August 2012
Using 360 assessments and coaching to resolve harassment can work, avoid more costly alternatives
By Paul M. Connolly, PhD
An unlawful harassment accusation is destructive to individuals and their careers, disruptive to productivity and potentially catastrophic to business with resulting legal action. Sexual harassment is but one manifestation of common behaviors that are too often overlooked, unaddressed or denied.
Correcting some harassment situations in a way that is legally acceptable and ultimately beneficial for the organization can be accomplished by using a 360 assessment and executive coaching.
Jodie-Beth Galos is uniquely qualified in the process. As principal attorney in her Millerton, New York law firm, Galos & Associates, and a Senior Professional in HR (SPHR), she has made remediation coaching a sought-after service.
“Harassment cases are on the rise,” says Galos. “And there aren’t a lot of legal protections in the workplace, especially with ‘at-will’ employers.”
The stakes are daunting with the typical jury awards for sexual harassment cases reaching into the millions of dollars.
Deconstructing the behavior
The first step in addressing and preventing unlawful harassment is to deconstruct the problem as a series of behaviors to better understand it.
Except in cases of romantic intentions gone awry, harassment isn’t really about sex. In its simplest form, it’s bullying. When you frame it as bullying—a pattern of behavior—decoding a harasser’s modus operandi is similar to assessing for strengths and weaknesses.
Many of the same traits that seem like “the right stuff” for leadership that help a manager emerge as a candidate for executive advancement can also cause negative behaviors when taken to extreme.
Whether this plays out in direct gender-based intimidation, inappropriate humor for the sake of asserting hierarchy or affronts to any of the other eight federally protected classes (see chart A), the motivation is basically the same. Power.
What to look for
Bullying in all its forms is about abuse of powers and disrespect of others. Galos sums it up as “watching someone else being uncomfortable and enjoying it.” Functionally, it plays out as, “I can get away with this, because I’m more powerful than you and you’re helpless to stop me.”
“Having a male dominated workplace is pernicious,” says Galos. “Wall Street, manufacturing and construction are classic settings. But harassment is not ‘natural selection,’ because there are many organizations that forbid bullying cultures.”
Coaching or coddling?
Remediation through coaching can, in some cases, be far less expensive and provide a more positive outcome for all concerned parties. The organization can retain and improve the performance of an otherwise valuable executive in the harasser. The victim gets justice. The harasser can get his or her career back on track.
Coaching is demanding on the person being coached. When it’s framed as the last chance to change behavior before dismissal, coaching can be an emotional and life-changing experience.
Following the delivery of the 360 feedback, a personal action plan created by the client is the first step of coaching. This might include multiple action points such as, “take time to meet with each person over the next month to review how their work fits into the overall department objectives.” Once that is drafted the coaching engagement begins a months-long process of one-on-one dialogue between the coach and the client in which strengths and weaknesses as revealed by the assessments are addressed.
A strength might be articulated as, “your results suggest that you are very good at spotting problems in procedures.” A weakness might be articulated as, “your results also suggest that you may point these problems out without considering the impact of your tone on others, who apparently view this as being a bit blunt and inconsiderate.”
The person being coached is responsible for evaluating his or her progress, as new behaviors are put into practice day to day.
“I can imagine how this might be helpful,” says Sandra L. Shullman, a psychologist, executive coach and partner with the Greensboro, North Carolina firm Executive Development Group. “However, HR and managers in charge need to think about how willing the affected members of the organization are to participate effectively.”
A coach to victims of harassment and an expert in harassment cases, Shullman has also consulted with client firms seeking to reform harassers.
Shullman suggests that 360s and coaching should be applied judiciously because using 360s as remediation could cast a negative light on assessments, decreasing their acceptance for positive development interventions. She also advises that both of these processes should never be a substitute for sanctions or the mandate to maintain appropriate behavior.
Assessing for harassing behavior
All coaching is greatly enhanced with the feedback derived from 360 assessments, because it provides an objective baseline of information about how the client is perceived by others in the organization. In harassment remediation it’s no different.
Generally speaking, the most common goals for using