Know What to Look For—Incivility 101

So what exactly constitutes “incivility?” Is it serious enough to worry about? Incivility includes a variety of behaviours that tend to fly under the organizational radar and are frequently never addressed. Uncivil behaviours seem like small potatoes, but they can lead to larger problems if left unchecked. Incivility differs from harassment and violence, but continued uncivil behaviours can lead to these more serious problems within the workplace. Incivility is generally regarded as “rude, discourteous, disrespectful behaviour with ambiguous intent to harm, and it is usually unclear what the person’s intentions are.” Classic forms of incivility can include:

• Avoiding or annoying behaviours
• Coming to work “in a mood”
• No Hello, Goodbye, Please, or Thank You
• Eye rolling
• Belittling someone
• Gossip, cliques and social exclusion
• Rude use of technology (e.g., staring at your phone or texting during a conversation with co-worker)
• Interrupting a conversation or an important meeting
• Withdrawing information
• Forgetting meetings

It's a great idea to outline acceptable behaviours. Use HRd's Mutual Respect (Rumors/Gossip) Policy and Respectful Communication in the Workplace Policy to start developing your blueprint.

Play Good Defense

Uncivil behaviours have many potential underlying reasons. Incivility can be episodic or longer-term. Incivility can result from working long hours, stress, or inflexible personalities. Mounting uncivil behaviour can affect the work environment by spreading throughout the organization with a “mushroom effect.” If not addressed, incivility can quickly invade the heart of the organization causing more harm than the initial action that started it all, like a forest full of fungi. Keep an eye on the number of hours your employees are working or their workloads and encourage downtime and stress management techniques.

Persistent and unaddressed incivility may also erode your bottom line through poor customer service. Driving away your customers with bad behaviour is a sure fire method for driving down profits and any services you want to provide. When one of your employees is rude or discourteous to a customer or client, your customers will probably feel like taking their business elsewhere. See HRdownloads' Customer Service Standards Policy and Customer Service Feedback Form to ensure your customer service standards are consistently met.

Be a Good Role Model

The role of management is a critical piece in the puzzle for preventing uncivil workplace behaviours. Managers can lead by example by following these principles:

• Have a clear vision for the organization—explain why you want to get a handle on incivility.
• Use your organization’s core values; if these are “respect” and “community,” use these principles to highlight their role in civility.
• Be a good role model—brush up on your “hellos,” don’t interrupt important meetings, and leave the moodiness at the door.
• Keep up the dialogue—provide regular opportunities and training to discuss civility and respect within the workplace.
• Act on it—address uncivil behaviours when they crop up; don’t wait until it becomes a larger problem. Use progressive discipline as needed.
• Integrate workplace practices with your policies—if you have policies on workplace behaviour, try to work this in to your day-to-day processes.

Managers can foster a positive workplace culture by being good examples themselves. No one is going to respect a “shouting Bob.” Managers can start the conversation by integrating core company values with policies, plans and training. Refer to HRdownloads’ presentations on Respect in the Workplace and Anti-Harassment and Violence to kick start training and education for your employees.

Use a Winning Formula

Follow these three commandments to help reduce rude or aggressive behaviours and give your employees the skills they need to deal with these situations as they arise:

1. Develop a slogan that your employees will remember—one that gets them thinking about practicing what they preach. For example “if you can’t be our banner, change your manner.” Try to remind others of this slogan when you spot bad behaviour, and place it in a spot for everyone to see. This is important to your employees, but it sends a positive message to your customers and clients as well.
2. Manage your own self by practicing thoughtfulness. Go back to the person and check if you offended them in some way and ask what you can do to make it better. Better yet, apologize.

3. Use the W.I.N. Formula:

   W = Outline the When, Who, What, and Where. Present the facts when uncivil behaviour happens and give a description of exactly what happened.

   I = Impact—think about the impact these actions will have on others, on yourself, and anyone within the organization. Think about the feelings you had about the action or behaviour.

   N = Next time, what you need to negotiate. This could be a suggestion or a blueprint for what will work to prevent or resolve the actions or the behaviours. You can respond from a different place as opposed to reacting in anger. If the incivility is subtle and not clear, ask yourself, can it be narrowed down?