Collaboration Between Genders For Dei Culture Of Collaboration & Respect
About The
Company
| SECTOR | Infrastructure Manufacturing |
|---|---|
| SCALE | 50000 Employees |
| GEOGRAPHY | India/Others |
| DURATION | 18 – 24 months |
The
Challenge
This large Infrastructure/Manufacturing organization that is multi-locational with a large workforce of 50,000 employees across levels.
While there were policies on Prevention of Sexual Harassment, the organization had always believed in Cultures of Mutual Respect and instances of objectionable behaviour towards women was an exception till the organization expanded its entry-level intake of women employees.
There was a noticeable spike in instances of inappropriate behaviours being experienced by women, including complaints of Sexual Harassment across levels.
There was immediate Action considered to popularize the Policy and to let both Genders get familiarized with what it is, how the ICC works and the recourse women had should they experience hostile environments at work.
The invitation was to conduct POSH training across, which we offered to do once we had concluded Capstone’s Proprietary Discovery Process.
The
Approach
Diagnose
Design
Deploy
Sustain
The
Approach
Diagnose
The Discovery process involved meetings & discussions, and survey besides the existing information already available on past instances & actions. Here’s what we found –
- Several locations had the Policy communicated but no one had addressed to the Teams about this very significant communication around Collaboration between Genders and how we could inadvertently create a Hostile environment…
- The Act & POSH process incites complaints or actions instead of discussions or peer coaching to de-escalate Hostile environment
- Any complaint would mean loss of Morale and had the potential to reduce Collaboration between Genders
- It appeared that most audiences had not had a chance to understand the purpose of the Policy & that there was room for de-escalation and education rather than blame and punishment/inquiries/complaints
The
Approach
Design
We designed a Theatre-based intervention for audiences to understand how fun comments, inappropriate compliments/behaviours can reduce respect, trust that is so critical for Collaboration & Teamwork. We recommended not calling this a POSH workshop, instead we called it the Samman Workshops – Respect & Collaboration between Genders Workshops.
The taster session went fabulously well – performed with Actors with high audience participation. The workshop did mention actions in case of Hostile environment or misbehaviour and also what recourse they had through the Policy but urged them not to escalate but de-escalate & educate instead.
The
Approach
Deploy
We deployed over 85 workshops across locations, in-person led by a Faculty – but the scenarios were enacted by Actors. The audience loved it, and all wanted to be part of the Samman Workshops.
Audience participation & the questions were great. The organization had never used Theatre so this was very impactful indeed – delivered in Hindi & English, this created a great buzz for addressing the Cultures of Respect and integrating Women employees, especially at locations and in Technical roles…
The
Approach
Sustain
As the momentum kept building, we curated online versions, used Scenarios for discussions to ensure the remotest places still received the message of the workshop.
The messages were clear & built a great Brand for the Employer as they were not reading the Rule book & threatening punishments for those who did not uphold the Policy… instead this was
An invitation to build a Culture of Respect through a fun way of Learning
Understanding the nuances of frivolous and undermining communication that impacts Teamwork
And also understanding the boundaries & consequences of Sexual Harassment.
Faculty
Review
