Incivility seems to be rampant today. A December 2016 article in the McKinsey Quarterly reported that incivility is rapidly rising, with more than 62% of employees reporting being treated rudely (crude language, insults, put-downs) by colleagues at least once per month. I suspect that we might find a jump in this percentage today as a consequence of the language and behavior of some prominent people.
This is not a political commentary. But I must say that the words, tone, gestures and behavior of our leaders are making things so much worse. Incivility, name calling, condescending labeling seems to be acceptable at the highest levels of leadership.
The McKinsey article goes on to show the impact of this behavior is profound—80% of employees lost time worrying abut the incidents; 63% lost time trying to avoid the offender; 48% deliberately decreased their work effort as a result of this behavior; and 38% decreased the quality of their work.
This loss of productivity should not come as a surprise. Who wants to work in an environment where we are belittled, demeaned or made to feel insignificant? When these things happen, we mentally shut down. When we hear vile language and behavior our brain goes into a protective mode—we use the lower and mid levels of the brain (the so-called fight or flight and emotional regions). We essentially turn off the higher level of the brain where our reasoning, productivity and creativity reside. We do what ever it takes to ‘survive’ the environment.
Consider the how this might impact our ability to drive innovation and greater productivity in our organizations and in our country. Will this make us great? Will we continue to lead in innovation and productivity?
I suggest that we think about how our words and actions impact others. Do they invite others to listen to what we have to say or retreat from us? Do our words encourage contribution to thought or do they demean? Can we disagree with others in a civil way that helps us to better understand and move forward? Are we creating and environment that invites creativity or one that forces us into “protective mode?”
Each of us as an individual can take steps to change this mounting incivility by our own actions. If we don’t, what will our future be?