Tech giant Google has always encouraged a workplace where groups of employees who disagree can engage in debates about social and political beliefs. A healthy debate over issues can be a good way to figure out the best way to do things and to be creative and innovative. However, when coworkers have the perspective that “you’re entitled to your opinion but my opinion is far more important than yours, especially if your opinion doesn’t agree with mine,” trouble is brewing. Although Google’s organizational culture of “opinion entitlement” might be an important reflection of its corporate values, it has led to a workplace of nonstop, unhealthy, ineffective debate.55 The “cacophony of voices” is consuming the company and creating a “war zone of debate.”56 And Google is not the only organization dealing with the reality. We’ve become a society of individuals who seemingly can’t handle opinions that depart from their own “politically correct views.”57 Incivility and the need for civil conversations IS a topic that organizational managers need to address. A recent study documented how incivility diminishes collaboration and performance in medical teams.58 There are very few jobs in an organization where employees work independently. In most organizations, work is done with the input, cooperation, and efforts of numerous individuals … whether on a team, in a department or across functional areas, or even outside the organizational boundary. And individuals, as we discussed in Chapter 9, come to the organization from and with diverse perspectives and characteristics. Working together to accomplish organizational goals is the “glue” that all should be working toward together. So, it seems, therefore, that the chapter on communication is the place, then, to discuss how coworkers can converse civilly. Somehow, somewhere, sometime, it seems we’ve forgotten how to do that.

Creating a culture of civility is the responsibility of an organization’s leaders.59 Respectful, civil conversations are modeled by leaders who set the example of how to be civil. Civil conversations and discussions are a matter of give and take. Talking and listening respectfully are paramount. Being civil doesn’t mean that you have to agree with what the other person is saying or expressing. But it does mean that you listen and that you ask questions. It also means that you’re able to separate facts from opinions. When opinions are mistaken as facts, it will be hard to have a civil conversation. All employees should strive to keep an open mind when exposed to another viewpoint. Keeping an open mind does not equal agreement; it simply means that you respect the other person enough to hear what he or she has to say. So, as we discussed earlier as we looked at the barriers to effective communication and how to overcome those barriers, coworkers need to be supportive of each other and reflect a more positive workplace culture in which rudeness and incivility are strongly discouraged. Building a culture of civility and respectfulness where coworkers can express differing opinions without fear of attack or intimidation or retribution is a goal that all organizational leaders should strive for.