The Labor-Management Council of Greater Kansas City

Election Day Reminder

Just a reminder that Tuesday, Feb. 27, is the primary election for the city of Kansas City, Mo. The top two vote-getters in the mayoral and 12 council races will advance to the March 27 general election.

Most area school districts and cities will hold elections on April 3, so many Kansas City, Mo. residents will get to vote two weeks in a row.

Please remember to vote and to remind your members, employees and family members to vote as well. Missouri also has a time off to vote law to allow employees, if necessary, to take time away from work to vote if their hours make it difficult or impossible to vote in their off-time. KCMO polls are open from 6 a.m.-7 p.m. Tuesday and for the March 27 and April 3 elections. Kansas polls are open 7 a.m.-7 p.m. on April 3.

Collaboration Prepares Future Workforce in Utilities

LMC members Kansas City Power & Light Co., Aquila and the Metropolitan Community Colleges are launching a new Electric Utility Line Technician Associate of Applied Science degree.

Leaders in the utility industry, both labor and management, have been expressing serious concerns about where future llinemen and other skilled workers will come from. The combination of baby boomer retirements and increasing electricity demand is creating the future crunch. And while the utilities can generate applicants for the good-paying jobs, too few are qualified to begin apprenticeship programs.

KCPL and Aquila, along with Clay-Platte Electric Cooperative, have teamed with MCCC to create the associate's degree program so that a pipeline of qualified workers can be generated to meet the demand for line workers. The new degree program was kicked off at the MCCC's Business and Technology College Feb. 22 with a demonstration of what line workers do, which provided quite a "high" for MCCC Chancellor Jackie Snyder. Other presenters, who stayed on the ground, included Aquila Vice President Ivan Vancas, KCPL Vice President Bill Herdegen and Business & Technology College President Gary Sage.

The workforce crunch affects other industries as well, particularly construction and manufacturing. Kansas City is a pilot site for a national effort in the manufacturing industry and is also pioneering to draw in and help qualify young people for the construction industry through the National Institute for Construction Excellence (NICE). NICE is now working with Kansas City, Mo., Kansas City, Ks. Hickman Mills and Independence School Districts to create curriculum and partner with related efforts such as Project Leadtheway. NICE's iBuild event May 3 at Bartle Hall involves partnering with schools and industry (more details in a future blog item).

These industry-education partnerships are crucial for addressing the upcoming workforce shortage and for bringing opportunity to disadvantaged young people. And they provide private sector support for public K-12 and higher education that enhance the schools' ability to meet public needs.

Ethical Decisions Key to Leadership

Would-be leaders need to exhibit ethical behavior and decision-making if they are to be effective, presenter and participants agreed at the Feb. 21 session of the LMC's Mid-Level Leadership Program. People won't follow someone they don't trust.

Yet all leaders have tough calls to make, noted James Daley, dean of the Rockhurst University Helzberg School of Management. Many decisions involve conflicting values, he said. In order to help develop a pattern of ethical decision-making, Daley offered this checklist:

1. Recognize there is an issue
2. Identify the players
3. Collect the relevant facts
4. Test the issues--I. Right vs Wrong II. Right vs. Right
5. Question the possibility of a 3rd option
6. Apply the ethical framework--Utilitarianism, Rights/Duties and Justice/Fairness
7. Act on a decision
8. Review and reflect

Daley posed real-life examples and led discussion of how to use the checklist in making decisions.

Other class materials include seven key questions to ask:

How do my ego, self-interest and emotional state affect my decision-making on this?
WHo will benefit/be hurt by this act?
On whose behalf am I acting?
What obligations do I have to those who will be affected? How have they contributed to my success?
What would my mother think?
What would my children think?
What would I think of someone else who did this?

Daley noted that many disasterous decisions are made not with intent to do wrong but while sliding down a slippery slope beginning with one questionable decision that then drives increasingly questionable actions. Avoidng the start of the slippery slope is not always easy but is vital to being able to make ethical decisions, Daley said.

For information on the Mid-Level program, contact Bob Jacobi.

Malone Honored by Builders'

The LMC congratulates Ray Malone, retired from Malco Steel, for being honored by the Builders' Association last week.

Ray has long been active in the community and construction industry since joining the Iron Workers as an apprentice. His wife Mary, his partner in building Malco Steel, is a graduate of the LMC's Mid-Level Leadership Training Program and also a community leader. Other Malco employees also participated in the Mid-Level program.

Though Ray and Mary are retired, they continue to be active in the community and are looked to for advice.

LMC Board Meets Feb. 28

A reminder that the LMC Board of Directors meets at 11:30 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 28, at SMACNA, 1100 Main Suite 1810. Topics and action items include the slate for 2007 officers and board, Issues Committee recommendations, Executive Committee recommendations and updates on upcoming events including the Awards Dinner and Golf Tournament. Please contact Bob Jacobi with questions or comments.

Awards Voting Completed

The LMC Executive Committee is finishing voting on the 2007 Annual Award recipients this week. Honors include the Leadership in Labor-Management Cooperation and the Service to the Labor-Management Council awards. As is traditional, award recipients will not be announced until the Awards Dinner the evening of March 22 at Argosy Casino. Check here Download awadsfrm.cwk (WP).pdf (38.6K) for details on how to attend and participate. Dinner attendance averages 150-200 people. Among the attendees (though only at the pre-dinner reception) will be Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius.

Learning Opportunities for Labor-Management Community

The leader of this workshop, Dr. Darrel Ray, regularly does sessions for the LMC's Mid-Level Leadership Training Program and the Mid-America Labor/Management Conference as well as other LMC events:

Coaching for High Performance
by Dr. Darrel Ray

Discretionary Effort
In the hype and buzzword environment of management theories, it is easy to forget that the goal is to gain the most from the people who work in your organization.This can only be done in one way- treat people in a way that inspires them to do their best.

A manager can’t beat, threaten or cajole people into giving their best. It only comes when they want to give it. Discretionary Effort (DE) is the difference between the minimum required vs. potential effort and can be the difference between mere compliance and high performance.

Many things go into inspiring people to give their best but the most important is how the supervisor or manager coaches people. There is no more powerful tool in the arsenal of productivity of any organization. The good coach helps a team rise above its own limitations. He or she knows how to tap into the well of discretionary effort to help teams achieve beyond their own expectations.

These skills are taught in our highly interactive and experiential public workshop, Coaching for High Performance, that I will personally be presenting along with IPC Senior Consultant Laura Northcutt on March 6-8, 2007 in Kansas City.

Learn how to:

• Assess your team
• Set and measure goals with a team
• Use effective questioning techniques as a coach
• Give feedback using our FBI model
• Use different interpersonal communication styles to coach
• Deal with conflict and coach people to deal with conflict
• Practice using two coaching models.

Information Sheet and Registration Form

Call today-enrollment is limited.
ENROLLING NOW
Workshop:

Coaching for High Performance
March 6, 7, 8, 2007
Holiday Inn at The Plaza Conference Center
$1,195/person. Discount if registered by 2/20.
Julie Barker, 913-724-3600
Information Sheet and Registration Form

Also, LMC freind and former Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service Director Richard Barnes is offering a course in facilitation. Building upon the work of his firm, C. Richard Barnes & Associates, Richard is focusing the course on those who are or are interested in becoming internal group facilitators especiallly in labor-management environment. The program is in Atlanta May 15-17. For full details check his web site, www.crichardbarnes.com.

LMC Special Board Meeting Feb. 15

The LMC will hold a special Board meeting on Thursday, Feb. 15, 11:30 a.m. at the SMACNA-KC offices, 1100 Main Suite 1810. This meeting will three agenda items:

•Evaluate Board Composition and Status of Inactive Board Members;

•Determine Officer and Board Slate for 2007;

•Develop 203 Key Goals for the LMC in 2007.

Please contact Bob Jacobi, Khensa Karim, Kevin Sexton or Garry Kemp if you have thoughts regarding these agenda items or wish to attend.

The recommendations developed will be submitted to the LMC regular board meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 28, 11:30 a.m. also at SMACNA-KC's office.

Early Room Reservations Urged for Conference

Those planning or even considering attendance at the 2007 Mid-America Labor/Management Conference should make room reservations as early as possible, conference planning committee members were told at a meeting this week.

The conference takes place July 4-6 at the Lodge of the Four Seasons in Lake Ozark, Mo., a prime time for lake visitors. A barbeque and fireworks display will kick off the conference July 4. Early reservations ensure that participants will get their choice of rooms. Details on room reservations can be found in the conference brochure, Download MALMC07.pdf (617.3K).

Among the content attractions is a keynote address by astronaut Story Musgrave. No, he's not one of the ones involved in the recent love triangle. And no, we don't expect him to drive a long distance without stops to reach the conference...

Even though he's not the object of another astronaut's fanatical attention, Musgrave has a great story to tell. And so do the many speakers at the 18+ other sessions at the conference.

Kansas City has increased its participation on the conference planning committee with the addition of former LMC Co-Chair Ed DeSoignie, executive director of the Heavy Constructors Association, and Cindi Nance, UFCW Local Union 2. They join Herman Wallace, retired from the U.S. Dept. Labor, and Bob Jacobi, LMC, on the planning committee.

"Maloney's Ratio" Explained

In last night's Mid-Level Leadership Training Program session, presenter Jim Maloney explained "Maloney's Ratio" of 4-1:

People have two ears plus two eyes and just one mouth. That should indicate the proportion of listening and observing good leaders should be doing versus talking, Maloney explained. His session, the Phenomena of Leadership, used movie clips among other materials to demonstrate exactly how leaders actually lead.

Maloney, a past Rockhurst professor, is executive director of the Community Leadership Association and professor at the University of Georgia.

The class will not meet on Feb. 14, Valentine's Day, but will return Feb. 21 with session on ethics led by Rockhurst University Helzberg School of Management Dean James Daley.