Demonstrating Leadership and Courage through Boundaries

"Words are things, you must be careful", Maya Angelou once said. In today's political climate, I cannot help but wonder about the long term effects of lack of civility in our society.

The truth is that each individual, whether you have the title of leader or not, has the ability to set boundaries. Did someone tell an inappropriate joke in the lunchroom? Your chuckle or even silence just gave permission to the jokester to do it again.

Lack of boundaries in any organization leads to systemic cultural issues. Companies like Uber are just now surfacing many organizational behaviors, perpetuated by executives, leading to sexual harassment, bullying, bias and retaliation. Words are things, you must be careful.

The Harvard Business Review recently published an article with thoughtful advice on how to respond to offensive comments at work. My favorite approach is to ask a question to give the person the opportunity to either "clarify" their statement or restate it entirely. A question is a challenge to the behavior. If the person boldly continues with their approach, a more forceful response may be appropriate such as Maya Angelou inviting the person to leave and stating "not in my house you won't".

If your organization would like to learn more about how to transform your organizational culture, contact us at Dolce Consulting!

References

Dr. Maya Angelou - Power Of Words. (2013, March 04). Retrieved June 9, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PXdacSqvcA&index=1&list=PL5ojlfTtQkMAragZGK2pZ8fsU4WZWWwrL

Gallo, A. (2017, February 08). How to respond to an offensive comment at work. Retrieved June 9, 2017, from https://hbr.org/2017/02/how-to-respond-to-an-offensive-comment-at-work

Swisher, K. (2017, June 06). Perkins Coie's lawyer on Uber firings: 'We were very dogged' in investigating misbehavior and it's still not over. Retrieved June 9, 2017, from https://www.recode.net/2017/6/6/15749216/perkins-coie-lawyer-bobbie-wilson-uber-firings-dogged-investigating-misbehavior-not-over