How to Ensure Workplace Civility:
6 Effective Strategies
For many centuries, one quality was valued above all: civility. It was the essential trait of a caring, thoughtful, and elegant person. Individual, societal, and workplace civility prevailed. Finding civility today is a challenge!
For reasons too many to explore here, personal and workplace incivility is alarmingly high. Incivility has grown rapidly and now pervades personal and business behaviors and emails. Incivility is no longer limited to one-on-one individual communications or in comments between co-workers. Today, the Internet is filled with nasty and demeaning comments.
Workplace Incivility: Challenges
In the past year leadership have recognized the dangers of workplace incivility and reputational damage. Their attempts to thwart workplace incivility include policies to stop the spread of outright lying, demeaning or rude comments, insults, and/or arrogant behavior, at the expense of others. It’s a huge challenge.
What is going on? Why are people so unkind to each other? And, what’s the cost?
Antrim is aware of the damage caused by workplace incivility to individual employees, to team cohesiveness, and to your organization’s reputation. Each can be seriously impacted!
Today, workplace incivility damages not only your business but your employees’ families, as well. It may begin as co-worker comments that result in tension and damaged relations. Feelings may lie dormant but resurface later affecting others. Workplace incivility has far-reaching consequences.
Incivility Workplace Damages
Civil behavior involves choice, respect, engagement, inclusivity, and connection.
Perceptions assess and experience civility.
Leaders’ responsibilities must ensure a safe and innovative workplace. Only then can individuals and teams become incubators of change and innovation. Both require civility! Leadership possesses the power to embed policies demanding workforce civility.
Incivility is dangerous to everyone. It impacts many and spreads like a virus! Disagreements between a few employees in one department often escalate and create repercussions across the organization. What might seem innocuous and irrelevant soon spirals out of control. Result:
Time spent assessing causes and dousing fires
Reduced production and disruption in customer service
Diminished departmental collaboration
Lost team cohesiveness
Employee job dissatisfaction
Higher turnover and increased resignations
Lost task focus resulting in workplace accidents
Potential workplace violence
Costly litigation
Damaged reputation
Leadership’s Role
Dehumanizing treatment of people
Makes inhuman treatment of them possible.
In today’s turbulent business climate senior leadership should focus and create opportunities to:
Maintain market share
Serve customers
Develop new products
Increase cost effective service delivery
Support a culture of innovation and collaboration
Attract, hire, train, and retain new employees, despite labor shortages
Offer competitive compensation and benefit packages
Build and retain an energized and committed workforce
Identifying Workplace Issues
We at Antrim know that workplace issues are best identified before they arise. Antrim encourages your organization to review your Strategic Plan’s Goals and ensure that departmental leaders set relevant and time-sensitive Objectives. The Plans’ Goals and Objectives will refocus and amplify your organization’s commitment and best practices for market growth, sound financial management, customer service, workplace safety, and bottom-line profitability – each powered and supported by a cohesive and innovative workforce.
Strategic Plan outcomes are attainable when highly engaged and innovative teams shape and guide required change initiatives during implementation. Whether you are in the public or private sector, Strategic Plans provide your employees with a clear roadmap. Give them the keys and let them drive your future!
Organizations are built and thrive on their knowledge assets:
They deliver your long-term success!
Workplace Civility: Impact and Benefits
Employees in governmental agencies and corporate entities must have the requisite job knowledge and skills to pivot, with confidence, in unexpected circumstances. Team-based agility, responsiveness, and commitment to change are required. Today rapid response services are critically important, especially in times of planned improvements or unanticipated disasters.
Your workforce must be capable of making critical decisions in a timely manner. There can be no room for petty resentments, short tempers, or miscommunication. Whether your customers are local or global, your workforce must be nimble in dealing with the unexpected! Most importantly, employees must work as one. To be truly innovative and be on their game, your knowledge assets must, at all times, be respectful and civil.
Civility Defined: Formal politeness & courtesy in behavior and speech
Manifestations: Respect & care for others, display of empathy
Impacts: Shapes a respectful society & workplace
Antrim is aware that tempers flare as project times tighten. This is when unkind or abusive words and aggressive body language escalate. On-time delivery is disrupted by just one or two individuals failing to communicate with others in a respectful civil manner.
Whatever your business, it’s incumbent upon leadership, union and non-union alike, to foster and mandate a Culture of Civility. Antrim recognizes an organization’s Code of Civility supports:
Calm and energized employees
Respectful, accurate, and timely communication
Inter and intra-departmental empathic behavior among peers
Workforce innovation
Collaboration where all share thoughts and ideas
On-time project performance
Low absenteeism and high workforce retention
Best-in-class customer service and performance excellence
Decreased workplace accidents, long-term injuries, or death
Lower or non-existent Workmen’s Compensation claims
A mandated Code of Civility, at all levels of your organization, will ensure that civility remains an integral part of your workforce. Antrim’s mission is to help your organization instill individual traits and group dynamics that foster a culture of civility.
Everyone thinks of changing the world,
But no one thinks of changing himself
Count Leo Tolstoy
1829-1910
Russian Author & Pacifist
6 Strategies That Ensure Workplace Civility
Respect Others
There’s an old saying: Treat others as you would have them treat you. Creating an oasis of calm and civil behavior begins with one team member who displays an open mind and shares views respectfully. Psychologists tell us we often mimic the behaviors of others. Your organization’s senior leadership and Human Resource personnel can change workforce dynamics by establishing clear norms for mutually respectful behavior.
2. Emotional Intelligence
Emotional Intelligence provides your workforce with the five personal and professional skills needed to navigate challenging workplace situations with skills to approach all situations with a calm and focused mind.
Five essential traits are required for success in one’s personal and professional life. These traits ensure long-lasting solutions. EI instills civility, trust, collaboration, and long-lasting solutions. Essential elements in your workplace culture. These five skills are: Awareness, Regulation, Motivation, Empathy, and Social Skills.
3. Effective Communication
It’s generally accepted that speaking is overrated, and listening is in short supply. What can your organization do to boost non-judgmental listening skills? One strategy: offer active listening workshops. Antrim knows that employees learn to be tolerant when they practice collaboration and problem solving in a quiet space. We provide that quiet space!
4. Performance Improvement Plans (PIPs)
Organizations can, and should, boost individual and group performance with PIPs. Expertly designed PIPs focus on what’s important for individual growth and team performance. Performance Improvement Plans must articulate job expectations. Human Resource professionals must provide feedback and set new goals with employees. PIPs will instill a sense of renewal in your workforce.
5. Protect Your Workforce
Overworked employees burn out. In the past few decades, we have become aware that personal and professional growth cannot be achieved without time for self! Productivity dramatically drops and innovation decreases when our minds and bodies are fatigued. Everyone needs time to recharge their batteries. No one is at peak performance when overworked! Provide a quiet place where your employees can decompress during break or lunchtime. A calm oasis might be all that’s needed to reestablish performance, morale, and civility. A refreshed workforce is Action Ready.
6. Responsible Leadership
Monitor workflow and output. As work escalates, tension, stress, and incivility are likely to rise. Both can be avoided. Step in and assess the situation. Ask team members for their suggestions and support their input, whenever possible. They will respect your leadership and commitment to them. Incivility is not a difficult issue to tackle.
Identify It
Eradicate It
Get On With It
Antrim’s Invitation
Online &/or Onsite Coaching
Free 1 Hour Initial Consultation
CONTACT ANTRIM CONSULTING