This past weekend a rough looking middle-aged woman deliberately threw a rather large plastic cup full of soda out of her car window onto a retail store parking lot as we walked by. Realizing the unkempt woman littered on purpose, my wife said to her, “you dropped your cup.”  In a very hateful tone the litterbug shot back, “come over here and pick it up!”  A trash can was simply four or five steps away from the rude woman’s car door but she refused to do the right thing, trashed our environment with her uncleanliness and her unsightly rudeness.

What has happened to basic courtesy? When did it become okay to simply throw your trash out the car window while driving down the highway. When did it become okay to yell, scream and curse at other drivers on the road?  This same lack of courtesy has crept into the workplace as well.

Why do some managers find it acceptable to yell or curse at employees?  Why do some organizations allow fear and intimidation to be used as a management tool? Even non-profit groups, churches and Christian organizations have not been immune to the disease of mean.

One time I observed a blustery executive respond to a subordinate who simply asked a good question, “I am not telling you again because I didn’t stutter the first time,” the impatient executive stated to the employee who was visibly shaken by the rude response.  How creative and innovative do you think that supervisor’s employees were?

A majority of professionals will display trust, dignity and respect among subordinates, peers and leaders.  However, there are those difficult ones who create toxic work environments due to their refusal to treat people nicely.  They litter the workplace with their toxic behavioral trash. Their behavior and demeanor smells and makes people sick.

The Power of Nice is a great book written by advertising executives Linda Kaplan Thaler and Robin Koval showing “how to conquer the business world with kindness.”  I highly recommend the brief 119 page book to all my clients, leaders and future leaders. We have all heard the adage “nice guys finish last.” Actually, this is far from the truth.  Sure, mean managers get significant press time.  But according to the authors, “The Power of Nice shows that ‘nice’ companies have lower employee turnover, lower recruitment costs, and higher productivity.  Nice people live longer, are healthier, and make more money.”

The authors Thaler and Koval go on to say, “companies and people with a reputation for cooperation and fair play forge the kind of relationships that lead to bigger and better opportunities, both in business and life.  But nice doesn’t mean acting wimpy. In fact, nice may be the toughest four-letter word you’ll ever experience,” say the authors.

Building great workplaces is not complicated work. Treating employees with dignity, trust and respect is not rocket science. Being nice, respectful and caring is powerful. These qualities are not the tools of a wimpy leader.  These are the qualities of a focused and successful leader who does not need to ruin lives while climbing the corporate ladder or building a successful company.

Will you join The People Group in making a commitment to create a trusting, respectful and caring work environment where you work?  It makes sense.  It’s the right thing to do.  And you will be financially better for it.

Anyone can have a bad day and lash out at a coworker. Civilized people will later apologize for their poor behavior. On the other hand, there are certifiably rude people in corporate America who have made incivility, rudeness and verbal abuse a way of life in business. The companies who employ these violent neanderthals in business suits should beware of their negative consequences.

In a recent behavioral study reported by Harvard Business Review, it was determined that workers on the receiving end of verbal abuse became impaired in their ability to perform tasks. According to researchers, “their studies indicate that after exposure to rudeness, people think hard about the incident—whether just ruminating or trying to formulate a response—and those thought processes take cognitive resources away from other tasks.”

“The mere thought of being on the receiving end of verbal abuse hurts people’s ability to perform complex tasks requiring creativity, flexibility, and memory recall,” according to Christine Porath of the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business and Amir Erez of the Warrington College of Business Administration at the University of Florida.

The study also found the environmental impact of rudeness to be very profound and overreaching to even those outside the receiving end of the abuse. Researchers stated, “Verbal abuse affects more than just those who experience it directly; it apparently can harm innocent bystanders.”

If you want your company culture to deteriorate with increasing doses of fear, risk aversion, inability to make decisions, and lack of communication, employ or promote rude people. In other words, trying to create a great workplace while employing rude people is a recipe for failure.

It is common for business leaders to allow executives, rainmakers, and movers and shakers to behave in a rude manner, including verbal and psychological abuse. Leaders falsely believe the rude rainmaker’s contributions overcompensate for the toxic venom they spew in the office. Some mistaken leaders believe a toxic tyrant’s abuse causes employees to work harder.

Do you want to build an energized, profitable and high-performance organization? Require your leaders to take a stand against rude behavior. At times doing the right thing is difficult—it calls for strength of character—but it brings great rewards. The CEO must weed out abusive employees no matter their position in the organization. By doing so, the organization can return to an environment conducive to creativity, flexibility, productivity and profitability.