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Civility is in the Trickles Not the Waves: Books on Civility in the Workplace by Christine Porath and Richard Carlson

17 Apr


April is Workplace Conflict Awareness Month.  Recently I came across a book Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff at Work by Richard Carlson. This is a branch off of another general book Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff…and it’s All Small Stuff which basically spoke about how not to let little things take over your life. The motto of the “at Work” book was “simple ways to minimize stress and conflict while bringing out the best in yourself and others”. This rang true and deeper after I came across a TED Talk video with Christine Porath.

In this 15 minute video, Christine talks about incivility and how it affects people in the workplace. She goes on to talk about how lifting people up in the workplace has a better outcome of total workplace success than tearing them down. Many variations of tearing one down can also be a determining factor on how both the “tearer” and the “teared” may be affected, because disrespecting a coworker not only affect them. Therefore, it is beneficial to be civil to others as well as yourself because in the end, it will come back to you.

I find that reading can be a form of exercise and if you’re thinking of ways to exercise how to be proactive in improving yourself, you should check out Richard Carlson’s Don’t Sweat Series as well as Christine Porath’s Mastering Civility: A Manifesto for the Workplace.

It’s not about doing all the right small things and doing a lot of it. It’s about being intentional in the small things that you do. Respecting your coworkers is not just about the workplace and being successful. It’s also about being civil and accomplished as a human being to the world as a whole. To your parents, your family, your kids. It’s about something bigger than being a good boss or worker. Incivility ultimately boils down to who you want to be at the end of the day.  Incivility may be subjective but all in all being civil is universal.

Aggression, insubordination, mocking, impoliteness, rudeness, shouting and being short with someone. These are more obvious forms of incivility. Ones that hurt you to the core the moment it sparks. But what are the most dangerous forms of incivility? I believe it to be true that small things matter most. That attention to detail really is key to success and failure and this holds true for workplace behavior as well.

A workplace is an environment that on average we spend 30 percent of our week. This is whole other family – a makeshift home – we have to work on revitalizing the foundation daily. It’s an important environment with important tasks and should be deemed the respect as one’s actual home is.

Written by:
Sherissa Salas
Adult Programming Assistant

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Stressed Out: Check Out these New Books from HPL on Anxiety and Worries that Could Help You Feel More at Ease

10 Apr

April is Stress Awareness Month; since 1992, health care professionals and health care advocates have sought to bring awareness to the issue of stress.  Stress and anxiety can have negative effects on not only our emotional state, but overall health, however, in today’s fast paced lifestyle and fearmongering culture it often can feel unavoidable.  Although nothing can replace the advice of a trained professional and you should always consult your physician before undertaking any new health practice be it physical or mental, here are several new arrivals at HPL that could be helpful in understanding anxiety and finding ways to destress.

Worried?: An Evidence-based Investigation of Some of Life’s Common Concerns
by Lise A. Johnson
Worried
This clever book by Lise Johnson looks at some of the topics people frequently worry about large and small from food safety to asteroids striking the earth. By using science she looks at how much worry we might actually need to assign a specific topic. Included in Worried? are the preventability, likelihood, and consequences for each of the concerns discussed. This book is a good resource for combating fear from dangers often sensationalized in the news and on social media platforms.

The Small Guide to Anxiety
by Gary Small
The Small Guide to Anxiety
Small’s book provides suggestions for handling panic attacks, phobias, obsessive thinking, insomnia, self-doubt and other symptoms and causes of anxiety.  Chapters focus on defining anxiety, strategies to reduce anxiety, and understanding common anxiety related disorders such as generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, social anxiety, and obsessive-compulsive disorder.  Small’s Guide could help you make big changes in your life.

Lightly: How to Live a Simple, Serene, and Stress-Free Life
by Francine Jay
lightly
You may be familiar with Marie Kondo’s popular philosophy for organizing and decluttering which focuses on objects which bring joy instead of simply acquiring more and more stuff, but often there is more weighing our lives down beyond physical objects.  In Lightly, Francine Jay looks at ways you can not only free up closet space, but also your schedule and the emotional baggage that is encumbering your life.

Under Pressure: Confronting the Epidemic of Stress and Anxiety in Girls
by Lisa Damour
under pressure
Although anxiety seems on the rise overall, it is especially increasing among girls according to Lisa Damour.  In Under Pressure, she looks at the positives that stress can play when properly channeled including encouraging emotional growth, but also ways that parents can deal with the more negative aspects of stress that can come from a variety of source such as peer pressure and the new realm of social media, which previous generations of children were not impacted by. The book is a helpful parenting guide for those who are looking at ways to help their daughters navigate life with less anxiety and more confidence.

Written by:
Aimee Harris
Head of Reference

 

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