Leaders can impose consequences for bad actors, underscoring commitment to civil treatment toward colleagues and suspending or reprimanding those not willing to comply. Image: Lightspring/Shutterstock.com
By: Stephen Paskoff, CEO of Employment Learning InnovationsSince the nation’s beginning, our Founders have recognized civility as the glue that binds crucial processes and enables progress. George Washington wrote Rules of Civility & Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation – a list of 110 rules for how to behave and respect others. While incivility is not a new concept, its expression and impact are spreading more rapidly than ever before. Likewise, civility as a workplace concept can be dated back to the First Congress, where it was considered a core value of the American government – revealing Congressional rules for debate to promote civility and cohesive discussions between colleagues.
While Congress has organizational principles and standards of behavior, commonly referred to as decorum, there are few practical tools for enforcing them in the status quo. Inappropriate comments on the Legislative floor can be requested to be “withdrawn” from the record; now though, many uncivil, insulting, and divisive comments are made outside of Congress where they can be amplified and go viral for the world’s absorption.
Based on recent reports, Capitol Hill staffers and perhaps legislators themselves have feared for their lives both during and after recent events, including January 6th, 2021. Many on Capitol Hill have either left Congressional service or are considering doing so for reasons tied to workplace incivility. The resulting turnover has and will likely continue to cause a loss of experienced talent from individuals who have worked for the betterment of their constituents and halt great progress in the process.
Our two governing political parties represent the nation’s citizens who come from a variety of backgrounds, characteristics, locales, political views, and histories. When conduct between leaders gets too personal, rude, denigrating, and dismissive—all elements of incivility—peoples’ views of those with whom they disagree can harden. This prevents compromise, fosters deadlocks, and damages outcomes that prevent effective government leadership. When we focus exclusively on differences rather than also considering the commonalities of citizenship and shared values, where possible, it intensifies divisiveness and resentment.
Rather than focusing on such differences, the goal should be to find greater areas of respect and agreement to get the best contributions from all participants. That’s why civility in Congress must be seen as an operational necessity. Without civility, organizations of all shapes and sizes, especially congressional offices, remain stagnant and dysfunctional. Personal, malicious attacks increasingly polarize people and create serious issues that affect productivity and even personal safety. Where we have incivility in the public sphere, we see behaviors that divide, antagonize, and tribalize groups, resulting in behaviors that cause turmoil and distrust. This can lead to inaction which harms domestic and foreign relations, economic stability, innovative initiatives, and prudent investment.
Lack of workplace civility is a grave risk for any organization, public or private. If workers do not see civility as an advantage to get things done, there will be major repercussions—including but not limited to lackluster results, gridlock, and widespread unrest among the public.
What can Congressional offices do?
Civility is widely recognized as the best way to defuse potential disputes and effectively work through issues. History has shown that civility—even in an inherently polarized and politically charged environment—can allow people to interact without personally insulting others. Listening, absorbing, and reaching a consensus, when possible, must always be the goal for organizations.
The first step to connecting is to find common ground. By focusing on what brings people together—such as a core mission, vision, and established values—Congressional leaders can still exemplify and enforce clear standards of behavior that treat colleagues on any side of the aisle with respect, no matter their political or personal beliefs. Leaders can go so far as to impose consequences for bad actors as well, underscoring their commitment to civil treatment toward colleagues and suspending or reprimanding those not willing to comply.
Offices must also uphold respectful decorum and collaborate under a common working objective to make meaningful change for the nation and build a foundation where people can speak candidly, but respectfully. Organization-wide commitment is critical as well, and leaders at all levels—even the highest in government—must be willing to activate civility in and outside of professional settings. Congressional offices can even go so far as to formally come together to talk through existing conflicts, establishing common standards of behavior that each employee is responsible for upholding.
Congressional leaders themselves need to embody appropriate decorum, showing their staff that how they treat one another needs to exemplify the highest levels of civility and professionalism. Controlling civility within and between offices is how the nation builds going forward and connecting standards of behavior back to shared missions, visions, and values shows how we can disagree but stay focused on our mission. While Congress might disagree on the best courses of action to enact change, they can start by agreeing to listen and respect those they work with every day without insulting and creating unsafe spaces. Being direct in disagreeing can happen respectfully, but that agreement must be mutual between all parties.
Congress serves 330 million+ people nationwide, so it is not surprising that its members will have many differing opinions and priorities. As a core value, however, Congress must go back to its roots and activate civility. Working toward civility helps people understand and recognize the commonalities they have among one another, so their differences do not consistently impede our nation’s progress, security, and promise.
Stephen Paskoff is a former EEOC attorney and current CEO of human capital consulting firm Employment Learning Innovations (ELI). Steve started ELI to help organizations connect their core values to behavioral standards that transform the workplace into a more civil, compliant, and productive environment.
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