An Honest Conversation About Sexual Harassment

It's time to have one...with a lot of folks, but particularly between business owners and HR professionals. Something's a miss. I found the HR community to be curiously silent and this is concerning.

So, I've attempted to jump start a conversation and low and behold, slowly but surely, folks are starting to express their feelings about it and here's what I've discovered.  Even though it's a professional requirement, folks really don't like talking about it.

This is problematic for many obvious reasons!

I've also had a rude personal awakening, I don't like talking about it either! And I've come to realize that the first conversation that needs to be had about this topic is with myself.

There are major "ah has" I've been having as I've been preparing for the live webcast roundtable about the topic next week. (Here's the link)

Here's another one: One's individual relationship to how they feel about sex and harassment directly impact how they will or won't handle it and how competent they will be at doing so!

Even now as accusations continue to percolate, I keep thinking...ghez...how bad can it be? I realize I think this way because I honestly don't think I've ever been harassed or at least not that I recall. So my sense internally is to diminish it.

Then I read an account, such as Selma Hayek's in the New York Times and think..."are you kidding...that actually happened?"

Or, yesterday learning that a wack on the butt could be considered assault. See story

Honestly, I'm already weary in thinking about it...talking about and yet in the work I do (working with human behavior in the context of business success) I can't ignore it and it directly impacts the mission I have for all businesses: nurture great human beings and we'll have great businesses and in understanding human behavior, we will all thrive, which is what I call The Human Quotient(tm).

So, I feel compelled to pick up the torch and continue forward, though I'd rather just lay it down right now!

For business leaders and HR professionals, there needs to be a realization that the unraveling of the harm done is really just the beginning! 

Why? Because the way its being done, primarily by the media, and the absence of many relevant voices such as the human resource community, has only generated confusion and confusion unaddressed can only create negative, unintended consequences. Here's my piece on LinkedIn about it. Sexual Harassment - It's Time For Action.

So, there needs to be leaders among us who champion addressing this issue in a way that is constructive and instructive...where honest dialogue can occur for practical solutions to apply to protect all employees and businesses. It really is about building healthy, safe work cultures -- something that I'm sure is embedded in every business plan...eh hem.

Join us for the webcast - learn more here.

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