Costs of Incivility: Lack of Respect Hurts Morale and Bottom Line

Incivility on a team is often subtle.
  • Think of a manager who checks his or her phone during “one-on-one” conversations.
  • Think of your co-workers (or managers) who send emails during a presentation.
  • Have you witnessed subtle teasing of a co-worker who doesn’t quite fit the “norm?”
  • Do you know a teammate who takes credit for good news but points a finger at team members when something goes wrong?
Christina Porath and Christine Pearson collected data from more than 14,000 people from the US and Canada to track the prevalence, types, causes, and cost of incivility at work.
SHOCKING RESULTS: Among workers who have been on the receiving end of incivility at work…
  • 48% intentionally decrease their work effort
  • 47% intentionally decrease time spent at work
  • 38% intentionally decrease quality of their work
  • 66% said performance declined
  • 78% said commitment to their leaders declined
  • 25% admitted to taking out frustration on customers
  • 80% spent time worrying about the incident and offender.
Bottom line: Performance and team spirit deteriorates. 

What’s a leader to do?

  1. Set the right tone
  2.  Model good behavior
  3. Ask for feedback
  4. Pay attention to your culture
  5. Teach and train civility
  6. Create healthy teams and standards of behavior
What distinguishes great personal leaders and healthy teams? It is not IQ or technical skills, it’s emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence is a group of five mastery skills that must be taught and reinforced.

Five Emotional Intelligence Mastery Skills: 

  1. Self-Awareness: Knowing one’s emotional impact on others. Knowing that your vocabulary and words matter and create impact on moods, attitudes, and emotions for you, your team, and your clients.
  2. Self-Regulation: controlling and redirecting disruptive impulses and moods for your team.
  3. Self-Motivation: Discovering your “why” and aligning with your purpose— which includes honoring and respecting others.
  4. Empathy: Understanding other people’s emotional makeup and placing high value on the feelings of others. Emotions matter!
  5. Social Skills: Building rapport, respect, and mutual admiration to create a cohesive team that moves in a desired direction is so important.
Invest in your team— it will build morale and your bottom line!
— Steve


As a master storyteller, Steve has unparalleled ability to communicate dynamic business and leadership truths through stories, anecdotes and humor. Harness the power of the “number one” predictor of professional success, impact, leadership, high performance and sustainable relationships in business and life. Steve’s highest rated keynote presentation.

To bring Steve to your next meeting or event, please contact Michelle Joyce at:
Web: www.stevegutzler.com/contact-us/
Email: michelle@michellejoyce.com
Phone: (704) 965-2339

“The purpose of Leadership Quest is to help professionals develop their personal leadership, vision and emotional intelligence. Everyday I strive to help leaders and teams achieve their desired goals in sales productivity, leadership, time maximization, and life-balance. ”

About the Author

Steve Gutzler is the President of Leadership Quest, a Seattle-based leadership development company. Steve is a dynamic, highly-sought-after speaker who has delivered more than 2,500 presentations to a list of clients including Microsoft, Starbucks, the Seattle Seahawks, Pandora Radio, Boeing, Cisco, Starwood Corporation, the Ritz Carlton group, and the U.S. Social Security Administration. He recently was voted #1 by the readership of Huffington Post as the Most Inspirational Leader on Social Media.

A published author on leadership and emotional intelligence, Steve resides near Seattle with his wife Julie where they enjoy time with their three adult children and six grandchildren.