It is sometimes the simplest ideas that bring about real culture change in organizations.

It’s been some time since I’ve posted. It has been a busy year of travel, speaking, fact-finding and immense professional growth. Last week, I had the honor of traveling to Washington, DC to testify before the EEOC’s Select Committee on Harassment as part of a panel of fact-finders. They asked us to comment on industries and organizations most susceptible to harassment. 

I’ve run into some situations lately that compel me to write about some basics of workplace investigation.  Yes, I tend to wander into the weeds of workplace bullying, coaching harassers and subtle discrimination, but at my core, I am a workplace fact finder.  I come to my investigations as a neutral and my job is to get to the bottom of things, while doing so in a way that makes my work both defensible and least disrupts the operations of the organization.

It’s gifting season. When I talk to groups about trying to effectively prevent and address unwelcome behavior at work, I talk a lot about gifts — those things people give us voluntarily. Like feedback. When we get a gift, most of us have been taught, we don’t necessarily respond authentically (what the heck did you give me THAT for?) Instead, we thank the person, show appreciation and say something like “I know just what I’ll do with it.” We don’t throw gifts back at people, because that makes them hurt or angry.  We are gracious and we accept the gift. 

In 1998, 1999, and 2000 I went to the NFL Camps of the Baltimore Ravens and the Minnesota Vikings, and I talked about behavior.  We discussed sexual assault and date rape.  The players were unusually frank and raucous in each case, and the youngest players seemed amazed that they now had a public persona to master. 

Of all the work I do, some of the most maddening and satisfying involves coaching High-Level Professionals (HLP’s) — usually physicians, attorneys, CPA’s or CEO-types — whose behavior has reached a point where even the timid have decided that something must be done.  These are usually extremely high-performing individuals who trail behind them a low-level hum of mild to moderately inappropriate conduct.  Not the stuff of scandal or outrage, this kind of behavior might be isolated to the occasional sexist comment, inappropriate joke, or racially wince-worthy reference.