Companies are hungry to find ways to differentiate themselves, to become employers of choice, to present themselves as organizations that deserve to win the “war for talent.” Cue the calls for a dynamic workplace culture as the secret weapon to make all this come true.

Workplace culture has become a familiar term in corporate America. But despite all the talk about how much culture matters, few companies actually do the work required to build and maintain a healthy and productive environment at work. Research validates the fact that a healthy culture drives business results, but little attention is paid to how to actually improve your culture and keep it healthy.

First, let’s define the term. In short, workplace culture encompasses the beliefs, values, and behaviors that guide your company. There are many components that define and measure the health of a culture at work, including employee engagement, employee satisfaction, happiness at work, compensation, benefits, and other workplace perks. People confuse these individual elements with defining their culture. (“We have a great culture . . . our employee surveys indicate our workforce is engaged.”)

As outlined in Figure I.1, a healthy and productive workplace culture has various components. Like Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, you can’t get to the top rungs without first satisfying basic needs.

A company that provides the basics—fair pay and benefits, and a generally safe workplace—has a mediocre culture. People come to work for their paychecks. There is little innovation and profits are flat. (Note: Companies that don’t provide even these basics are cultures that are usually seen as toxic, and this toxicity eventually destroys the company’s ability to succeed.)

A company that goes a step above and provides additional perks and takes steps to ensure an engaged and connected employee base has a good culture. Their employees understand the company’s mission, they feel connected to it and to each other. In terms of employee relations, these companies focus on and follow the law.

Then there are the companies with fantastic workplace cultures. The secret to these companies’ success is threefold:

1. They are intentional and relentless about planning and executing a strategy to put culture at the center of everything they do;
2. They have leaders who walk the walk and set the tone; and,
3. Because culture refers to the norms that govern how people approach problems and develop solutions, these companies also see preventing, managing, and addressing conflict (drama) as a vital part of their culture.

And the results are undeniable: a cohesive and collaborative workplace that leads to innovation and, as study after study shows, increased revenue and profit.

Think about a company that boasts about its engaged and satisfied employee base. Now think of how well this company fares if information comes to light about an executive who is allowed to remain on the job despite credible allegations of sexual harassment or some other ethical lapse. The weak foundation that holds up the fallacy of a great workplace culture collapses under the weight of the hypocrisy.

In today’s post-#MeToo world, it is more important than ever to find groundbreaking solutions to address harassment, bias, and ethical lapses in the workplace. Without addressing these concerns—drama at work—a company’s claim of an excellent workplace culture is incomplete.

While much has been written about topics such as employee engagement, climate surveys, and the introduction of Ping-Pong tables as tools to build a healthy culture, little attention has been paid to how critical conflict prevention and resolution are to a company’s ability to provide employees with an environment in which to thrive. This book addresses that very topic and introduces an innovative and fresh approach to reducing or even eliminating workplace drama.

This book is for the leader, for the emerging leader, and for anyone who has to manage drama at work. A recurring theme throughout the book is that it will take each and every one of us to achieve the goal of a drama-free workplace.

The book is divided into three parts:

• Part One: Diagnosis Drama: What You Can Do to Identify, Prevent, and Fix Workplace Drama. This section gives the reader an overview of the root causes of drama and practical solutions to rid the workplace of it, followed by detailed chapters on the three most common types of drama at work: sexual harassment, bias/diversity, and ethics lapses.
• Part Two: “Hiking” to the Top of the Healthy Workplace Culture Pyramid. Using the metaphor of hiking, this section provides some essential and easy-to-implement formulas for making your workplace healthier. It also draws from analogous fields (safety, emotional intelligence, persuasive communication) to provide cutting-edge solutions on how to become drama free.
• Part Three: A DIY Roadmap for Creating and Maintaining a Drama-Free Culture. In this section, I’ll share my very practical, step-by-step roadmaps on how to write and enforce policies, how to provide effective training, and how to investigate and resolve workplace drama.

And one last note: Don’t forget that a healthy culture is a fun culture. There is a misconception that in order to be drama free you have to erase all things entertaining and amusing. But who wants to work in that type of environment? A culture that is healthy, inclusive, and respectful can and should also be fun.

You can read the book from beginning to end, or you can turn to the chapter that has information about your most pressing need. The goal is to introduce you to a fresh approach to prevent and address drama at work so that yours can be an organization that is proud of its culture.

I’ll use case studies and real-life examples throughout the book. I’ve collected these stories from my work as an employment attorney and HR professional, as well as my experience as a workplace investigator—a specialist in the field of drama prevention and resolution. This work has given me a bird’s-eye view of how drama unfolds. More important, it has given me insight into how the need to prevent and fix workplace drama is a key ingredient in the secret sauce of creating and maintaining a healthy workplace culture.

Whether your organization is already on its way to the top of the Healthy Workplace Culture Pyramid or you’re starting from scratch, this book will provide you with a roadmap to identify, prevent, and resolve workplace drama. And whether you’re a leader, an emerging leader, or an employee who wants to stay drama free, the tips in this book will help you be a part of the solution we’re all striving for—a workplace free of useless drama.