This week I have been delivering Respect at Work training in regional Australia for a logistics organisation. Respect at work is essentially an upgrade to the training I used to deliver around anti-discrimination, bullying and sexual harassment training. It focuses on organisations creating a culture that’s respectful of all, and prevents and eliminates as much as possible, discrimination, sexual harassment, and workplace environments that are hostile. The main focus is on the positive duty placed on organisations to present and eliminate as much as possible sexual harassment, based on the fifth national survey on sexual harassment in Australian workplaces, which showed at 33% of workers have experienced workplace sexual harassment, with

What I’ve noticed is that the attitudes and values of the audience for this training has shifted, and for the better. I have also noticed that perhaps my maturity and approach to delivering this training has also shifted, for the better.

Today the conversations in the room are heartening, and collaborative. They are open, and people are willing to share about their experiences. Not only is behaviour changing, but people are seeing the impact of behaviour that’s not respectful, and hearts and minds are shifting.

“How do we change these people’s minds?” I was asked during some recent training on respectful culture.

I had been sharing some of their people's comments from the gender equity survey I ran with the organisation.

I won’t share the direct comments here but they were along the lines of “women shouldn’t be in our industry” and “males are just better at some jobs more than women” and “women aren’t capable of doing the job. There was more, but you get the flavour 🙄

Last week I was in Australia delivering workshops on building respectful and inclusive cultures for a particular industry and organisation experiencing rapid growth and unprecedented investment.

I was delivering these workshops to the most delightful groups of people leaders. All up to around 60 people. I built their training around their own gender equity survey results, which we ran over the last 12 months. Their own survey results were the most powerful part of the training.

I started writing this newsletter on a plane from Brisbane to Mackay, Australia. I’m essentially “on tour” to train mostly men, (mostly white men) in a male dominated industry about:

1. Why Diversity & Inclusion is essential for their business and their industry, and

2. Training on Respect at Work, the name given to Australia’s push to banish sexual harassment and discrimination from the workplace, and create respectful workplace cultures.

It's good stuff.

But as I sit on the flight, I’m conscious that these men may feel a bit attacked by both topics.