By: Kim Scott

  LISTEN

  READ

Kim Scott's second book - the follow up from her first book Radical Candor, is all about creating a work environment where everyone can collaborate and respect one another's individuality.

Of course, this is not what happens in most workplaces. Workplace injustice abounds because of six different problems: bias, prejudice, bullying, discrimination, verbal harassment, and physical violations.

Not only are these things unfair, they are ineffective. According to a McKinsey study, companies that are in the bottom quartile for gender and cultural diversity are less likely to be as profitable as their equitable peers.

Join us for the next 12 minutes as we explore how to make it right by creating a Just Work culture.

Systemic Justice and Injustice

We'll start off by describing the two different dynamics and how they create 4 different types of workplaces.

The two dynamics are:

• The Conformity Dynamic, which pulls us away from respecting individuality, usually under the false pretences of being rational and polite.
• The Coercion Dynamic, which pulls us away from collaboration. This dynamic makes zero effort of being polite. As Scott points out - it's brutal.

These two dynamics in turn create four different kinds of workplaces. Try and spot which one you work in now.

System 1: Brutal Ineffectiveness

This one, as you might imagine by its name, is the worst one. It has both the Coercion and Conformity Dynamic on full blast, which results in a negative reinforcement cycle. It can happen because of an evil leader, but often comes from management systems that fail to hold bad actors responsible for their behaviour.

System 2: Self-Righteous Shaming

Under this system, there is respect for the individual, but high levels of shaming people (as the name suggests) who exhibit beliefs that the crowd deems unjust. This only makes the people being shamed defensive, and the shamers rarely notice their own flawed logic.

System 3: Oblivious Exclusion

This is by far the most common system, and it's also the hardest to put your finger on because it's the least dramatic. Scott gives the example of a workplace where everybody talks about sports and TV, has a generous parental leave policy, but only 1 of the SVPs are women, and all of them are white. There is high levels of collaboration, but an invisible force that demands conformity.

System 4: Just Work

This system is where there is a respect for the individual and high levels of collaboration, and we'll spend the rest of our time unpacking how to create it.

The Root Causes of Workplace Injustice: Bias, Prejudice, and Bullying

Now let's dig into the forces that create workplace injustice, and start with a few definitions.

Bias is "not meaning it." You've probably heard the term unconscious bias, because bias usually happens without us even being aware of it.

Prejudice is "meaning it."

Bullying is "being mean." It's the intentional and repeated use of "in-group" status to harm or humiliate others.

As Scott points out, it's easy for bias to become prejudice, and for prejudice to become bullying. It's a slippery slope, and so we all must find ways of stopping it when we see it.

Let's move on to explore what the people being harmed, the people who witness it, the people who do it, and the leaders of the organisations where it happens can and should do about it.

For People Harmed: What to Say When You Don’t Know What to Say

One of the things that Scott warns against is staying silent. If you find yourself on the receiving end of bias, your natural instinct might be to rationalise it with thoughts like "they didn't mean any harm" or "I'm a nice person and don't get in people's faces."

That only reinforces the behaviour, and you are not only harming your future self, but everybody else who will be on the receiving end in the future.

Responding to bias

The best response to bias is inviting the person to consider your perspective by using an "I" statement. The easiest form of this is a factual correction. As an example, at one conference Scott was at, a crowd member mistook her for a staff member, and she could have said "I'm about to go onstage and give a talk; I think one of the staffers in the yellow t-shirts can help you find a safety pin."

Responding to Prejudice

The best response to prejudice is to establish a clear boundary beyond which the other person should not go with an "It" statement. As an example, if you are a woman and somebody refers to you as a girl, you could say "It is disrespectful to call a grown woman a girl."

Responding to Bullying

Finally, the best way to respond to bullying is to deal with the bully directly with a "You" statement. As an example, if a bully asks you an inappropriate question, you might say "Why would you ask me such an inappropriate question?” The bully can let your statement go or defend themselves against it, but they are playing defence in either case, which is the only thing that will give them pause.

For Observers: How to Be an Upstander

The observers - which Scott calls "Upstanders," are crucial in helping create a Just Work environment, because they have advantages that none of the other players have:

• There are strength in numbers;
• They are a neutral third party in the situation and hard to dismiss;
• A personal connection makes it easier to communicate.

When responding to bias, the job of the Upstander is to hold up a mirror and invite others to notice what they have noticed in a situation. It can be as simple as saying "I think what you said sounds biassed."

When responding to bullying, you can use the "5D" approach created by Hollaback!, a nonprofit that develops training for Upstanders:

• Direct: challenge the bully with a "You" statement;
• Distract: pull the attention away from the incident if confronting it directly will only make the person harmed feel worse;
• Delegate: get help from another colleague who can better intervene more effectively;
• Delay: if you feel that there is risk of retribution if you intervene in the moment, you can always check in later;
• Document: take notes on what is happening.

For People Who Cause Harm: Be Part of the Solution, Not Part of the Problem

The title of this section says it all. If you have harmed somebody, your first step is to acknowledge your mistake and apologise. Scott directs us to Art of the Apology by Lauren M. Bloom, who explains that an effective apology has the following steps:

• Say you’re sorry … sincerely
• Explain what went wrong
• Take responsibility
• Make amends
• Express appreciation
• Listen to the person’s pain with patience
• Offer repair
• Request forgiveness
• Promise it won’t happen again

That's how to do it right, but for clarity's sake, here are a few apologies that are not really apologies (and thus, should be avoided at all costs):

• "This has been really hard for me."
• "I was just kidding."
• "I'm sorry I've made you feel uncomfortable;"
• "Can you forgive me?" Don't ask for forgiveness until you've taken steps to make amends or to ensure you won't repeat the mistake.

For Leaders: Create Bias Interruptions, a Code of Conduct, and Consequences for Bullying

The first step that organisations seem to be taking to create a culture of Just Work is unconscious bias training for the team members.

However, as Scott points out, no training can change deeply ingrained patterns of thought, which is where bias, prejudice and bullying stem from. There must be consistent practice of new norms, and that requires much more than a "check the box" training exercise.

Bias interruptions

One the the immediate steps you can take as a leader is make it safe to interrupt patterns of bias in your organisation.

Here are some concrete things you can do to help:

1. Make it clear that the organisation is making this a priority;
2. Make it safe for people to flag bias as it occurs;
3. Make it easy by agreeing on a catchphrase if you notice bias;
4. Eliminate shame - everybody will be corrected at some point, so make sure it doesn't seem like the end of the world;
5. Reward upstanding - go as far to note it in performance reviews;
6. Ask people to hold you accountable and correct your bias publicly. Respond with gratitude when they do.

Prevent prejudice with a Code of Conduct

Here's a piece of direct advice - if you don't have a code of conduct, write one.

When you do, make sure it creates the buy-in you are hoping for by making sure it (1) reflects your true beliefs rather than just copying somebody else, (2) reflects the beliefs of your team, and (3) has language that reflects your team culture.

Make no mistake - this will take time and effort. But it will push you as a leader and as an organisation to think as clearly about behaviour as you do about performance.

Leaders and bullying: enforce consequences

There are three areas where you can have an immediate impact when it comes to bullying the workplace.

1. Conversation: create consequences for bullies, but make sure you don't become a bully yourself;
2. Compensation: don't give raises or bonuses to people who bully;
3. Career advancement: don't promote bullies.

One thing to keep an eye on as you enforce your code of conduct and deal with bullies in your organisation - make sure you don't over-punish for bias. If you do, nobody will feel comfortable calling it out, and you'll be back at square one, or be creating a self-righteous shaming culture.

A Leader’s Role in Preventing Discrimination and Harassment: Apply Checks and Balances; Quantify Bias

Now we are going to move on to discrimination and harassment, and give some definitions to get on the same page.

Discrimination is excluding others from opportunities, and happens when you add power to bias or prejudice.

Harassment is intimidating others in a way that creates a hostile work environment, and happens when you add power to bias or bullying.

Here are several things you can do to make sure you prevent both of these things from happening.

1. Hiring to hire the best people

You can remove bias and prejudice from hiring by stripping out all information about a person's gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, etc. from resumes. From there, you can separate out skills assessment and in-person interviewing. Also ensure that you use a diverse hiring committee instead of individual people to make hiring decisions.

2. Retention

Make sure you focus on keeping your diverse work force once you've created it.

3. Compensation

There are two things to pay attention to when it comes to compensation.

First, pay attention to the pay gap between the highest and lowest paid people in your company. Keep the spread as small as reasonably possible.

Second, don't outsource all of the lowest-paid work to spare yourself the discomfort of knowing how little those people get paid.

4. Performance Management

The key here is to take the reviews and decisions about promotions out of the hands of individual managers and spread the responsibility out to a broader group. Limiting the power of individual bosses creates better outcomes and you get more collaboration between the bosses and employees.

5. Coaching and Mentoring

Make sure you make the mentoring process transparent, and don't build these relationships behind closed doors at golf clubs, strip clubs, etc. Keep any mentoring meetings to a public place.

6. Measure psychological safety

Amy Edmondson - a professor at the Harvard Business School - is the world's foremost expert on psychological safety, and has not only defined the term, but come up with a method for measuring it. Find and use her brief survey to gauge the level of psychological safety in your company, and read her book The Fearless Organization.

7. Exit interviews

People usually leave because of their boss, and won't be likely to provide that feedback directly to them. So get somebody more senior than the person's boss to do the interview.

8. End non-disclosure and forced arbitration

Both of these are bad ideas if they are used in situations surrounding harassment and discrimination, because they allow for bias and discrimination to remain behind closed doors.

9 .Organisational design

Any compliance function should report directly to an audit committee, and should be allowed to go around the CEO if and when they need to.

For People Harmed and Upstanders: How to Fight Discrimination and Harassment Without Blowing Up Your Career

There are many steps you can and should take if you are dealing with discrimination and harassment.

1. Document

The first thing you should do is document any time you think you are observing discrimination or harassment. Take a small amount of time every day so that you get a complete record.

2. Build solidarity

Discrimination and harassment can leave you feeling alone. Find people you can reach out to who can relate to what you are going through.

3. Locate the exit nearest you

If you decide you are going to talk to HR or your boss directly about the issues you are facing, think through what might happen. Make sure you know what negotiators call your "best alternative to a negotiated agreement" (BATNA) is.

If you are an upstander in this situation, offer to make introductions to the person being harmed, and point out all of their options.

4. Talk directly with the person who caused harm

Sometimes it's best to just be direct.

5. Report to HR

HR can be helpful in these situations. First of all, if they do resolve the issue on your behalf, they can save you the time and hassle of having to find another job. Scott points out that reporting to HR can help others in the future even if it doesn't help you today.

6. Consider legal action

There are significant risks associated with taking legal action, including the time and emotional energy it can consume. So make sure you are clear on what you want to accomplish if you do.

Touch: How to Create a Culture of Consent and the Cost of Failing to Do So

Now we'll move beyond bias, prejudice, bullying, discrimination and harassment to physical violations.

The simple story here is that you should create a culture of consent when it comes to touching in your company.

This means that it is the responsibility of the toucher to be aware of how the other person feels about being touched. If there's any doubt, for any reason, don't touch. If you can't tell, learn how to ask. And, it should go without saying (but obviously doesn't), if you can't control yourself when you are drunk, don't drink - especially at work.

1. For people harmed

Here's the deal - nobody has the right to touch you in a way that makes you feel uncomfortable. You are the sole arbiter of that. When it comes to greetings like hugs and handshakes, it is perfectly acceptable for you to say "I'm not a hugger," or to offer a fist bump instead of shaking hands.

2. For upstanders

This one is simple - if you see a situation where somebody is obviously feeling uncomfortable, say something.

3. For people who cause harm

This one is also simple - if somebody doesn't want to be touched, don't touch. Read the social cues. If you are bad at reading social cues, your default should be no touching.

It's also perfectly ok to ask people something like "Hug, handshake, fist bump, toe tap, or smile?"

4. For leaders

There are many things you can do as a leader to reinforce your culture of consent and your code of conduct. Focus especially on relatively minor violations because they can prevent more serious ones.

Also make sure that whatever rules you come up with - including rules around sexual relationships with coworkers - are clear-cut so everybody understands what is expected of them.

When there are violations of those rules, make sure that you make it easy and safe for people to report violations.

Finally, give your people chances to learn, but not so many chances that you create a culture where it feels safe to violate the code of conduct.

Before we wrap up, I just want to note that there are sections on regretted sex in the workplace and abuse of power relationships that we couldn't cover in any detail here, and that you should buy the book and read them.

Conclusion

Just Work is not only the right thing to do, it is ultimately the best way to create a business that performs better. But it requires going beyond "check the box" trainings and an organisation-wide commitment to making things better.

But it's possible when you create a culture where individuality is respected instead of demanding conformity, and collaboration is the norm rather than coercion.

You can do it, but somebody has to go first. Let that person be you.