It’s no secret that labor continues to be an issue in the produce industry, as well as most industries in the U.S.
What if someone said a key to finding and keeping good workers is having difficult conversations in the workplace?
That person would be right.
In this episode of the “Tip of the Iceberg” podcast, LeAnne Ruzzamenti, director of marketing and communications for Equitable Food Initiative, hosts a people-first episode where Louisa Clark, founder of Confidently There, a coaching and consulting firm, shares how an organization’s lack of communication can create what Clark calls the buildup of the unsaid.
Clark says when employees feel a company’s culture does not support speaking up, it has a major impact on the organization and the people that work there.
“We see it in a real lack of any kind of speak-up culture. We see it in people being terrified of making mistakes, and therefore mistakes not being reported, or people seeing errors,” she said. “We see people feeling resentful and exhausted and frustrated with each other.”
Clark says an organization that lacks open communication feels weighty and stagnant.
“Quite often, obstruction can start to happen,” she said. “Those who get the most frustrated very often are the ones who are the most innovative, the most creative. They’re the most driven to shake things up and do things differently and lean in and have difficult conversations. If that doesn’t feel possible around them, then very often they go.”
Clark says leadership with only challenge and no kindness is also a myth.
“What we want is a balance of this challenge,” she said. “When we have equally high levels of challenge and support, or nurture, warmth or simply even availability, when those two things are working in tandem, we feel as though it’s equitable … And this … allows us to really cultivate a sense that within a very healthy, functioning hierarchy that an organization of course has to have, that we’re actually carving out horizontal channels of communication, despite the vertical structure.”
Listen to this podcast episode here.
