Is this behavior happening in your workplace?

List in hand as I’m pushing my shopping cart through the local grocery store, I rush to get this weekly chore done.?

Yet, in a small town, you are certain to run into people you know, so frequent stops for conversation are expected to slow you down.?

But not today.?

Today, what takes my attention away from completing my task as quickly as humanly possible is the conversations of others. In particular, the store employees.

I was only moments into my shopping extravaganza when I happened upon a conversation between two store employees.?

One employee, I’ll call her Carol, clearly was on a rant. Her body language boldly displayed negativity.?

As I got closer, her words confirmed it. She carried on about the multitude of sins her co-workers and the “higher ups” had perpetrated. Not impressed and not interested, I tarried on.

Moments later, and not too many aisles over, I spot Carol again. This time she is holding court with two more captive co-workers. It seemed like a flashback of Carol’s arms flailing and eyes rolling. Wouldn’t you know it, she was spouting more negativity about her peers and bosses.

No lie, this scene repeated itself four times in this one shopping episode. There was Carol, similar body language, negative tone of voice, blah, blah, blah.?

The last display that I had the pleasure of witnessing was just steps away from the row of packed check out lines, her conversation easily overheard by many.

As I stood in line for my turn to pay for my goods and get the heck out of this place, I pondered questions and thoughts such as this:

1. Did the listening employees agree with Carol?
2. Did the listening employees know how to stop Carol?
3. Did the supervisors know about Carol?
4. Did Carol believe her behavior was appropriate in the workplace?
5. Was this a normal day at work for Carol and her co-workers? Or an isolated incident?
6. How much lost productivity was involved in each of these scenarios?
7. These employees were being paid to engage in this behavior.
8. None of the employees made eye contact with me - ?the customer - let alone offer to provide me with assistance in any way.

So what’s an organization to do to prevent a Carol?

1. Hire right (hire for attitude, train to skill). Hire better than you, and better than you have.
2. Have a group of committed employees assist in the creation of behavior standards that all employees are familiar with and commit to.
3. Create a symbol for the behavior standards as a visual reminder. This symbol can also be worn on a name badge or uniform and then used to simply touch or point to when needing to call a co-worker’s attention to their behavior that is outside of the standards.
4. Encourage peer-to-peer accountability for behavior and performance. For the most part, we are adults in the workplace. It isn’t only the responsibility of management to call employees out on their behavior. Employees should feel supported and empowered to say: “Hey Carol, we are all responsible to uphold the behavior standards and this conversation isn’t in keeping with that. Let’s get back to work.”
5. Train leaders to positively coach. However, in situations when positive coaching doesn’t lead to improvement, leaders must progress to formal constructive conversations, discipline, and work plans. Leaders must take action when an employee has a chronic and persistent behavior and performance problem.

We must raise our standards and lower our tolerance to prevent and address the Carols in our work environments.

Now, another question . . . Where am I going to do my shopping next week?

Best,

Jane McLeod - Transforming Healthcare

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