Pulling your own weight

A manager of a Turkish factory told me her employees are mostly women and that the men seem to resent it. 

For example, if there are heavy materials to lift and a woman asks for help, the men might say, “You get paid the same as me. Lift it yourself.” Or, worse, “The only reason you have this job is because you’re a woman.”

This leads to stress, bad feelings, and poor performance all around. It can turn the factory into a place where people decide to “do their job” but no more, or decide to leave altogether.

You might blame the culture of the company (and/or the country). You might blame the men for making such comments or HR for hiring them in the first place. 

But blame doesn’t typically change behaviors or mindsets.

Instead, I suggested a kind of intervention we’ve been working on. The factory, with a few hundred employees, had become neatly divided across gender lines into rigid Us and Them groups. The intervention is designed to change how employees relate to each other. 

It consists of small groups meeting for thirty minutes a week for eight weeks. Each employee begins with a personal goal in Week 1, and the exercises and discussions each week prompt a natural reflection and exchange that individuate employees, humanizing them. Us and Them boundaries gradually dissolve, replaced by trust and a sense of relatedness.

We’ve implemented similar interventions in many professional settings that led to this type of change.

“The WOL method brought people together, strengthened mutual understanding, and fostered their sense of belonging.”

Now we’re specifically addressing operational workers, piloting customized  programs in factories, hospitals, and retail environments. Early results show that we’re on the right track, as summarized by a professor who analyzed several pilots.

"WOL increases intrinsic motivation, mental health and important aspects for team collaboration.”

It’s easy for organizations to split into factions, for cultures to develop where it feels like “every man for himself.” But with the right kinds of interventions and interactions, we can create workplaces that are more collaborative and compassionate, that make the most of what each person has to offer.

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Note: For an extreme example of Us and Them in a factory setting, I highly recommend “American Factory” now showing on Netflix.

“Every man for himself” or making the most of what each person has to offer?