Creating a Culture of Civility with Sejal Thakkar

This week on the podcast, Dane sits down with Sejal Thakkar, Chief Civility Officer, Chief Culture Officer, and keynote speaker. Today, Dane and Sejal explore how creating a culture of civility in the workplace is a crucial part of working well as a team, what microaggressions are and how they show up in the workplace, and her framework for correcting these behaviors through “calling someone in.” She shares how her framework encourages employees to share the responsibility and resolve issues collaboratively at the ground level, instead of bringing it up the chain to their supervisor or HR. Finally, she talks through how psychological safety at work can create a stronger, more effective team. This is a great conversation to combat the growing trend of incivility in the workplace.Key Takeaways:00:00 Introduction to the Future of Teamwork Podcast02:09 Sejal's Journey from Defense Attorney to Civility Advocate03:51 Understanding and Addressing Incivility10:27 The Role of Microaggressions in Workplace Incivility19:30 The Civility Action Plan (CAP) Framework24:49 Frustrations with Anti-Harassment Training25:30 Drawing Parallels with the Safety Industry26:32 Introducing the Civility Action Plan27:20 Importance of Alignment in Civility29:12 Promotion and Continuous Learning31:11 Implementing Psychological Safety32:28 Encouraging Collaborative Conflict Resolution42:23 The Role of AI in Promoting Civility44:15 Concluding Thoughts and Call to Action Psychological safety at work doesn't mean that everybody is nice to each other all the time. It means that people feel free to brainstorm out loud, to voice half-finished thoughts, to share feedback, challenge the status quo, openly challenge and work through disagreements together, knowing that the organization and the leaders value honesty, candor, truth-telling, and that the team members have each other's backs.