Please don't hate me! Need advice on how to better work with a direct report

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hk1151513

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Hi everyone,
I am here because I have no experience with Deaf and hard-of-hearing people (I don't even know the right terminology. I apologize in advance, it is not my intention to offend anyone here. Please know my intentions are good and I'm here seeking any advice or input to improve the situation.)

There is someone at work who is Deaf that reports to me. Complicating the issue is that this person works at a West Coast office and I work at the East Coast office location. Anyway, no one in upper management or in HR has given guidance about how to work together effectively. At this time, it is imperative that both coast integrate into one team.


So, that's why I'm here. I'm trying to take matters into my hands as this direct report is coming to the East Coast office for some training, brainstorming, and team building. I'm looking into ASL and CART services (I'm starting to understand sometimes ASL is "better" for certain topics and vice versa) and saw a page on communication tips.

I don't want to be a lousy manager and I definitely don't want to be discriminatory. Other than trying to speak slowly, clearly, and maintain eye contact, is there any advice anyone may have about how I can well, ensure that I treat this direct report the same as anyone else? Has anyone here overcome any challenges at their workplaces that may provide some insight? Is it just a matter finding the right technology to help mitigate both the cross-country distance as well as the ability to hear? (Is it even appropriate for me to ask about the degree to which she can hear???)

Thanks in advance for your time.
 
Firstly, don't ask others what this employee needs in the way of accommodation in order to communicate effectively. Ask the employee. As a deaf person, he/she will know what accommodations will be most beneficial for them to accomplish the goals you have.

Secondly, it is innappropriate to ask an employee what their level of hearing is. First off, that is a topic for self disclosure only. Secondly, the answer in and of itself will no doubt lead to misunderstanding, as the hearing population has quite a different definition of what "hearing" is than does the deaf population.

Good luck to you, and keep the great attitude. Let your employee guide you. They will be your best source of information.
 
Make sure you always face the person when you speak. Realize that speaking loudly will probably not help. I would make sure there is a good size pad of paper and pens for both of you, in case his/her speech is difficult to understand. Be patient, and let the other person know you are willing to use whatever means to get points across to each other. Learning ASL is a good idea, but I don't think it will help much at this time. Fluency in ASL takes years. Also, you will find it more difficult to read signs than to give them.
Good luck with this. I think this will be a great learning time for you.
 
It is great to see that you are putting forth a great amount of effort in making this new deaf employee feel welcome and accomodated for. You need to give yourself more credit... not a lot of bosses would go out of their way for an employee.

As Jillio said, you should ask them what their needs are rather than asking us. We don't know what their issues are. Maybe they are mild-moderately deaf and won't need a large amount of accomodations. Maybe they feel they need a lot of accomodations. Depends on them.

I have teachers coming up to me asking me questions all the time. Often times it is because they learned something about hearing loss that they didn't know before and want to know if I would need a type of accomodation for it. Such as today, I was approached by a teacher who had played a video in class yesterday without closed caption. They didn't even think about accessing closed caption until later on when it hit them. Don't hesitate to ask your employee about what you can do to help them.
 
It may be beneficial to find out which communication method this person prefers to use. Not everyone can read lips and not everyone knows ASL. If this person can read lips then as saywhatkid said, make sure you face the person and speak clearly. If you have some type of messaging software that your corporation uses that may be a good means of communication when you are not in the same room assuming each of you have computers. All the best!!
 
Everyone gave great advice so I feel I dont need to add more except to say KUDOS to you for taking the time to find out how you can meet this person's needs rather expecting this person to meet your needs completely.

BTW..welcome to AD!
 
Its a good thing that you are asking, never stop doing that. However, you really need to speak with the employee about what will and will not work for him. Sometimes, we got to be a bit creative when adjusting our communication.
 
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