harassment

Make work better. For everyone.

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I looked with disgust at a news story last week that showed photos of a very successful UK business man, effectively pawing a young female employee. I’ve written before about power and the interface with inappropriate behaviour and actions. We cannot turn a blind eye and continue to suggest that these actions are a strange aberration.

If we want “good work” then how about starting with facing up to harassment and discrimination? How about facing into the fact that too many people go into work every day with a sense of dread? How about being honest that we have people in business, in society that are taken advantage of others, and we know?

If HR wants to stand for something, how about standing for workplaces free of inappropriate behaviour, free of harassment and free of intimidation. How about standing for something better.

That doesn’t mean that bad things won’t happen. We cannot be all seeing, all knowing, omnipotent superheroes. But there is a long and significant continuum that reaches from deity, to turning a blind eye. And maybe we should be a little bit more focussed on shifting our performance along that line.

As I’ve said before, when these actions take place, somebody knows. And worse than that, often numerous people know.  And even worse, often HR departments know. And if we know and we fail to act, we betray our organisations and our profession.

What if we came together and said. “no more”? That as a profession we would no longer work for, or in, organisations that failed to tackle underlying issues with harassment or constant inappropriate behaviour. That we would raise the issues internally and if they weren’t properly handled, externally. That we would stand for something bigger and better than just doing our jobs.

What if we were really about, trying to make work better for everyone?

It can happen anywhere

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Watching the allegation of sexual harassment at Westminster unfold, fills me with a sense of despair. Only three weeks ago I was writing that dignity wasn’t optional in relation to the Hollywood revelations and now not a day goes by without allegations being made against another man in power.

One of the most fascinating aspects (if fascinating can ever be an appropriate term in this context) is the reaction of onlookers to the various allegations. As those accused provide the justifications for their actions or denials, others look on and pass judgment. Social media is full of commentary and the mainstream media provides opportunity for others to provide their analysis.

More than once I’ve read the phrase, “witch hunt” and I’m desperate to ask, “by whom?” and “for the sake of what?”. But perhaps one of the most interesting aspects is the political lens that is being put on the allegations by many of those watching events unfold. Believing the stories of those that we agree with, or are like us, versus disbelieving those that aren’t alike.

At the heart of this is one of the biggest reasons that cultures permit behaviours to become entrenched that are unacceptable to the independent eye. When we choose to believe those that we like, trust or associate with because of that association and we do not base our assessment on fact, then we run the risk of allowing the system to get out of control.

That’s why our role as leaders has to be to bring an independent and rational approach to any type of allegation or complaint that is brought to our attention. That’s why we have to rise above relationships and look simply at the information that is presented before us. That’s why we have to be willing to make decisions that break a system as well as to strive to remake it.

In-group and out-group cognitive biases are pervasive in cultures that go wrong. “They’re all like that”, “they’re all at it”, but “we’re not like that” and “we’re different”. These biases prevent us from seeing the glaringly obvious, but also allow us to re-interpret the actions that we see and prevent us from taking the actions that we would otherwise call on others to take.

Ultimately, and sadly, issues like sexual harassment and bullying don’t understand organisational boundaries, they don’t understand political boundaries. They are as likely to happen in one place as another unless we put in the systems and interventions in place to try to minimise the occurrence. And that starts with recognising that when an issue is raised we need to be open, thoughtful and balanced in our approach.

Dignity isn’t optional

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Last week’s rolling fatberg of a story featured a Hollywood mogul’s repeatedly obnoxious and fundamentally unacceptable (illegal) behaviour. I can’t imagine there is anyone that isn’t up to date with the story – widely reported – so I won’t go into the story. But here’s the summary;

Powerful man preys on less powerful women in industry for his personal gain.

Who knew?

There are multiple things that stand out for me in the story, but most prominently is the negligent inaction of so many men and women that stood by and let it happen. Who, without any shadow of doubt, are complicit.

I heard an interview with George Clooney who stated they were all aware that the guy in a question was a “womaniser”, but no one knew it was this bad. I’ve seen actresses that have significant power and global influence stand up and recount their stories years after – allowing multiple repetitions of inappropriate behaviour. I’ve read stories of actresses decades ago being warned to avoid certain situations.

Don’t give me the line that his power was overwhelming, I repeat: they were all complicit. 

It reminds me of a situation that I investigated in the past – an incident at a Christmas party between a senior male employee and a much more junior female employee. The actions were portrayed as innocuous, and between two people of the same age in a different context they could well have been so.

But this was a work context, with a significant difference in power, age and experience. And for me they were far from innocuous entirely because of those facts. As we investigated it became clear that the people who’d talked about the events in the corridors and over water coolers suddenly, “hadn’t seen anything”. I’m proud to say we stood our ground nonetheless and took action.

In the weeks that followed, as the rumour mills rolled, several senior colleagues of both genders told me that the guy had a bit of a reputation, that he was well known for acting inappropriately for years and that they weren’t surprised. None of these colleagues had anything to fear from stepping forward at any point. So why hadn’t they?

Let me put this really clearly, where inappropriate behaviour happens in the workplace and you standby, you are allowing it to happen. The movie industry is an unusual one, that mixes work and leisure in an unnatural way but nobody is trying to claim that his advances on women weren’t work related. That’s why he was sacked. And it can and does happen in any work place.

It is beholden on all of us to make a stand – particularly those of us in leadership positions, regardless of our gender. Everyone should be able to go about their lawful work, without fear of intimidation, harassment or assault. That’s not a high bar to set, it’s a basic human right.