Civility is treating people with consideration and respect. It is a simple and priceless act that can have an incredibly positive impact on someone’s day. Being polite and nice and genuinely caring about your coworker’s feelings will produce a happy and more productive work environment. Producing a more civil workforce will put smiles on the faces of employees and customers alike.

An uncivil workplace can lead to lower moral, lower productivity, more employee turnover, and generally not a nice place to work. The list is endless as to what negative events can occur in an uncivil work environment. The benefits to Civility in the Workplace are countless and will pay off immensely in every aspect of your job.

At the end of this workshop, participants should be able to:

• Define civility, understand its causes, and enumerate at least three of its behavioral indicators.
• Understand the costs of incivility, as well as the rewards of civility, within the workplace.
• Learn practical ways of practicing workplace etiquette, including the proper use of greetings, respect, involvement, and political correctness.
• Learn the basic styles of conflict resolution and identify the style most appropriate for managing particular conflicts in the workplace.
• Learn skills in diagnosing the causes of uncivil behavior.
• Understand the role of forgiveness and conflict resolution in the creation of a civil working environment.
• Understand the different elements of effective communication, particularly effective para-verbal and non-verbal communication.
• Learn facilitative communication skills such as listening and appreciative inquiry.
• Learn specific interventions that can be utilized when there’s conflict within the workplace.
• Learn a recommended procedure for systematizing civil behavior within the workplace.

Course Outline:

Module 1: Getting Started

Icebreaker

Housekeeping Items

The Parking Lot

Workshop Objectives

Module Two: Introduction

What is Uncivil Behavior?

Three Reasons Why You Should be Civil

Dealing with Difficult Personalities

Costs and Rewards

Module Three: Effective Work Etiquette

Greetings

Respect

Involvement

Being Politically Correct

Module Four: Costs and Rewards

Incivility and the Costs

Civility and the Rewards

Four Causes of Incivility

How to Overcome It

Module Five: Conflict Resolution

Collaborating

Competing

Compromising

Accommodating

Avoiding

Module Six: Getting to the Cause

Examining the Root Cause

Creating a Cause and Effect Diagram

Forgiveness

Benefits of Resolution

Module Seven: Communication

Para-verbal Communication

Non-Verbal Communication

Listening Skills

Appreciative Inquiry

Module Eight: Negotiation

Three Sides to Incivility

Mediation

Arbitration

Creative Problem Solving

Module Nine: Identifying Your Need

Completing a Needs Analysis

Focus Groups

Observations

Anonymous Surveys

Module Ten: Writing a Civility Policy

Designating the Core Group

Defining What is Unacceptable Behavior

Defining the Consequence

Writing the Policy

Module Eleven: Implementing the Policy

The First Steps

Training

Addressing Complaints

Enforcing Violators

Module Twelve: Wrapping Up 

Words from the Wise

Review of Parking Lot

Lessons Learned

Completion of Action Plans and Evaluations