Wednesday; July 31

I was in a training not long ago that dealt with women in the workplace.  As you might expect there were times when the discussion focused on men and women working together and soon there was the inevitable discussion as to how people should handle situations when men and women find themselves working alone together.  There is a philosophy that advocates we should never put ourselves in a situation where are meeting or working alone with a member of the opposite sex alone, but is that really the best answer?  The class was being conducted by Brenda Dietzman, who offered some insightful thoughts on the subject.  After making the point that individual offensive behavior should never be tolerated, she said that we should not withdraw from those of the opposite sex just because of a fear of being accused of inappropriate behavior.  She went on to explain that when we alienate anyone merely based on the potential for the perception of inappropriate behavior we take away from what we have to offer them.  When we refuse to meet with or work with anyone we set ourselves up for moral and legal discrimination claims.  When we advocate that only men can mentor men and only women can help woman we limit the effective outreach that people can have on people.  Yes, some people have abused this type of working environment in the past – and they should be disciplined for it – but there are still good, caring, moral people who can be effective with anyone, no matter their gender.
Let’s make sure we live in such a way that we are above reproach.  When we rise above being subject to frivolous claims we can make a big difference in the lives of everyone.
          Think About It!

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