From NFL quarterback Brett Favre’s sexting spectacle, to Navy Captain Owen Honors’ loss of command for producing racy videos, to ESPN sportscaster Ron Franklin’s dismissal for making sexist and derogatory comments, these scandals could be made into blockbuster episodes of an American reality series about “People Behaving Badly.”
With today’s fiery mixture of human nature, social media, and the web, it only takes one ill-advised video, text message, blog post, or photo – and a tsunami of tabloid news and gossip inevitably sweeps across the Internet. Just in the past few months, we’ve seen broadcasters, athletes and CEOs who have left their roles under a cloud of such controversy.
But, as I wrote recently in another TLNT blog post, these cases are a cautionary tale for leaders at all levels: Your workplace, actually whenever you act with colleagues at whatever level, is not a talk show or a cocktail lounge.
The common theme: It all comes down to basic incivility and how we treat each other in the workplace. Calling a colleague “sweet baby” or “a**hole,” as ESPN’s Franklin did, wasn’t necessarily illegal but it’s disrespectful and unprofessional.
Navy Capt. Honors may not have violated the law by producing, broadcasting, and acting in sexually explicit and demeaning videos shown to 6,000 sailors under his command on the aircraft carrier Enterprise, but he crossed a line of propriety and credibility. With leadership, professionalism, and respect being key military values, Capt. Honors’ actions conflicted with current command standards.
While a former New York Jets’ employee accused Brett Favre of sending lewd texts and photos, it’s not clear whether his behavior would be considered illegal in a court of law, though it’s obviously tainted his public image.
In 25 years of working with employers ranging from government agencies, to hospitals, to major sports franchises and multinational firms, I’ve discovered that most organizations have far more problems with everyday bullies – big shots who create unproductive and hostile work environments but are viewed as “untouchable” until their actions become public.
Many of these people are hugely talented in their jobs. They may have earned multiple degrees and spent decades honing their trades, sports or professions.
But, in all of their striving, they forget that all of us – whether we labor on the ball field, the assembly line, the operating room, the mail room or in the corner office – need to act like a professional in the workplace – not just work like one. In other words, being a professional isn’t just about the results you deliver; it’s also about how you act.
Yet, way too often, athletes, doctors, researchers, high-stakes traders and other industry big shots – as I wrote about in my book, Teaching Big Shots to Behave (and other Human Resources Challenges) – know the rules but don’t believe they apply to them, go ahead and act as they want, and get away with it. That’s what must change.
Many years ago while working at an employment law firm, I learned that lecturing on the law won’t change behavior. Case law, standards and recitation of specific regulations may be useful for law students but not for most others. As we teach in our ethics and workplace behavior training, leaders, managers and employees need to know how to apply basic standards of behavior and civility in their daily work lives.
So, here’s my game plan for the NFL, the Navy, ESPN, and your own organization on how to set and maintain standards of professional conduct:
Stephen Paskoff writes frequently about how to build a civil workplace on his blog at www.eliinc.com.
