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Dan Smolen asks the question: are bosses crushing worker dignity?
Answering this question, and many others, is Dr. Betty Johnson. She is the founder of Bridging the Difference LLC; it helps company leaders embrace diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) to ensure worker dignity.
As the Covid pandemic ebbs, and more of their talent work remotely, managers are using Zoom sessions in ways that they may believe are effective, but actually rid their people of dignity.
Requiring people to be “on camera” throughout long, heavily attended Zoom sessions, whether or not they participate in discussion, can have a toxic effect.
And people of color and women–especially older women–are often the-most negatively affected by such “on camera” requirements.
Dr. Johnson wants to change that.
In a wide ranging discussion, Dr. Johnson:
- Provides the unique value proposition for her company, Bridging the Difference LLC. Starts at 4:53
- Describes the misuses of Zoom sessions by managers to gather their people. Starts at 6:07
- Illustrates surface acting and its psychological impact on talent. Starts at 9:51
- Explains the positive affects of “being listened to.” Starts at 16:13
- Digs into how bosses crush worker dignity and unintentionally create “drama triangles.” Starts at 20:35
- Offers strategies for making Zoom sessions better. Starts at 27:08
- Defines Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and provides ways to positively frame it for management to embrace. Starts at 40:35
Are bosses crushing worker dignity? Some are. But with intentional leadership from their management, people can find positive meaning in the work that they do.
About our guest:
Dr. Betty Johnson is a keen observer of people in the workplace. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and a Ph.D. in Leadership from Antioch University. Dr. Johnson lives and works in Charlotte, North Carolina.