Every once in a while I get behind on my reading of the paper. If I'm lucky, it's because I'm playing too much golf. Not so lucky, work. I finally get to the business section of last Friday's Globe and Mail to find the headline "HE SAW THE DISASTER COMING". It was about former Bank of Canada governor David Dodge who said that while no one could have predicted the entire disaster that is taking place in the U.S. financial markets, "We've known for a long time, going back to 2003 and 2004, that we were building up to a global problem that needed to be resolved."

For those who have lost so much (and the roller coaster is far from over), wouldn't that have been nice to have heard that from the guy who heads up our banking regulation system....BEFORE HAND??? But since his retirement from the governor's role in January, 2008, he says he feels more comfortable to speak freely. That will give me great comfort while I'm eating cat food in my old age.

Reading this article, my mind raced to the issues at the workplace. How many times do employees at all levels - new employees, front line supervisors, and managers at all levels - speak freely AFTER they leave a job or a department? They knew things were in a mess before hand, but they chose to say nothing until after the disaster struck. Or sometimes the disaster is still pending, but they are only speaking up, quietly, behind the scenes, while the disaster is waiting to be discovered.

In my line of work, this often shows up regarding a person who makes inappropriate comments, or behaviours that are clear violations of human rights legislation, such as sexist, racist or homophic comments. Others know it's inappropriate (or worse, against policies and the law) and yet they don't say anything. But after one brave person finally blows the whistle on this clearly inappropriate behaviour, then all kinds of people say, "yeah, I knew it was going on." So now you tell us.

What causes people to shut up as opposed to just saying a few things to help matters along?

We're scared
All of us in the workplace are adults. Many of us have university degrees, college diplomas or trade certificates. Meaning, the vast majority of us are pretty smart people. Yet we're afraid, of being ostracized, losing clout, being seen as a whiner, or getting fired.

We've seen it before
My workplace might talk about openness, but I saw what happend to poor Dillan when he spoke up - not going to happen to me, so I'll just keep my mouth shut, thank you very much.

We gave up caring
Or we don't think it will do any good. Talk is cheap and when the bully not only gets away with his comments, but is promoted, then why should I care? No one else does.

Hundreds of millions of investors - through direct investing, mutual funds, or pension plans - have been affected because certain people who knew better, didn't speak up, or weren't clear enough (and to be fair, there were many analysts who predicted this, but they don't have the same clout as any country's head of the banking system). Mincing words, for fear it will cause panic, or being overly diplomatic, means that certain people think the rest of us are stupid and can't handle the truth. That mentality has put the world financial markets in turmoil.

The same is true at work. People can handle way more than we give them credit for - even the bullies, becuase they will change if there are real consequences. If you have a bully, or a direct violation of employment and workplace human rights laws, this is no time to mince words. Believe it or not, here's what you can do:

Call it for what it is - If someone is out of line, speak up.

Get help - Many supervisors and employees have no idea what they can do or should do. Don't worry if you're in that boat. Many organizations have experts, or people who can find knowledgeable people to help them deal with a problem. You're not alone.

Don't let office politics get in the way - Sometimes the person is in a more senior position than you. Fair enough, but that doesn't mean it's accepted. There are plenty of organizations taking strong and effective action against people right at the very top (seriously) when they find out what's been going on. They may care about their people, or they may be concerned with legal liabilities (both valid reasons). If your workplace is more concerned about status and hierarch, you either want to challenge that, or find a place where they actually care about people.

Loads of human rights and court cases have management swearing up and down that they had no idea anything was wrong until they were served with legal papers. Then we find out that tonnes of people knew exactly what was going on. Don't let that be your workplace, or you who says nothing. Don't wait for the next meltdown to say, "I knew this was coming." We just can't afford it.

Stephen

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Stephen Hammond, B.A, LL.B, CSP, is a speaker, trainer and author working in the field of workplace human rights. Articles, tips and his books Managing Human Rights At Work: 101 Practical Tips to Prevent Human Rights Disasters and Steps in the Rights Direction: 365 human rights celebrations and tragedies that inspired Canada and the world are available on his website www.stephenhammond.ca. Contact Stephen at 866-685-8338 or stephen@stephenhammond.ca

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