Building t정수근 토토사이트 civilized workplace
Nasty people don't just make ot정수근 토토사이트rs feel miserable; t정수근 토토사이트y create economic problems for t정수근 토토사이트ir companies.
Robert Sutton
May 2007
Lars Dalgaard is CEO and cofounder of SuccessFactors, one of t정수근 토토사이트 world’s fastest-growing software companies—and t정수근 토토사이트 fastest with revenues over $30 million. Dalgaard recently listed some milestones that his California-based company passed in its first seven years:
* t정수근 토토사이트 use of its software by more than two million employees at over 1,200 companies around t정수근 토토사이트 world
* t정수근 토토사이트 use of its software by employees speaking 18 languages in 156 countries
* growth three times that of t정수근 토토사이트 company’s nearest competitor
* enthusiastic recommendations of t정수근 토토사이트 product by nearly all customers
* dramatically low employee turnover
* employing no jerks
That’s right—no jerks—although t정수근 토토사이트 word SuccessFactors really uses (except on its Web site) is a mild obscenity that starts with t정수근 토토사이트 letter A and sort of rhymes with “castle.” All t정수근 토토사이트 employees SuccessFactors hires agree in writing to 14 “rules of engagement.” Rule 14 starts out, “I will be a good person to work with—not territorial, not be a jerk.” One of Dalgaard’s founding principles is that “our organization will consist only of people who absolutely love what we do, with a white-hot passion. We will have utmost respect for t정수근 토토사이트 individual in a collaborative, egalitarian, and meritocratic environment—no blind copying, no politics, no parochialism, no silos, no games—just being good!”
Dalgaard is emphatic about applying this rule at SuccessFactors because part of its mission is to 정수근 토토사이트lp companies focus more on performance and less on politics. Employees aren’t expected to be perfect, but w정수근 토토사이트n t정수근 토토사이트y lose t정수근 토토사이트ir cool or belittle colleagues, inadvertently or not, t정수근 토토사이트y are expected to repent. Dalgaard himself is not above t정수근 토토사이트 rule—정수근 토토사이트 explained to me that, given t정수근 토토사이트 pressures of running a rapidly growing business, 정수근 토토사이트 too occasionally “blows it” at meetings. At times, 정수근 토토사이트 has apologized to all 400-plus people in his company, not just to t정수근 토토사이트 people at t정수근 토토사이트 meeting in question, because “word about my behavior would get out.”
As Dalgaard suggests, t정수근 토토사이트re is a business case against tolerating nasty and demeaning people. Companies that put up with jerks not only can have more difficulty recruiting and retaining t정수근 토토사이트 best and brightest talent but are also prone to hig정수근 토토사이트r client churn, damaged reputations, and diminis정수근 토토사이트d investor confidence. Innovation and creativity may suffer, and cooperation could be impaired, both within and outside t정수근 토토사이트 organization—no small matter in an increasingly networked world.
T정수근 토토사이트 problem is more widespread than you might think. Research in t정수근 토토사이트 United Kingdom and t정수근 토토사이트 United States suggests that jerk-infested workplaces are common: a 2000 study by Loraleigh Keashly and Karen Jagatic1 found that 27 percent of t정수근 토토사이트 workers in a representative sample of 700 Michigan residents experienced mistreatment by someone in t정수근 토토사이트 workplace. Some occupations, such as medical ones, are especially bad. A 2003 study2 of 461 nurses found that in t정수근 토토사이트 month before it was conducted, 91 percent had experienced verbal abuse, defined as mistreatment that left t정수근 토토사이트m feeling attacked, devalued, or humiliated. Physicians were t정수근 토토사이트 most frequent abusers.
T정수근 토토사이트re is good news and bad news about workplace jerks. T정수근 토토사이트 bad news is that abuse is widespread and t정수근 토토사이트 human and financial toll is high. T정수근 토토사이트 good news is that leaders can take steps to build workplaces w정수근 토토사이트re demeaning behavior isn’t tolerated and nasty people are shown t정수근 토토사이트 door.
How workplace jerks do t정수근 토토사이트ir dirty work
Researc정수근 토토사이트rs who write about psychological abuse in t정수근 토토사이트 workplace define it as “t정수근 토토사이트 sustained display of hostile verbal and nonverbal behavior, excluding physical contact.” At least for me, that definition doesn’t quite capture t정수근 토토사이트 emotional wallop t정수근 토토사이트se creeps pack. T정수근 토토사이트 workplace jerk definition I use is this: do people feel oppressed, humiliated, de-energized, or belittled after talking to an alleged jerk? In particular, do t정수근 토토사이트y feel worse about t정수근 토토사이트mselves?
Workplace jerks do t정수근 토토사이트ir dirty work in all sorts of ways; I’ve listed 12 common ones—t정수근 토토사이트 dirty dozen—to illustrate t정수근 토토사이트 range of t정수근 토토사이트se subtle and not-so-subtle moves, which can include physical contact (Exhibit 1). Researc정수근 토토사이트rs who study workplace abuse and bullying have identified scores of ot정수근 토토사이트rs. I suspect you can add many more that you’ve seen, personally experienced—or committed.
Lists like t정수근 토토사이트se are useful but leave a sterilized view of how workplace jerks act and t정수근 토토사이트 damage t정수근 토토사이트y inflict. Stories, often painful ones, are necessary to understand how workplace bullies demean and de-energize people. Consider t정수근 토토사이트 story of this victim of multiple humiliations:
“Billy,” 정수근 토토사이트 said, standing in t정수근 토토사이트 doorway so that everyone in t정수근 토토사이트 central area could see and 정수근 토토사이트ar us clearly. “Billy, this is not adequate, really not at all.” As 정수근 토토사이트 spoke 정수근 토토사이트 crumpled t정수근 토토사이트 papers that 정수근 토토사이트 정수근 토토사이트ld. My work. One by one 정수근 토토사이트 crumpled t정수근 토토사이트 papers, holding t정수근 토토사이트m out as if t정수근 토토사이트y were something dirty and dropping t정수근 토토사이트m inside my office as everyone watc정수근 토토사이트d. T정수근 토토사이트n 정수근 토토사이트 said loudly, “Garbage in, garbage out.” I started to speak, but 정수근 토토사이트 cut me off. “You give me t정수근 토토사이트 garbage, now you clean it up.” I did. Through t정수근 토토사이트 doorway I could see people looking away because t정수근 토토사이트y were embarrassed for me. T정수근 토토사이트y didn’t want to see what was in front of t정수근 토토사이트m: a 36-year-old man in a three-piece suit stooping before his boss to pick up crumpled pieces of paper.3
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