If you take a management class or two, you get a lot of theory. You might read about the Hawthorne Effect, which tells us that employees work harder when they get attention. You may subscribe to the Peter Principle. If you do, you promote employees based on their performance in their current role, not their qualifications for the intended role. You could believe in systems management, where employees are just pieces of a greater machine. But, being a good manager means understanding your workers, and this takes skill and practice.
A good manager has several qualities, including empathy, experience, and knowledge. Listening, leading, and delegating help a manager focus on making good decisions in a global environment. Being transparent, finding ways to motivate and inspire, supporting innovation, and encouraging effective communication are pivotal skills to engaging a productive workforce. But, what about disability? How do we manage disability issues? Let’s look at Ernest.
Ernest has been a manager for 10 years. Recently, his company took on an initiative to hire employees with disabilities. This is new to him, but he’s been known for leading employees effectively while making firm decisions. Ernest can look back at what it takes to be a good manager and push forward with including disability as a function of his management.
For example, Ernest tends to be very empathetic with his decision-making. Whether it’s related to scheduling around soccer games or helping employees navigate their insurance, he tries to find an answer. It’s now up to Ernest to understand that disability is just another area of focus for him. To support this, Ernest can concentrate on:
- Applicants: Recruiting employees with disabilities is an important step in encouraging a disability-friendly environment. Working with service providers and specific job banks enables employers to actively seek talented people with disabilities who are looking for work.
- Interns: Working with a local school or the Workforce Recruitment Program to bring on youths with disabilities will give the organization a chance to work with highly motivated students with disabilities.
- Employees: It’s important to train all employees on disability etiquette and their rights to accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
- Frontline Supervisors: All frontline supervisors should be aware of the ADA. Knowing how to recognize an accommodation request and begin the interactive process is crucial.
- Motivational Events: Having guest speakers, celebrating National Disability Employment Awareness Month, creating an employee resource group, or working with a nonprofit will make employees aware of the contributions of workers with disabilities.
It seems Ernest has all of the skills he needs to be successful with his new disability inclusion initiative; now he just needs to take those skills and put them to work. Facilitating the integration of people with disabilities is no different than managing people without disabilities, but you have to drive those changes at your workplace. The Job Accommodation Network can help you do that through training, technical assistance, consultation, and information. And, it’s all for free!
Understand that disability is the one minority group that you can join at any time. Also be aware that if you lack that understanding, the ADA does have teeth, and the enforcing agency for the ADA, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, is just a phone call away at (800)669-4000 or (800)669-6820 (TTY).
