Six Tips to Take Your Harassment Prevention Training from Blah to Aha
Organizations tend to conduct harassment prevention training programs for a few primary reasons, centered around care of their current workforce and culture, their appearance as an employer of choice when recruiting, and/or to meet compliance requirements. There are a wide range of options out there, and we are seeing a growing desire by organizations to create workplace environments that attract and keep great diverse talent. Here are our six top tips to conduct that training in a way that is actually impactful:
1. Build it around case studies.
Case studies derived from real-life examples bring context to the concepts you wish to convey. Building a program around these scenarios allows participants to see situations from a different perspective than their own, and allows them to put their guard down and explore how their behavior might inadvertently be having an unintended impact on their colleagues. Case studies should serve as the heart and soul of your training program, unlike some online trainings which offer faux-entertaining interludes or pop quizzes and endless lists of “thou shalt nots,” all of which do not resonate with employees in the long term.
2. Emphasize the impact of power relationships.
Power disparities may begin with supervisor-subordinate relationships, but they are not limited to that context. Managers in other parts of the organization may have actual or perceived power to influence decisions such as bonuses, promotions, transfers and other opportunities. Individuals who are listed as peers on an organizational chart may nevertheless be caught in power relationships, if individual A is dependent on the expertise or cooperation of person B in order for individual A to successfully complete a project or deliverable. Highlight all those power situations in a training to ensure understanding.
3. Script your managers how to respond when employees raise concerns.
Some managers intuitively know what to say and how to deliver these messages. Most do not. Give them the words that you would like them to use and teach them what types of responses are unhelpful or counterproductive, and remind them where they can go for support.
4. Teach EVERYONE about preventing retaliation.
Hands-down, the category of complaint most frequently selected by individuals reporting concerns to the EEOC is “retaliation.” Fear of retaliation is what keeps people from coming forward, and the insidiousness of how it can manifest – including through coworker behaviors like ostracizing, excluding, gossip or sabotage – makes it too subtle a problem to be policed by HR alone. Every employee needs to understand what the organization means by retaliation, that it is unlawful, and that there will be repercussions if they engage in retaliation themselves or if they knowingly allow it to continue.
5. Empower your employees to be Upstanders.
Bystanders see or hear behavior going on around them and they wait for it to stop or wait for someone else to do something about it. Upstanders make that first move. They end the behavior itself, get the target of the behavior out of the situation, or report the conduct to those in a position to address it. We need everyone in the workplace to assume collective responsibility for the behaviors of others. That is the only way to effectively ensure lasting change.
6. Use an Expert Trainer
Ensure that the person leading your training is an expert in relevant law, familiar with your particular policy and understands the dynamics at play within your organization. Choosing an engaging expert who can answer employee questions and allow employees and managers to explore their own behaviors demonstrates to your employees that you take this topic seriously and are willing to do the work.