Incivility in the Workplace
“What do people want most from their leaders?... Respect,” said Christine Porath on the issue of incivility in the workplace.
In January 2018 at a TED talk at the University of Nevada, Porath described incivility as “disrespect or rudeness.” According to Porath, who has spent many years of her life researching the effects of incivility, says it includes mocking or belittling someone, telling offensive jokes, or texting in meetings.
Porath said that we can experience incivility at work, school, our communities and online. This incivility affects employee’s emotions, motivation, performance and how they treat others.
In her research, she found that incivility made people less motivated, “66% cut back work efforts, 80% lost work time, and 12% left their job,” Porath said.
“Incivility chips away at people and their performance. It robs people of their potential, even if they are just working around it,” Porath said.
Porath gave an example of a medical team whose doctor had yelled at them right before they performed the surgery. The harsh conversation proved to have negative consequences.
“Right after the interaction, the team gave the wrong dosage of medicine to their patient,” Porath said the information was right on the wall, but the whole team missed it. They lacked the “attention or awareness” to notice the correct dosage. This seems like a simple mistake, but the patient died.
Porath said that in their research they found that teams who have been exposed to rudeness function worse because they “did not share information as readily, and they stopped seeking help from their teammates.”
*Audience members responded thoughtfully. “[civility is] important because people reflect the environment around them, so negative environments will have a negative impact,” Ashley Souza, a Dallas junior, said.
In her research, Porath found that the main reasons for incivility are stress and concerns about appearing too civil or nice.
“They [people acting uncivilly] believe they will look less leader-like. They wonder: do nice guys finish last?” Porath said.
Porath referred to a study that showed the number one reason tied to executive failure was “an intensive, abrasive, or bullying style.”
“It comes back to hurt [uncivil executives] when they are in a place of weakness or they need something-people won’t have their backs,” Porath said.
“It's all in the eyes of the beholder if that person felt disrespected,” Porath said. Regardless of one’s intentions, hurting someone had consequences. Porath shared a story about her father being put in the hospital due to work-related stress, brought on by his incivil boss as an example.
But Porath says that it doesn’t have to be this way, there are simple steps to bring civility into the workplace. “Being truly civil means doing the small things, like smiling and saying hello in the hallway, and listening fully when someone is speaking to you,” Porath said.
Porath referred to “radical candor” meaning you care personally but challenge directly. She said a leader can give negative feedback and criticize with civility.
Audience members said how this speech caused them to think about communication between a boss and their employee.
"You have to keeping mind how you communicate. At the job I have now, my boss is a little younger. She doesn’t communicate through email as much but through text messages. I’ve had bosses in the past who everything was through email,” Marquis Cooley, a Sterling, Virginia, junior, said.
Porath again emphasized the importance of civility and outlined the positive consequences when implemented in the workplace.
“What I know from my research is that when we have civil environments, we’re more productive, creative, helpful, happy, and healthy,” Porath said.
Success in Public Relations
Chief Executive Officer of Golin Harris, Fred Cooke, delivered an inspirational speech on how to be successful to a group of students at the University of Austin. Cooke shared that something as small as taking a job working for tips could help you in your path to be an executive or CEO.
Cooke spent the most time expanding on the idea of exposing yourself. He shared a story of how he moved to Europe picked up random jobs. He told the students to think about a magazine stand.
Cooke said that when you are going to grab a magazine, don’t get something like People magazine. Instead, buy something you have never read before: a magazine on welding or old cars. “These are doors who whole new worlds where millions of people live, that are different from you,” Cooke said. He encouraged them to view the food they eat, religions they research, restaurants they go to and movies they watch in the same way. Likewise, he encouraged the students to expand their expertise. Being diverse and exposing yourself to different hobbies will make you stand out to employers.
Another tip he gave the students was to “ask the captain”. During his travels in Europe, Cooke wanted so badly to work on a ship. He asked around and found out that the only way to get the job was to ask the captain himself, so he did. Cooke said that one way to make yourself stand out at your job is to get to know the executives.
Next, Cooke said to enlist an entourage and try to be famous for something. Getting people on your team is important to being successful. Having friends and other peers in your corner is essential to be indispensable to a company. In order to be famous for something, you need an entourage to back you up and support you.
One of the most curious of Cooke’s points is to work for tips. He gave an example from his life when he worked as a doorman at a famous hotel in Los Angeles as a young man. He learned important people and service skills, “it is really the little things that make a difference,” Cooke said. He learned tricks to remembering people’s names, and something as small as that would get him a tip. He took lessons like this into his career as an executive.
Cooke shared stories of his unique experiences to show how he became successful and to show the students at the University of Texas how they might do the same.