Our Bethany values inspire, empower, and guide our daily interactions with one another, which are foundational to creating a respectful workplace. We must be aware of how our own actions impact others, while also understanding their perspectives as well. We each play a role in building a more respectful workplace by being more self-aware of our reactions and triggers when conflict occurs.

What is self-awareness?
Being self-aware is the ability to notice your feelings, your reactions, your habits, your behaviours and your thoughts. It helps you understand how people see you, your opinions and your reactions to others in the moment. We can practice self-awareness by thinking about how might our actions have impacted others or caused some sort of conflict, and how we can do things differently in the future.

Applying the three skills below can help develop better self-awareness and improve our relationships both at work and in our personal lives.

• Self-reflection – recognizing your emotions, triggers and biases, be curious about the views of others
• Self-regulation – manage your emotions so they don’t impact you or others in a negative way
• Self-expression – manage your actions, including your choice in words, body language and tone

Developing self-awareness takes practice

At first, it might feel strange and vulnerable to reflect on the role we’ve played in a conflict or negative situation. The goal of developing self-awareness is to be able to respectfully handle conflict when it happens or soon afterwards by taking responsibility for our part in the conflict, versus avoiding the situation and letting things build-up to the point of damaging a relationship.

Always take care of yourself

If you find you struggle building your self-awareness, don’t forget to practice self-compassion. Be kind to yourself; no one is perfect. Self-compassion and building resiliency can help us cope with the ups and downs of work and one’s home life. Our personal well-being impacts our interactions with others, our ability to cope with the demands of work, and how we deal with conflicts that arise in the future.For more information, please contact:

Lesley MacKinnon
Manager, Safety
Lesley.Mackinnon@BethanySeniors.com

Or

Site OHS Committee Chair or Representative

ADDITIONAL LINKS AND RESOURCES

Managing Conflict at Work

Dealing with Conflict in the Workplace

Diversity at Work (to read article, login to Lifeworks)

Managing Conflict in the Workplace (to read article, login to Lifeworks)

LifeWorks supports employee health and well-being.

Bethany employees have access to a wide range of resources such as:

• LifeWorks Blog
• Webinars and Events
• 24/7 Specialist Counselling

Bethanycaresociety.lifeworks.com
username: bcs
Password: eap
Phone: 1-877-207-8833
Phone App: LifeWorks WorkAngel

As the holiday season approaches, many of us will be celebrating in various ways. Bethany is a faith-based organization that practices multi-faithfulness and celebrates diversity through our workforce, residents and the families we serve. Recognizing our differences through caring and inclusion goes a long way in creating caring communities.

Embracing our differences, versus fearing them, is a key step in being respectful towards others. Being fearful of what makes us different from each other can create tension and contribute to an unhealthy work environment. We all have a responsibility to ensure that everyone feels safe, included, and welcomed here at Bethany.

How can we understand why people express such views?
Consider this:

• Perhaps they are unfamiliar with a particular nationality.
• They haven’t been exposed to diverse cultures, perspectives, and traditions.
• Maybe they had a bad experience with someone from a certain culture or country.
• They believe in negative stereotypes.
• They feel threatened by or fearful for numerous reasons.

Fearing our differences is also referred to as Xenophobia which is:

• The fear or hatred of anyone who is different.
• Originating from a dislike or discrimination against people from other countries.

What can we do to embrace the differences of others in our workplace?

• Be an ally and challenge inappropriate or generalized comments with questions such as, ‘What do you mean by that?’ or ‘Why do you say that?’
• Provide positive affirmations, recognition, and celebrate differences in our workplace.
• Get to know the holidays and traditions of your colleagues.
• Challenge your own stereotypes.
• Set an example by accepting and being welcoming of others.

Each of us has a responsibility for creating a workplace that acknowledges and embraces our differences. Remember, “it is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept and celebrate those differences.”
Audre LordeFor more information, please contact:

Lesley MacKinnon
Manager, Safety
Lesley.Mackinnon@BethanySeniors.com

Or

Site OHS Committee Chair or Representative

ADDITIONAL LINKS AND RESOURCES

Article – Unpacking Xenophobia

Ditch the Label

Leading Effectively – The Power of Respect

Bethany’s Respectful Workplace PolicyLifeWorks supports employee health and well-being.

Bethany employees have access to a wide range of resources such as:

• LifeWorks Blog
• Webinars and Events
• 24/7 Specialist Counselling

Bethanycaresociety.lifeworks.com
username: bcs
Password: eap
Phone: 1-877-207-8833
Phone App: LifeWorks WorkAngel

One day you find yourself sitting on your lunch break when you overhear a co-worker being mean toward another co-worker. This makes you feel very uncomfortable. What should you do? Ignore the behaviour, call out the behaviour or report it to your supervisor.

At Bethany, we strive to make our workplace a safe and healthy place for all. A place where everyone treats each other with respect, dignity, and free of discrimination. We each have a responsibility to address behaviours that demean and disrespect others. Standing up to these behaviours by being a “Supportive Bystander” is the first step in stopping these behaviours in the workplace. Ignoring them only perpetuates them.

What does it mean to be a bystander? If we witness behaviours and/or overhear interactions that are disrespectful, harassing, discriminating, or violent, we have a role to play in addressing and preventing these actions in the future. Addressing people’s actions and words is uncomfortable, but it is important to be part of creating respectful and safe workplaces one conversation, and one interaction at a time.

How to provide support as a bystander – Keeping your safety in mind:

• In the moment – Speak up and move closer to the person being treated disrespectfully.
• After the event, check-in with the: Recipient of the behaviour and make sure they are ok. Ask them how you can support them.
• If appropriate, encourage those involved to talk to each other.
• If the above doesn’t work or the situation escalates, talk to your supervisor or manager.

Things you can say to address disrespectful behaviour

• Seek to understand by asking
  • “What did you mean by that?”
  • “I heard this… is that what you meant to say?”
  • “That didn’t feel very respectful to me. Help me understand what is going on.”
• Address the behaviour
  • “How can we talk about this more respectfully?”
  • Support a pause in the conversation – “It sounds like this is important. Can we take a little time and reflect on this and talk about it at our next meeting/later?”
  • “This doesn’t feel productive to the conversation. Let’s focus on the topic at hand.”
  • “That’s inappropriate, please stop saying/doing that.”
  • “I don’t think you meant it to be, but that sounded disrespectful. This needs to stop.”

It may feel awkward to say these kinds of things in the moment, but we need to act. When we don’t speak up, we are accepting the behaviour and unintentionally may cause harm. If you are being bullied, harassed, and/or being treated with disrespect report it to your supervisor or Human Resources.For more information, please contact:

Lesley MacKinnon
Manager, Safety
Lesley.Mackinnon@BethanySeniors.com

Or

Site OHS Committee Chair or Representative

ADDITIONAL LINKS AND RESOURCES

LifeWorks

Calgary Distress Center

Policy Psychological Health and Safety

Respect in the Workplace PT Campaign

Bethany Code of ConductNEW LINK – https://lifeworks.com/en

LifeWorks supports employee health and well-being.

Bethany employees have access to a wide range of resources such as:

• LifeWorks Blog
• Webinars and Events
• 24/7 Specialist Counselling

Bethanycaresociety.lifeworks.com
username: bcs
Password: eap
Phone: 1-877-207-8833
Phone App: LifeWorks WorkAngel