HEALTHY WORKPLACE with Koreen Kimakowich

ZERO TOLERANCE IS

SIMPLY NOT ENOUGH

Bill 168 is long overdue, but it is just the starting point for companies looking to create a respectful workplace

For far too long, Canadians have been waiting for a harassment/violence preven- tion program that is human resource fo- cused as opposed to solely compliance driven. It’s time to create and implement a life-enhancing workplace that achieves a consistently respectful quality it. As such, a by-definition “prevention program,” where participants have an opportunity to become “response-able,” vis-a-vis resourceful in their interactions with their colleagues and clients, is the starting point. That is where the potential to eliminate unacceptable be- haviour resides, creating a level of respon- sibility that current process-based systems are hard pressed to achieve. The reality is that if we are responding

ou will not find a help wanted ad any- where that reads, “Must be willing to work in a harassing, bullying, de- meaning, violent workplace.” Yet, for far too many people in Canada, this has been their experience. Much like other federal and provincial legislation, Ontario’s Bill 168 conveys a message of “zero tolerance” when it comes to workplace violence. While a law like Bill 168 is long overdue, what’s been evidenced, time and again, is that by itself, zero tolerance legislation is not enough. Essentially, a zero tolerance program is triggered when a complaint is filed and the allegations are subsequently founded. In short, zero tolerance bears no preventive qualities, resulting in the very harm that such legislation tries to eliminate.

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8 SECURITY MATTERS • MAY/JUNE 2010

to an incident, we’ve not prevented it, thus causing lives to be adversely affected and in some cases, considerably damaged. It’s time to consider implementing a people- based approach that complements and enhances the process-based approach (i.e., complaints, reporting, investigative, disciplinary) so that prevention of such in- cidents can actually be realized. Absent of that, in our attempts to miti- gate the realized shortfalls of current prevention efforts, we run the same com- pliance-based strategies, only with more intensity.

Our individually held beliefs, values

and attitudes (BVAs) require our attention if we are going to make inroads to prevent this persistent workplace phenomenon. Behaviour, after all, is our BVAs in action. BVAs show up in every single interaction we have, whether it is a respectful or not. Exploring that notion in the training forum is where “response-ability”

becomes available. Standing alone, a process-based program is not able to re- alize this as a viable approach to stem- ming the tide of disrespectful behaviour. Conversely, current programs infused with

people-based strategies (i.e.,

human behaviour, why we do what we do) allow us to discover that no matter how much compliance exists at an orga- nizational level, in the absence of com- pliance at an individual level, disrespect in the workplace continues to rear its head. It is a critical success factor that gets very little attention. Bill 168 — in a roundabout way — lets

us know that we can no longer hold to the limiting belief that a process-based pro- gram is the only viable option in the effort to prevent undesirable behaviour. In the absence of a by-definition prevention component, and while organizations may see themselves as Bill 168-compliant, it will not in and of itself facilitate the real- ization of a respectful and safe workplace. That is what we all want because it shouldn’t hurt to go to work. Work is not a place that we go to, it’s an experience that we have. Remember, respectful workplaces are possible, and it’s an inside job!

Koreen Kimakowich is a former police sergeant with the Ottawa Police Service. She is the founder of Awak- ening Wave, Organizational Evolution (www.awakening-

wave.ca), specializing in harassment/ discrimination workshops and training programs. Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42