This essay revisits an article I wrote a few years ago which was extracted from an article in the CPA magazine InTheBlack magazine.
Contrary to Leo Durocher’s [American Baseball Manager] famous quote when he said, “Win any way as long as you can get away with it. Nice guys finish last”, the CPA article’s author G.Pollock writes that not only is it nice to be nice, it's good for business too. He adds, it seems creating and continually implementing a climate of respect within and outside the workplace won't just make your Mum proud but will make for a happier workplace.
One of the nicest café owners I have met. Giovanni always had a smile for his customers. Sourced: Steven Pereira 2018
When I was recently researching this topic of ‘niceness in the workplace’, I came across a number of academic articles and blogs on the subject. The most recent research I found of interest was published in the February 2020 issue of the Human Relations journal by academics from the University of Illinois. The first of two studies was a simple team-based simulation which found that team civil communication enhanced team performance. In the second study however, where real-time surgeries were conducted amongst surgical teams in a health-care setting over a six-month period, results showed where more complex tasks were having to be performed, being nice had a negligible impact on team performance. The study observed that in difficult surgeries, the friendliness and civility had significant detrimental effects. Furthermore depending on the complexity of the task and objective, there was evidence that it decreased and even negatively impacted team performance.
The authors explained the difference by suggesting that language that relies on messages of courtesy and praise can result in overconfidence and an underestimation of risk. Such language would lead team members to "rely on existing task procedures and strategies, avoid seeking and considering alternative viewpoints [and] maintain harmony by overly striving toward consensus". The article called it ‘sameness’ and ‘groupthink‘.
On the other hand, the communication style which was less courteous experienced in the second study showed the presence of a problem, thereby prompting team members to engage in the kind of decision-making process that could resolve it, albeit with less civility.
Sourced: Media from Wix
The studies by no means demises the need to be nice and civil in a workplace. What the study went on to conclude was that training was required for the technicians to be aware of the value of being pleasant to each other before they work together, or as they transitioned from one task to another. While it might be the case that during periods of complex tasks and decision making, communications may be a little strained, the authors added that technicians working on complex tasks focus their communications on task related content so as to minimize, what they found were consequences of superfluous communication. The report suggested that these workers needed to be taught how to be less sensitive and more resilient when confronted by verbal exchanges that, while well intentioned, may appear brutal. This essentially meant that they needed to be more forgiving, which is a nice thing to do!
Founders of the Kaplan Thaler Group, one of the fastest-growing advertising agencies in the US, and co-authors of The Power of Nice, Linda Kaplan Thaler and Robin Koval started their firm in reaction to what they call ‘toxic bosses’. From its inception, it had been a business based on the philosophy that it pays to be nice.
But Thaler and Koval are not talking about the ‘fluffy-bunny, sit-in-a-circle-and-hold-hands’ kind of nice. "Nice is not naïve", they write in their book. "Nice is the toughest four-letter word you'll ever hear”. According to Thaler and Koval, a business that embraces a philosophy of ‘nice’ will enjoy lower employee turnover, lower recruitment cost and higher productivity. "It might be easier to be a bully [but] it's a short-term tactic", however Koval adds that "Treating people well is a long-term strategy".
Source: Media from Wix
To the question of what is meant by being nice, Thaler and Koval writes about the elementary qualities of kindness, appreciation and simply being friendly. They argue that good deeds are returned, not punished. They warn against a me-versus-you mindset and suggest for the most part being genuine produces better results than an overly earnest approach.
To the question of having to justify being nice in business, Koval believes we need to. "People forget," she says. “That may be because it is hard to keep your manners about you when all those around you are losing theirs”, she adds.
Robert Sutton, professor of organisational behaviour at Stanford University's graduate school of business, also thinks we need reminding. To this end, he wrote The No Asshole Rule, published in 2007. He believed that there are three reasons why bad behaviour is business has been tolerated, and even glorified. At the top of his list is the belief that the (financial) ends justify the means. "They may be jerks, but we'll let them get away with it because they make a lot of money," Sutton says, a frequent justification for those who behave poorly.
Second to this is the belief that bad behaviour leads to success. Sutton says this may seem like the case from the outside looking in, but he believes many people are often successful despite their meanness rather than because of it.
Third on his list is the belief that intimidation is effective. Sutton thinks bad behaviour may let perpetrators get what they want, but the gains are only short term. Not dissimilar to that echoed by Linda Koval, of the Kaplan Thaler Group. "Even if it does help”, he says, "who wants to work with assholes?”. Sutton further goes on to say in his book “Assholes don't just damage the immediate targets of their abuse". He believes one bully can undermine a whole workplace. Robert Sutton followed up his 2007 publication with his second book, Good Boss, Bad Boss: How to Be the Best…and Learn from the Worst, published 2010. He writes in Good Boss, Bad Boss, “The best bosses balance performance and humanity, getting things done in ways that enhance rather than destroy dignity and pride”.
Source: Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels
At the end of the day, any kind of harassment, intimidation or demeaning behaviour of one person to another, should be called out for what it is; ‘workplace bullying’. It may a colleague-to-colleague directed behaviour or a manager-to-subordinate directed behaviour, both of which need to be rooted out as quickly as possible. While it is important to distinguish bullying or harassing behaviour from legitimate and reasonable company practices, for example transfers, demotions, discipline, counsel and retrenchments, such practices have to be conducted in a professional and appropriate manner in accordance with a local workplace legislative framework.
Here are examples of workplace bullying sourced from the humanrights.gov.au website.
repeated hurtful remarks or attacks, or making fun of your work or you as a person (including your family, sex, sexuality, gender identity, race or culture, education or economic background)
sexual harassment, particularly stuff like unwelcome touching and sexually explicit comments and requests that make you uncomfortable
excluding you or stopping you from working with people or taking part in activities that relates to your work
playing mind games, ganging up on you, or other types of psychological harassment
intimidation (making you feel less important and undervalued)
giving you pointless tasks that have nothing to do with your job
giving you impossible jobs that can't be done in the given time or with the resources provided
deliberately changing your work hours or schedule to make it difficult for you
deliberately holding back information you need for getting your work done properly
pushing, shoving, tripping, grabbing you in the workplace
attacking or threatening with equipment, knives, guns, clubs or any other type of object that can be turned into a weapon
initiation or hazing - where you are made to do humiliating or inappropriate things in order to be accepted as part of the team.
A survey on the uses of sick leave in Australia business conducted by Sydney-based HR consultants Hallis showed that good relations with co-workers and job satisfaction are most predictive of lower rates of absenteeism. It found employees who feel the least satisfied in their jobs will, on average, take the greatest amount of paid sick leave. Furthermore, spikes in sick leave usage can be an indication of an employee's intention to leave.
Hallis chief psychologist Stephen Walton, commented that worker retention was an issues and added that companies were always competing for skilled labour and current generation of workers will not respond to old styles of management, and businesses will have to change to accommodate this.
Victor Callan, Professor of Management and Leadership at the University of Queensland Business School, can already see a shift in attitudes. "There is a change in the nature of relationships”, he is quoted as saying. "Customers are more highly educated and discerning, and demand to be treated with respect. This has led to higher expectations within the workplace”.
Although he believes there are now clearer guidelines for how we should behave at work, it still takes skill and courage to implement them, particularly when it comes to high performers who exhibit bad behaviour.
It seems Thaler and Koval are right: Nice really is the toughest four-letter word. But skilled labour shortages combined with a groundswell of "We're not going to take it anymore" employee expectations will engulf entrenched old styles of business management.
Source: www.bullyingnoway.gov.au [No copyright infringement is intended]
In March this year, the nationwide stand against bullying on the National Day of Action against Bullying and Violence occurred around Australia. Over 60% of Australian schools and nearly 2.4 million students nationwide took part.
If our young people can recognise the need for better behaviour and the perils of bullying, there may be a chance that our future workplaces will thrive on the preeminent notion of being nice. If we are to retain our best and brightest in our places of work, perhaps we need to give ‘nice’ a try.
I end with a quote I recently saw on a social media post. It said, “You are never too important to be nice to people”.
Steven
Getting help if you are being bullied at work [Source: humanrights.gov.au]
If you have made a complaint to your manager or others in your workplace and there have not been adequate steps taken to stop the bullying there are a number of options that you can take to get help.
See your local human rights or fairwork place agency in your jurisdiction or if bullying is violent or threatening it may be a criminal offense and you should contact your local police.
In Australia, if you are being bullied, harassed or discriminated against because of your race, sex, age, sexual orientation, religion or because you have a disability or are pregnant you can contact the Australian Human Rights Commission. Call 1300 656 419 or visit http://www.humanrights.gov.au/complaints_information/young_people.html
Or your local State agencies
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