Building a Respectful Workplace

Details: Monday, December 03, 2012 10:12 am

Attending a harassment awareness and prevention training session ranks right up there with purging email and filing tax returns – periodic duties that most of us would like to avoid as long as possible.

Most training ends on an anxious note. Supervisors, managers, HR – all have a lot on the line, professionally and personally, in terms of recognizing and handling complaints correctly. A quick review of EEOC statistics and recent employment case law drives home that the financial and image stakes for organizations are high – in terms of lost productivity, legal and PR fees, and government fines. Recently, I spoke with a manager who recently attended anti-harassment training. While said in jest, it’s not the first time I’ve heard his comment:

“Now I’m too scared to say or do anything.”

How can an organization shift away from this result while still getting the essential message across?

There’s a great opportunity here to flip a central anti-harassment question – from “what should we AVOID doing to minimize discrimination and harassment claims?” to “What steps can we take right now to build a culture based on the respect and value of differences?” The difference in mindset and approach between these two questions is significant – from “don’t” to “can” - and offers the best opportunity to not only minimize claims and legal exposure, but to realize a true competitive advantage of people who work well together. Now here’s a training session worth our time.

What Our Clients Say

June quickly translated her valuable corporate experience to our non-profit situation. She effectively lead us every step of the way in the development of a Strategic Plan, so that now we have a shared sense of organizational direction. June's broad skill set - ranging from the technical rigor in designing and interpreting a stakeholder survey to the professionalism and compassion she showed in coaching our staff through the resulting organizational change - positions her as a unique consultant for a small, dynamic organization.

-Dan McLellan, Leader, Durham non-profit organization

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