By Steve M. Cohen bio
The New York Times had a great article June 19, 2015, “No Time to Be Nice at Work.”
Author Christine Porath is on target regarding several significant concerns that are especially relevant today. One of the first things that struck me was her points that incivility has been growing, and that it definitely has costs.
Porath joins others in noting that incivility and similar behavior causes stress. Continued stress, even intermittent stress, has a cost to one’s immune system, sometimes a big price. Damage to the immune system, cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, and ulcers are all possible from long-term stress. Several of these can kill you or a coworker.
The author also notes that you don’t always need to experience causes of stress directly. Simply being in a chronically toxic environment for several hours each day can do the damage.
Porath focuses much of her article on mean bosses, but I’d also note that toxic environments can also be caused by fellow employees. That’s why I stress that managers should be aware of the environment they help create at the office, as well as how staff members treat each other. It’s the type of intangible that can make a huge difference in any office.
For example, numerous studies have shown that performance is degraded by more than half when testers deliberately exhibited a rude, dismissive or demeaning behavior.
Although it would be an exaggeration to expect 50 or 60 percent better office performance just from being nice, the evidence clearly shows that chronic off-hand brusqueness and the like is counterproductive. Employers and managers who prefer to be rude and obnoxious can continue to do so, but they need to know it costs them, big time.
One of Porath’s interesting points involves contemporary incivility. She writes that this and similar bad behavior have grown over recent decades and that it’s part of a culture of “busy-ness.” In one extensive study, Porath recalled people who said they were simply too busy to be civil.
“Over half of them claim it is because they are overloaded, and more than 40 percent say they have no time to be nice,” Porath writes. “But respect doesn’t necessarily require extra time. It’s about how something is conveyed; tone and nonverbal manner are crucial.”
Clearly, no human in any role can always be “Miss Manners.” But good management starts with awareness if others are experiencing anxiety or stress, followed by offering to listen and providing support. This used to be called moral support—letting people know that they are not going through this alone is stress and anxiety reducing. Likewise, deliberately creating a “Shark Tank” environment as part of a long-term organizational plan is not a good idea. It might work for a 30-minute television show, or a peak office situation that occurs on occasion, but it will not lead to long-term success.
Most managers will know if some staff members are overly stressed, but keep in mind that everyone will react to pressure and show stress in different ways. A given stress may be serious for one person and little more than a bump to another. Differences will occur depending on what is going on in the employee’s life; illness, death of a loved one, and financial problems are among the possible factors. Likewise, people will show stress in different ways; some are very vocal while others keep it bottled up (which may be worse). That’s why an option worth considering is an annual employee satisfaction survey. These can help you know if employees are overly stressed or anxious and pick up on issues you might not sense.
I would definitely agree with this article that stress in your office should not be overlooked. Although seeing and dealing with it may require some effort, especially at first, handling it properly can definitely pay dividends.
Steve M. Cohen, Ed.D., CMC is President/Partner of Labor Management Advisory Group, Inc. and HR Solutions: On-Call, both based in Kansas City, MO. For more information, visit www.laborgroup.com or call (913) 927-0229.
The above information is shared by a guest contributor and does not necessarily reflect the views of Medical Office Manager.
