or attempted; the gaining of fame or prosperity; or one who succeeds.” In contrast, I like to define it as “moving steadily toward your goal day by day.” It’s an ongoing process that allows for different definitions of success. In my own life I have sometimes strived to be famous and rich, sometimes had specific desired or intended outcomes, and have learned to understand the complexity of attempting to achieve different objectives.

Underneath the spoken or written definitions of success are some unspoken expectations of what it means to be successful. You are good at what you do. You feel good about yourself. You need to stand out from others in your group. You acquire some form of status or prestige in what you do and who you are. There are some people who equate becoming successful with being “perfect.” This can be overwhelming and virtually impossible to achieve.

Women, people of color and people with disabilities have some other factors to contend with on their road to success. They are always being under the microscope; their every action is constantly being observed and often scrutinized.

An African American may hear “my, you are so articulate” but underneath this comment is a bias that perhaps African Americans can’t be articulate and thus are a surprise when they reach a pinnacle in their careers as leaders or speakers. People with disabilities are often told how “inspirational” they are, again a surprise when they far exceed our expectations of them. In both cases, these comments are intended as a complement, but the impact is that people don’t believe that they can do what they do.

It may be difficult for some to think that women, people of color and people with disabilities want to advance. The belief may be that they should be thankful and satisfied they even have a job. Many are satisfied with just that, but what about the ones who want to advance? An effective intervention by progressive managers is to develop a solid mentoring process so individuals who have the desire can develop themselves for promotional opportunities. Do they need a different kind of assistance for advancement? Probably yes, and maybe no. It really depends on the climate of the organization, the individual’s knowledge and awareness of how systems work, and the recognition that statistically we see very few people of difference at the top of our organizations.

While we are becoming more successful in getting different people into the marketplace, the next challenge is to create the possibility that these different people also can lead our places of work successfully. Some of the barriers to personal and organizational success they face include:

Low self esteem which can surface when constant feedback that “you are not suited for leadership positions” becomes internalized. The individual begins to believe that what managers and peers say about them is true without knowing that they could develop the competencies to perform the job.

Family and friends who want the best but don’t think it’s possible

Lack of commitment to appreciate differences. Fear of the unknown may be one of the possible explanations why people will not attempt to appreciate differences. Issues of competency and power surface and the individuals who are afraid of difference are really afraid of their own ineptness to embrace difference as an asset.

No process in place for professional development and mentoring

In order to overcome these barriers, some of the methods to helping individuals and organizations become successful include planning and preparation, discipline, focus and aligning personal goals with organizational direction.

While playing with the Los Angeles Lakers, Magic Johnson understood how to align his goals with the organizations success. He realized that in order for his team to make it to the championship, the Lakers needed additional talent. They had reached a salary cap and were not able to get the player/s they needed. He approached the front office and offered to give some of his salary back to the organization so they could obtain the help that was needed to reach their goal. Magic Johnson also had the ability to help individual players increase their skills and receive individual recognition. This boosted the morale for the entire team.

Has the definition of success expanded for you? What do you need to do in order to achieve personal and organizational success?

Steve Hanamura, president of Hanamura Consulting, Inc., and author of I Can See Clearly: A Different Look at Leadership, has 30 years of experience working with organizations ranging from Fortune 500 companies to regional not-for-profit institutions. He is widely sought after in the areas of leadership development, building effective teams, leading diversity initiatives and managing generational differences.

He can be reached by phone at 503-297-8658 or by e-mail at sh@hanamuraconsulting.com

A few months ago I was sitting in a seminar conducted by Bruce Tulgan, the guru on generational differences.

He was talking about the group known as Generation Y (those persons who were born between 1980 and 2000) and why they feel they need the corner office right now instead of working their way up the ladder. Driven by a sense of guilt over the effects of divorce, etc, the parents of Gen Y (the Baby Boomers) sent their children to counseling. Here Gen Y learned they were significant and of value so when they show up on the job they expect to be treated accordingly.

Further examination of this topic reveals that it isn’t just Gen Y that is concerned about significance. Zig Zigler, noted author and public speaker and Bob Buford, author of the book Half Time: Changing Your Game Plan from Success to Significance talk about the distinction between success and significance. Both say that as we age, the emphasis switches from thinking about being successful to being significant. That is, we must be involved with what is important. Success doesn’t necessarily breed significance say these men. Employees in general want to know their work is viewed as being important to peers and management.

Diversity and inclusion are words that are often used to promote workplace harmony and productivity. I would invite us to add the word significance as a part of the conversation. Significance is about how things feel, inclusion is taking action and diversity is a process and an outcome. The following illustration is a recent example.

One week prior to the writing of this newsletter our firm hosted a meeting with my colleagues from the Diversity Collegium. We get together twice a year to discuss the current trends and needs of our profession. As a set up to the meeting each person was asked to do some pre-work and then to bring hard copies to the meeting so we could review things more quickly. I wrote and asked if we could do the review of each others work by e-mail prior the meeting. The real reason for this request was so I would be able to read it in advance instead of trying to play catch up during the meeting. Much to my surprise and pleasure, every single person responded by submitting their comments before the meeting and I was able to truly be present in the room.

During the course of the meeting, the colleagues were able to visit my office to see how I do my work on the computer. They learned about the voice software I use (Jaws), how I use the Braille display to help move the cursor on the computer, and also gained some insight to the challenges I face when trying to find my way through web sites. They started asking questions about how I feel, what I need to do and then commented on the need to make sure they get things to me in advance.

So here is the continuum as I listened to their responses. First, they were beginning to understand the difference between being sighted and my being blind (diversity awareness). Though they’ve known me for years and have been helpful in matters such as reading the menu to me or helping me get from one place to another, on this occasion their level of awareness dramatically increased.

Secondly, they acknowledged the importance of submitting their thoughts/comments by e-mail prior to the meeting (inclusion). I was able to be an equal player in the room.

And third, the questions and comments as they were viewing the computer demonstration gave me the feeling that what was important to me was now important to them (significance). I was blown away because very rarely are people attentive to my unique needs as a blind person. The key here was they were doing it out of respect for me and not out of compliance, tolerance or politics.

So now let’s look at where does significance come from and how does one get it if they don’t experience it. First significance comes from encouraging comments by family, friends, peers and managers/supervisors. Secondly, the individual needs to feel that what they do has value and is a contribution to the business.

Group identity may also be very influential in determining whether or not someone feels significant or of value. In some cases there is a differentiation of how people from different groups are treated. Based on this treatment the individual may experience difficulty in figuring out their significance as an individual and as a member of a group in relationship to how they are viewed, or even how they view themselves.

For many years, my membership into the group known as people with disabilities seriously impacted my feeling good about who I am and the group I was a part of. Through the help of colleagues and friends, I am now able to make the distinction between individual worth, its relationship to a series of groups I belong too, and the tasks that are being performed. It becomes necessary for people of color, women, people with disabilities and anyone who is in a “lower level” position in the organization to constantly examine their filters of how people feel about them in relationship to how they feel about themselves.

As individuals it is necessary to develop a plan for self improvement and self enhancement. For example, you may need to acquire new tools to do the job better, participate in a self care program where you pay attention to all aspects of your life (physical, emotional, mental and spiritual) and/or build and maintain appropriate support mechanisms.

If you are the manager or leader it is important that you clear pathways and create openings for others to be successful as well as add value. Remember that in some cases, it is the little things and not the big things that contribute to the process of creating significance for workers at all levels.

Steve Hanamura, president of Hanamura Consulting, Inc., and author of I Can See Clearly: A Different Look at Leadership, has 30 years of experience working with organizations ranging from Fortune 500 companies to regional not-for-profit institutions. He is widely sought after in the areas of leadership development, building effective teams, leading diversity initiatives and managing generational differences.

He can be reached by phone at 503-297-8658 or by e-mail at sh@hanamuraconsulting.com