Trust Your Canary

Name: Trust Your Canary | Every Leader's Guide to Taming Workplace Incivility
Brand: Fairleigh Press
Price: 8.59 EUR
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Every Leader's Guide to Taming Workplace Incivility

Sharone Bar-David(Autor*in)

Fairleigh Press

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Erschienen am 26. Juni 2015

350 Seiten

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1 WHAT IS WORKPLACE INCIVILITY? The road got more bumpy, more rocky, more tricky. By midnight, I tell you, my stomach felt icky. -Dr. Seuss, I Had Trouble in Getting to Solla Sollew DEFINING WORKPLACE INCIVILITY Throughout this book, we'll be using the following definition to describe workplace incivility: Workplace incivility refers to seemingly insignificant behaviors that are rude, disrespectful, discourteous or insensitive, where the intent to harm is ambiguous or unclear.1 The first thing you might notice is that this definition is somewhat vague. It may not be as concrete and satisfying as you would like it to be. In fact, several aspects of this definition are ambiguous and highly subjective. For example, what constitutes a "rude" or "seemingly insignificant" behavior will vary greatly from one person to another, and even from one team to another. (No worries, we will discuss many of these issues throughout the book so that you can move forward with clarity.) Let's look at the various elements of the definition of workplace incivility. The first part focuses on the seemingly inconsequential, low intensity nature of the behavior. The behaviors in question do not necessarily involve gross offenses or outright insults but, rather, are often minor actions that seem trivial, the kind that anyone can engage in without necessarily even knowing it. They occur within the subtlety of words and actions, where manner and body language set the tone for how the words should be interpreted. Take for example a manager asking an employee, "Have you considered using the new system to solve this problem?" This question, when delivered in a neutral tone, will cause no offense and may, in fact, be perceived as helpful. However, the same words delivered with an emphasis on the words "have you" or "considered," accompanied by an impatient tone, will be perceived as belittling and even humiliating. The second part focuses on the nature of the behavior itself-"rude and discourteous." This, too, is a relative term. What is acceptable in one culture, team or context may not be as welcome in another, and what a member of one generation considers acceptable can be offensive to a member of a different generation. The range, complexity and subtleties of human interactions cannot be boxed into a hard definition. And yet as a manager you are required to act, even amid ambiguity. In your organization and on your team, much of the determination as to what is rude, discourteous and insensitive will lie in your hands. The definition's third element focuses on intent to harm-"unclear or ambiguous." In most incivility situations it is exceedingly difficult to determine whether the person intended to harm, offend or hurt. Take for example an instance where a few team members have forged friendships outside work. In the presence of Emily, another colleague who is not part of the friendship circle, they refer to outings they had and they giggle at inside jokes without including Emily. The intent to harm might be unclear, but the effects of this behavior on Emily, especially if repeated over time, might be quite negative. Or consider the case of someone rolling her eyes when a colleague is speaking-it is hard to determine whether this is an innocent expression of frustration or an intentional dismissive move. Furthermore, many of the behaviors that we will refer to as uncivil are associated with certain commonly accepted personality traits. For example, some people are considered by themselves (and others) to be straight shooters, or sarcastic or moody and, as such, they might engage in behaviors that the person on the receiving end may experiences as outright rude, disrespectful or hurtful. In these cases the intent to harm is unclear, but the impact is deeply felt. Some uncivil behaviors are highly personal, whereas others are victimless. The first category refers to actions that are clearly directed at a specific person or persons. Under this class you will find behaviors such as gossiping about a coworker, snickering when a colleague is delivering a presentation, or making a belittling comment about someone's skills. These highly personal behaviors can also take place via electronic or computer means, such as sending a critical email to a person with others copied on the communication. The victimless behaviors, on the other hand, comprise inconsiderate conduct that is not directed at a specific person or group of people. Here you will find behaviors such as carrying on a loud conversation in an open-concept work environment, or leaving the lunchroom microwave dirty when others need to use it. These are bad habits but they (usually) are not likely to trigger the strong types of reactions that the personal type of incivility will create. I classify these behaviors as unprofessional rather than uncivil because they violate what most people would consider to be the norms of good judgment and workplace courtesy.2 The lines between unprofessional behavior and uncivil behavior are blurry. For example, if someone continues to have a loud conversation in an open workspace even if asked to stop because it interrupts other people's work, then this behavior would now be classified as uncivil: The person who is doing this now knows full well that others are bothered but still continues to do it. Throughout this book, we will be focusing on the first type of incivility, which is more personal in nature. These behaviors cause the most turmoil and have the greatest implications for people, teams and the work itself. They are also the ones that you as a leader will find more challenging to diagnose and handle and where you are more likely to make mistakes that will lead to negative ramifications. As to the uncivil behaviors of the more unprofessional kind, you can implement relatively simple measures to deal effectively with those, even when they tend to be persistent or when initiated by chronic offenders. In fact, you will find that you can readily apply most of the strategies in this book to such situations as well. So how do you navigate your way through all this ambiguity? The good news is that in addition to everything this book will help you learn to do, you can always rely on your "inner canary"-a built-in human alarm system akin to the canaries that coal miners would take into the tunnels to alert them of the presence of poisonous gases. When you witness incivility, this canary gets activated. It manifests in the form of a strong inner sensation that tells you that something isn't quite right. (It's a "gut feeling" of sorts.) It may come as a physical sensation, such as a pang in your stomach, or an overwhelming sense of discomfort that suddenly descends upon you. Sometimes it may come in the form of a thought, such as "Wow, that was super rude." While you may not be able to pinpoint exactly what is bothering you, you intuitively sense that something about the situation isn't right. In chapter 8 we will delve more deeply into how you can best use your canary, but for now, I hope you find comfort in knowing that your own personal alert is there to aid you in a very real way-once you learn to trust it. THE REAL-LIFE MANIFESTATIONS OF WORKPLACE INCIVILITY Molly, my sister, and I fell out, And what do you think it was all about? She loved coffee and I loved tea And that was the reason we couldn't agree. -Mother Goose, "Coffee and Tea" Any attempt to capture the full range of behaviors that qualify as workplace incivility would require more pages than the covers of a single book can contain. They range from barely visible behavior right up to blatantly rude conduct that verges on harassment. As you read the list of common uncivil behaviors that follows, you might be struck by how seemingly insignificant many of them seem. You might think that people should know better than to behave in these ways or, conversely, that those on the receiving end shouldn't take such minor infractions to heart. And yet, your own experience might already have taught you that whether or not you approve of it, the reality is that people do get offended, upset and even retaliatory when they experience these behaviors from a colleague or manager. As you read further into this book, you will discover fascinating statistics about the far-reaching effects that these small acts have on people, performance, engagement and teamwork. As you go through the examples of common, uncivil behaviors included below, I invite you to ask yourself which of these behaviors you have personally demonstrated (maybe even for a good reason, or at least that's what you told yourself), perhaps even as recently as within the past week. If you can't find at least one or two examples, extend the search period to two weeks. You should be able to find...

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