Managing a Diverse Team

Interviewee profile

Introduction: 

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FH3ioZtvcEo

The main interviewee in the video is Ernest Betsina, Chief of the YellowKnife Dene First Nation. In his youth, he had problems with alcohol which prevents him from fulfilling his responsibilities to his family and his job. His alcohol addiction was especially severe when he lost his father and his wife.

Summary:

Alcohol addiction is a serious workplace issue that can severely hamper productivity. In the Indigenous community, drug addiction and alcoholism is a widespread problem due to lack of family support and strong safety network. Many people in the indigenous communities fell into modern trappings such as drugs and alcohol and lose their ability to function normally. 

People who have trouble with alcohol usually have other underlying issues going on in their life. While alcohol intoxication directly hamper workplace productivity and daily functioning of a person, the root of the problem is usually somewhere else. 

As such, dealing with alcoholic and drug addicts in the indigenous communities not only require compassion but also sensitivity to past trauma and personal turbulences that your employee might have experienced in the past.

Strategies:   

There are three strategies I want to employ to assist this employee in overcoming his alcohol addiction:

- First, providing him with time-off for AA (Alcoholic Anonymous) support.
- Secondly, providing him church counselling service for his traumatic loss of family members.

- Arrange flexible work-hours for him to fulfill his other duties and attend to support services. 

I think the first strategy is valid because it is essential for people trying to quit alcohol cold turkey to find community support in the form of AA. It is a lot easier to go through a task when you have other people doing it with you. Quitting alcohol is absolutely essential for the man's wellbeing and overall job performance. In the video, the man did eventually look for AA support. 

The second strategy is to assist him with his personal grievances and traumatic loss of loved ones. Most people need their catharsis. Having someone trustworthy at Church to share your emotions and grievances with is a good way to relieve angst and anxiety that can lead to an overall healthier and more productive life. 

Third, realistically, the company will have to be flexible in terms of scheduling for someone who is going through a tough time and is experiencing turbulences in their life. As a manager, this is the least I can do if it is my intention to take care of my employee. 

For a small company, I think these strategies would suffice since the manager would more likely have some ideas about the personal lives and interests of their employees.

For a larger corporation with more rigid and hierarchical management structure, these strategies might not be feasible as the higher up manager wouldn't have the time to attend to everybody's personal-life details. As such, for larger institutions, maybe allocating a set budget for employees' welfare and wellbeing is a good way to cover for problems that can arise from employee's personal lives.