Meeting/Event Information

Event Information - FROM INCIVILITY TO RECEPTIVITY

In a world where workplace tension, customer conflict, and social friction are increasingly common, From Incivility to Receptivity offers HR professionals and organizational leaders a practical, research-informed framework for understanding, navigating, and ultimately transforming uncivil behavior. Drawing on behavioral psychology, negotiation science, and the speaker's 16 years in Learning & Development, this session defines workplace incivility — rudeness, hostility, passive aggression, and insensitive behavior — and explores its root causes, including unmet expectations, cognitive bias, toxic shame, gender and racial bias, and misaligned goals. Participants will learn concrete, actionable strategies for self-regulation, empathy-based communication, and increasing receptivity in difficult interactions, equipping them to de-escalate conflict, protect their own mental health, and foster a workplace culture where people feel heard, respected, and motivated to engage.

Key Takeaways

1. Understanding Why People Are Uncivil Changes How You Respond. Incivility rarely exists in a vacuum. By recognizing the seven root causes of uncivil behavior — from unreasonable expectations to toxic shame to the Fundamental Attribution Error — participants learn to depersonalize difficult interactions and respond with greater intention rather than instinct.
2. Self-Regulation Is the First Line of Defense. Before attempting to manage someone else's behavior, employees and leaders must learn to manage their own. Participants will leave with practical, in-the-moment tools for calming the nervous system, avoiding escalation, and applying the T.H.A.N.K. framework before responding to conflict.
3. Receptivity Is a Learnable Skill with Measurable Organizational Benefits. Through strategies such as the 3 A's (Acknowledgment, Accountability, Action), agility in communication, and reframing how choices are presented to others, participants learn how to make their message easier to receive — directly improving outcomes in customer interactions, team dynamics, and leadership conversations.
4. Uncivil Workplaces Have a Real and Lasting Cost to Business. The numbers are striking — and they come from sources your SHRM audience will recognize immediately. According to SHRM's own Civility Index research, U.S. workers collectively experience 208 million acts of incivility each day, costing businesses an estimated $2.1 billion daily in lost productivity, absenteeism, and disengagement. The employee-level data is equally alarming: a landmark Harvard Business Review study by Porath and Pearson found that 48% of employees intentionally decreased their work effort after experiencing incivility, 38% deliberately reduced the quality of their work, and 25% admitted to taking their frustrations out on customers. The turnover costs compound these losses further — replacing a single employee can cost between 50% to 200% of their annual salary, with true replacement costs running $15,000 to $40,000 per employee once onboarding and lost productivity are factored in. The damage doesn't stop at the employee level either: research from Georgetown University's Christine Porath shows that many consumers are less likely to buy from a company they perceive as uncivil — even when the rudeness is not directed at them personally — and that witnessing even one negative interaction leads to broader generalizations about the organization and its brand. On the other hand, Microsoft reports that reducing workplace incivility led to a 32% increase in innovation metrics and an 8% reduction in attrition, while Cisco's CEO publicly attributed $36 million in annual savings to their civility initiative.

Speaker - REESE GOLCHIN