On Monday, Wanda M. Holland Greene welcomed Dr. Christine Porath, who spoke with faculty members about her book, Mastering Civility: A Manifesto For The Workplace. Our faculty read the book over the summer, so this was the perfect way to start 2019 with a focus on this year’s theme, What You Do Matters.

Christine Porath is Associate Professor of Management at the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University. Dr. Porath travels the world working with leading organizations such as Google and the International Monetary Fund to help them solve the vexing problem of incivility.

Dr. Porath shared the following insights (among others):

-People who are treated poorly in the workplace are much more likely to: decrease their effort, not work as much, and quit.

-Those who experience incivility perform worse than those who are treated with respect.

-Even people who witness incivility are impacted and perform worse at their jobs.

-Rudeness/incivility is on the rise.

-Stress is the #1 reason why people say they are rude to others.

-Doing the little positive things makes a difference in the workplace. These include: smiling, saying hello, listening attentively, sharing credit, thanking people publicly and with written correspondence. These actions can create waves of positivity that can continue throughout the day and improve an organization holistically.

-People judge you first on the warmth of your personality.

-Studies have shown that civil people have a higher social status and a larger/broader human network.

To assess your own civility in the workplace and learn more about Dr. Porath’s work, please visit: http://www.christineporath.com/assess-yourself/