An Antidote to Incivility

In all fairness, the title of this post is the title of a fantastic article in the April Harvard Business Review that states, "In 2011 half (of polled employees for the article re. workplace culture and extreme behaviors) said they were treated badly at least once a week—up from a quarter in 1998."

The article discusses incivility in the workplace which of course, has numerous implications on culture....and personal fulfillment and development.  As someone who has spent a career trying hard to BUILD good culture (and not always succeeding), I have found incivility in the workplace to be based on one thing and one thing only: disenfranchisement.  Individuals who are not motivated, nor care about themselves, not to mention they don't care about you.  And that, of course, creates behaviors that are negative and not needed. 

Get them OUT of the organization.  And if he/she is the one who RUNS the organization, then you need to leave. Life is too short and there are SO MANY good, honest, hard-working, ethical and self-less managers out there to go work with.  

In that light, how 'bout THESE interview questions of the person who is interviewing YOU: 
1. In what ways do you create an ethically good and positive work environment?
2. In what ways do you yourself exhibit selfless behaviors that contribute to the positive goal achievement endeavors of the dept./company?

And so on.

We are all agents and deserve a work / career situation that fosters the good in ourselves.  If you don't have it, go find it!