Hannah reflects on the vast impact incivility can have on organisations.
Incivility can creep into workplace culture with subtle behaviours going unnoticed until the rot sets in. This can take the form of relatively low-key rude behaviours. Tutting, eye-rolling, interrupting and forgetting our ‘P’s’ and ‘Q’s’ may seem minor, and isolated incidents are unlikely to raise red flags. On the other hand, what’s tolerated can quickly become the norm. If we walk past standards continually, culture can quickly go downhill.
You might be thinking, ‘So what, nobody ever died because someone rolled their eyes, right?’ Research from Porath and Erez found a 61% reduction in cognitive ability when an individual has just been treated badly by someone else. If our focus and performance tank, the consequences can be disastrous. At the extreme end of the scale, in a clinical or health and safety setting, it could be fatal, and our Civility Saves Lives programmes with NHS Trust partners promote civility and its role in supporting good patient outcomes (Click here to find out some more hard-hitting stats).
Even when civility isn’t a matter of life and death, it has a significant impact on outcomes across a range of sectors and commercial contexts. Colleagues impacted by incivil behaviour are more likely to make mistakes and may even take out the way they’ve been treated on others, creating a negative domino effect. We all play a part in creating and maintaining a culture we want to work in, and which supports our professional objectives. For some of us, civility may seem soft and fluffy, so how does it translate to business benefits?
1. Improved customer experience, retention and lifetime value – we supported one of our client partners to develop a winning people-first approach in their call centre, prioritising quality conversations over call times, which proved more commercially effective. If we’re functioning at the top of our cognitive ability, we’re better-placed to problem-solve!
2. Brand-building and enhanced reputation – if customers observe colleagues sniping at each other, that’s not a good ‘peek behind the curtain,’ particularly if what’s on show doesn’t depict the values you’d want to project. It’s also pretty hard to switch mindsets between internal friction and being a customer-facing custodian of the brand. Facial expressions and tone can be give-aways here!
We worked with a fantastic rail organisation who recognised the choice in travel options their customers have, so they wanted to go the extra mile to anticipate and meet travellers’ needs, rewarding and building loyalty. Small actions like helping someone with their luggage built a feel-good association with the service, resulting in repeat custom and new business from word-of-mouth recommendations, because, after all, a lot rests on the stories we go home and tell.
3. Bottom-line benefits – improved workplace culture reduces costs associated with staff turnover; risk of tribunals, money spent on repeat recruitment and training, making more of the talent within your business. It may seem counter-intuitive, but decisions made purely with a pound-note attached (and which don’t take into account the human impact to colleagues and customers) miss a trick and can be more costly in the long run.
4. Improved team effectiveness – kindness is currency and builds trust; Stephen Covey talked about making deposits in someone’s emotional bank account. Psychologist John Gottman found that happy relationships need at least five positive interactions to counter any one less-than-positive interaction. In short, if others generally experience us positively, the relationship is better able to withstand pressures and challenges.
In the workplace, psychological safety, defined by Amy C. Edmondson as, ‘a belief that one will not be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns or mistakes,’ is critical to getting the best of anyone. Civility is a key cornerstone of this. From new starters to high-flying execs, colleagues able to ask questions, who receive encouragement and feedback pitched in the right way will contribute more. That’s a tick for improved collaboration and innovation, meaning more bang for your buck.
We’re only human and all experience different types of pressure moments when we’re less able to show up at our best (and grumpiness risks spilling over). At work, regular suspects might include tight deadlines or navigating change, e.g. mergers, restructures and seasonal peaks (particularly during audit time or financial year-end)… the list goes on and on and is as varied as business itself. Forewarned is forearmed – what factors affect your team vibe and where may incivility be impacting your business?
Civility runs through Rambutan like the lettering in a stick of rock. It’s not just something we talk about, it’s something we recruit to. We truly believe that civility is a superpower that drives a multitude of business success metrics; where could more civility give your business the edge?