At some point in our professional we
have all in some minor way tolerated an action / behavior, an individual,
an environment or object in our workspace that may have caused these
effects and more:
- violated who we are and what we stood
for
- drained happiness
- diluted momentum
- distracted
- threatened priorities
- shifted organizational culture
- polluted service delivery
- derailed the pursuit of organizational
and departmental goals
- weakened communication
- reduced team cohesiveness
- paralyzed actions through fear and
intimidation
- shifted optimism to doubt and unbelief
According to
www.dictionary.com
to tolerate is defined as:
1. To allow the existence, presence,
practice, or act of without prohibition or hindrance; permit
2. To endure without repugnance; put
up with
3. Medicine/Medical - to endure or
resist the action of a drug, poison, etc.
4. Obsolete - to experience, undergo,
or sustain, as pain or hardship
(Definitions 1 & 2
speak to the intended purpose and message of this post.)
As you read these synonyms of the word
tolerate, reflect if your workplace, you or your department has or is
currently passively or brutally tolerated under the guise of: Allowing,
indulging, authorizing, admitting, condoning, bearing, putting up with,
consenting to, submitting to, sitting and taking it, suffering, sustaining,
living with, receiving, stringing along, having, humoring, hearing,
turning a blind eye to, accepting, swallowing, enduring, toughing it
out and going along with.
In the workplace tolerance affects
everyone and everything especially service delivery, productivity, associate
commitment, customer loyalty and profitability. Its detrimental
influence can be lasting, toxic and an extreme challenge to halt, stop,
veto, quit, reject, resist, refuse, deny, disapprove, disagree, disengage,
unauthorized, withstand, forbid, prohibit.
An intolerant workplace is attainable.
It can cause your workplace to be the industry’s benchmark, forming
a legacy of conforming to standards, submitting to the rules and procedures,
honoring core values and upholding accountability.
Though the path of intolerance is often
lonely and uncomfortable, associates, teams and the workplace must believe
and hold firm to their vision, strategic plans and projected goals and
see tolerance as mold or any other kind of fungus; an unauthorized destructive
resident in a building or body.
To eliminate tolerance will require
that all associates bite the bullet, take the bull by the horns and
draw the line in the sand through establishing and enforcing rules,
standards, policies and procedures.
To maintain and strengthen spaces where
tolerance was eradicated, executives must establish programs, implement
improvement initiatives, and take a deliberate approach to periodically
measure and inspect the workplace for compliance. In addition,
communicate messages of who is allowed, what is allowed and how “it”
would be allowed is important for consistency, understanding and cooperation.
Warning! There may be an exodus of
customers, even associates from you to your competitors if the new standards
of intolerance no longer benefits them; as the saying goes in The Bahamas;
“no more slackness.”
You cannot progress
with excellence against that which erodes standards, values
and rules.
Copyright @ 2011 Kaylus Horton
Kaylus Horton is the Principal
of Renaissance Group of Companies. As a Certified Path Coach she facilitates
learning and discovery for the focus, direction and the pursuit of vision.
For more information about
coaching in the workplace visit www.renaissancebahamas.com or send an
E-Mail: info@renaissancebahamas.com
