Stewarding 5 Real Life Exercise

Next you will try your new skills in your workplace. You will conduct a workplace issue discussion with one of your co-workers or someone else you know with a work-related issue. 

This will be an exercise and does not need to lead to an action or official grievance, but it might.

Here are some basic guidelines for setting up a workplace issue conversation:

(1) Location: Arrange for an appropriate place to have a discussion. You need to be in a place where you can have a confidential conversation and will not be interrupted. Usually, you will want to not be in their or your workplace. You want to be aware of who can overhear your conversation so a break room may not be the best location. While in person offers better communication, if necessary a video chat or a telephone conversation can work.

(2) Time: You want to make sure you will have adequate time to have an in depth conversation. When you first contact someone, you probably don’t want to get into the details of their issue but instead setup a convenient time when there won’t be distractions.

(3) Materials: Bring your workplace issue intake form or some other way to take notes and make sure that you cover all the important questions.

Ready? If you feel unsure review the previous sections before proceeding. The only way to learn is to dive in (with some preparation). Enjoy your venture into supporting your co-workers solve their issues and gain a voice in their workplace.

For this exercise you will use the workplace issue intake form prepared in google forms with a link below. You will be able to edit your entries into this form at anytime and print it out after you take your notes. You can even export your information electronically. The information you enter in the form will be kept anonymous and confidential. Spark Union will use aggregate and de-identified information to learn more about how we become activists in our workplace.

The below link will open the intake form. Bookmark it so you can return to it when you like.