We are expanding the scope and focus of our Richard N. Knowles and Associates Inc. business to helping organizations reduce the risk of workplace violence.
This begins with the leaders deciding to create a culture where it is okay and encouraged that people genuinely talk together, listen, help each other, look out for each other and learn together. This is a culture that helps people to be the best they can be and for the organization to get a lot more profitable. It all begins with all of us treating each other with respect.
Respect: Treating everyone with respect helps to keep tension low. Courteous, respectful treatment of co-workers, customers, and clients is fundamental to preventing workplace violence. What is your organization’s approach to respect in the workplace?
Does this sound like what we have talked about in our safety work? It involves the same approach, which we call Partner-Centered Leadership. At both the organizational safety level and the full cultural level, we are doing essentially the same work. It is all about people and choosing to work together, communicate together, interact together, in healthy, respectful ways.
By emphasizing that we begin with respect for each other, we are setting the standard that it is not okay to engage in disrespectful behavior, to harass one another, to bully anyone whether by a co-worker or a supervisor or manager, to gang up on anyone and/or use other ways to try to impose one’s power on someone in a hurtful, repetitive way. Those incivilities can only be destructive to culture – they make the difference between a hostile work environment and a healthy one.
Each person in a leadership position needs to go into their organization modeling this behavior and talking with the people about this – why it is important and insist that the standards be upheld. They need to support the line organization in doing this so none of the supervisors are hung out to dry.
The behaviors driving poor safety performance are a part of the workplace violence picture. People who are being pushed to work so quickly that, for example, they do not conduct a “Take-Two” safety check before the work starts or skip tool box meetings or are pushed without anyone listening to their thoughts before starting the work, are often the people who get into trouble and get hurt. Their attention is focused on getting the job done as quickly as they can without worrying about their or their co-workers’ safety. They tend to skip critical PSM safety checks which can lead to big disasters.
This is the sort of culture that Eric Hollnagel is talking about in his Safety II work, which is intended to move the organization beyond the traditional top-down safety management. (I’ve written about Safety II in previous articles – it is all good!)
In a hostile/toxic culture where it is okay to bully someone, things can build over time to where someone feels so bad and helpless that he/she does something violent…a home-grown, active shooter, for example. In 2016, workplace murders accounted for about 500 fatalities and 380 suicides. The second biggest cause of fatalities for women in the workplace stems from workplace violence.
We at Richard N. Knowles and Associates, Inc. have joined forces with Robin C. Nagele who brings vast experience in security and law enforcement. If you go to our new web site, NageleKnowlesAndAssociates.com, you can learn more about each of us and our work. We bring a holistic approach to this important work that leads to better cultures, improved safety and security and stronger earnings.
Guide to Reducing the Risk of Workplace Violence – The Absolute Essentials (by Nagele, Knowles and Associates)
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Go to our website and provide your name/address in the comment section. We’ll send this informative resource to you promptly. We’ve had good feedback on this booklet and just completed our 4th revision – further expanding content.
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