In this issue:
-Article: "Just How badly do you want a Union?"
-2023 Course Schedule
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IN PERSON
Advanced WMF®
Oct 12-13, 2022
Westlake Village CA
$3,250
2 Spaces Left
Women Moving Forward®,
December 6-8, 2022
Westlake Village, CA.
$4,250
4 Spaces Left
2023
Advanced WMF®
April 20-21, 2023
Westlake Village CA
$3,250
Women Moving Forward®,
May 9-11, 2023
Westlake Village CA
$4,250
Women Moving Forward®,
Sept 12-14, 2023
Westlake Village CA
$4,250
Advanced WMF®
Oct. 11-12, 2023
Westlake Village, CA
$3,250
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Managing Corporate Change©
Virtual via Zoom
October 17, 19, 21, 2022
8:30 AM- 1:30 PM Pacific Time
$4,250 USD
2023
January 9, 11, 13, 2023
Virtually Via Zoom
8:30 AM- 1:30 PM Pacific Time
$4,250 USD
June 6-8, 2023
In-Person
Westlake Village CA
$4,250
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Advanced Men's Course©
October 25-27, 2022
Catch up day Oct. 24
$4950 In-Person
Santa Barbara, California
Only 2 slots left!
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Leading Projects through Relationship, Commitment Purpose© Added for 2023
LP Broadens its audience to all leaders.
As I updated the course description for LP two months ago I realized the course content I designed for Project Managers 10 years ago is now what everyone needs today. The ability at a very high level to influence all the people around you especially when you have no direct reporting relationship! This course has the most advanced psychological principals I have ever taught in them. We taught the first session with both PMs and other leaders with great results last month.
July 25-28, 2023 In-Person
Westlake Village CA
$4,950
Here's a short video from john explaining the changes...
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Women's Leadership Retreat©
November 8-10, 2022 FULL
Waiting List Available
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2022-23 Courses Public
Workshop Schedule
Advanced Women Moving Forward®
October 12-13, 2022
Westlake Village, CA
$3,250. 3 Slots Left
Managing Corporate Change©
October 17, 19, 21, 2022
Virtual via Zoom
$4,250
Advanced Men's Course©
October 25-27, 2022 Catch up day Oct. 24
Santa Barbara, California In-Person
$4,950 2 slots left
Women's Leadership Retreat®
November 8-10, 2022
Santa Barbara, CA
$4950. FULL Wait list available
Woman Moving Forward®
December 6-8, 2022
Westlake Village CA. In-Person
$4,250 4 Slots Left
2023
Managing Corporate Change©
Virtual Via Zoom
January 9, 11, 13, 2023
$4,250
Advanced WMF®
April 20-21, 2023
Westlake Village, CA
In-Person
$3,250
Productive Relationships©
In-Person
April 25-27, 2023
Westlake Village, CA
$4,250
Women Moving Forward®
May 9-11, 2023 In-Person
Westlake Village CA
$4,250
Managing Corporate Change©
June 6-8, 2023 In-Person
Westlake Village CA
$4,250
Leading Projects through Relationship, Commitment and Purpose©
July 25-28, 2023 In-Person
Westlake Village, CA
$4,950
Women Moving Forward©
Sept 12-14, 2013 In-Person
Westlake Village, CA
$4,250
Advanced Men's Course©
October (Exact dates TBD)
Ojai, CA
$4,950
Productive Realtionships©
Dec. 12-14, 2023 In-Person
Westlake Village, CA
$4,250
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Just How Badly Do You Want a Union?
So, the latest corporate outrage is Employee Surveillance Software. Software on your computer that pings you if your mouse hasn’t moved for 28 seconds. Because if your mouse hasn’t moved you are not working, and if you are not working, we don’t have to pay you for the last 10 minutes. I had heard a couple of people in my class joking about getting software that makes it look like your mouse is moving but I didn’t know it was to combat the surveillance software. The other shocker for me is that some of the software also takes your picture every 10 minutes so we can “see” that you are working. What!?!?
How badly do you want a union?
There is a phenomenal article from The New York Times called “The Rise of the Worker Productivity Score” that actually simulates being tracked by one of these systems while you read the article. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/08/14/business/worker-productivity-tracking.html I found it anxiety producing and I was just reading an article; my salary was not on the line. Anyone who knows my general ADHD functioning level will not be surprised I got a “Poor” rating. Employers are conflating the tasks of a job with the results of a job. Typing and mouse moving =results. Huh? As you can imagine the pushback by employees has been significant. Amazon has been using this kind of software in its warehouses for a while now. Amazon now has its first union in a warehouse. Coincidence I think not.
Though I find the surveillance approach reprehensible more notable, is the point of view it represents. “I know you are lazy and cheating the company and I will catch you dammit!” This foolishness has been extended to jobs like Chaplin and Social Worker. The result: they quit. This all-consuming “need to know” of course was accelerated by the pandemic and people working from home where managers couldn’t just cruise by your desk and catch you cheating the company. But now I can monitor you no matter where you are. Control freaks rejoice!
OR…
One of our clients was just hired by a company that offers unlimited vacation time. My skeptical side was suspicious to find out if this offer was real. After all Americans don’t use all their vacation time as a rule anyway. Turns out it is for real. Just get your job done and take as much time off as you need. This represents the point of view “we hire good people, and we trust you”. This of course does imply we know what the results of your job are. Not keystrokes or looking busy when the camera shutter clicks.
So, the question becomes what attitude does your company hold and what management style does your philosophical attitude reveal about how you think about people? Most of our clients work way too much and I have yelled at many of you for literally killing yourself by the number of hours you work. (Don’t believe me read Dying for a Paycheck by Pfeffer.)
We are now in the greatest resurgence of unions in the last 40 years. Draconian management techniques like Employee Surveillance are not the only reason people will try to unionize but I propose it is one of them.
Famously, Yvon Chouinard founder of Patagonia is giving away his company and his accumulated fortune to a Trust to fight climate change. article on Chouinard
He encouraged working remotely long before it was a thing. Surf first, work second. It seems to have worked out pretty well for a guy who was just trying to make a better piton for himself and his friends.
Bill Coors famously said to me “you have a union because you deserve one”. Coors allowed the Teamsters to come in and try to unionize the Brewery. The Teamsters spent millions and got clobbered 81% to 19%. The effort Coors put into training and developing supervisors and managers was the best I have ever seen, still, to this day. Will we now give over management to an AP that measures keystrokes? Sure, it is harder to develop real leaders than buy an AP and yes, it is more expensive. And surely each approach produces a very different result in the lives of those who are the recipients of each management philosophy. You get to choose which you prefer. Keep in mind one of the developers of one of the APs called it “dangerous” after his company implemented it and he was on the receiving end of his own invention. He eventually left the company.
As always, we invite your comments.
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Susan Van Vleet Consultants, Inc.®
An International Consulting Company
692 Camino Verde
Thousand Oaks, CA 91360, USA
PHONE (303) 660-5206
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