How to build cultural immunity in your organization
Bullying isn’t an issue that happens only on playgrounds. It happens in the workplace as well. Healthcare organizations are, in fact, often a hotbed of bullying with reported prevalence rates ranging from 26-77%.
Clearly, that’s unacceptable. But, too often, our attempts at addressing bullying take the wrong focus.
Response vs. Prevention
This was brought home to me recently as I was talking to a group of HR professionals about the challenges they have with bullying. Much of the conversation centered around what to do when a bullying incident is discovered—the documentation that has to be done, the conversations that need to happen.
It was all about responding to bullying in an appropriate way which, of course, is very important.
But, as I thought about it, the old public health nurse in me emerged—and the philosophy of focusing on prevention. I thought: “What if we could vaccinate our organizations against behaviors like bullying, or intimidation, or passive aggressiveness?”
We can!
Your Culture is Your Vaccination!
When you define what kind of culture you want to create, you need to consider the kinds of behaviors that you expect from everyone in your organization. What behaviors are non-negotiable? What behaviors will you have zero tolerance for? Where do you draw a line in the sand?
As they say: “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” You can avoid a lot of problems if you clearly set expectations in the first place. And if you follow through with prompt and appropriate action when those expectations aren’t met.
Having standards in place, and staying true to your values are key. It’s not about having a plaque on the wall espousing your values. It’s living, breathing, and demonstrating those values through ongoing commitment and action. Values shouldn’t just be a statement—they need to be promise.
That’s how you vaccinate your organization against things like bullying.
Tags: culture catalysts, Employee Engagement, free from bullying, harassment, harassment in healthcare, harassment in the workplace, safety at work, safety in the workplace, workplace bullying, workplace culture
