In an era where online debates often spill into workplace tensions, fostering a culture of civility is essential for team cohesion.
This HR Spotlight article compiles insights from business leaders and HR professionals on one leadership behavior to promote a positive work culture driven by civility.
Experts emphasize modeling respectful communication, such as empathetic listening, setting clear ground rules, and using humor to defuse conflicts. They advocate creating structured forums for open dialogue and prioritizing face-to-face or video interactions to maintain trust.
These behaviors ensure disagreements remain productive, reducing resentment and enhancing collaboration, ultimately building a workplace where employees feel valued and respected despite external or internal conflicts.
Read on!
Amy P. Castro
President, Amy Castro
Set clear ground rules for communication and model them consistently. Too often, leaders assume everyone shares the same definition of “respect,” but that is rarely true.
Take time to clarify what respectful disagreement looks like for your team: no interruptions, ask clarifying questions before responding, address issues and behavior rather than attacking people, and focus on solutions instead of blame.
As a communication expert with more than 20 years of experience, I have seen that leaders who clearly define, model, and consistently reinforce these expectations create genuine psychological safety for their team. This approach ensures everyone knows what is expected and helps them feel confident sharing ideas without fear of personal attacks or escalating drama.
It keeps discussions productive, collaborative, and focused on problem-solving, all of which support a positive and truly respectful workplace culture.
Establish and Enforce Clear Ground Rules
Alanna Fincke
Executive Director Workforce Development, meQuilibrium
One of the most critical leadership behaviors that fosters a positive work culture, one driven by civility, is promoting open and respectful communication.
It may sound pat or obvious, but hear me out on why and how. It plays a powerful role—as do the leaders who practice it—in shifting team and organizational culture, even in the face of workplace conflict and the near constant stress from uncertainty and ongoing change.
Ultimately, open and respectful communication creates a culture of psychological safety at the foundation, and that’s what we need to fight the overwhelming tides of pessimism, uncertainty, and disengagement we’re seeing in the workplace.
Here are some specific suggestions on how to implement open and respectful communication:
Model It: As a leader, it starts with you. Model respectful and civil communication in your interactions. Avoid using inflammatory language, personal attacks, or dismissive behavior, even when (and especially when) disagreements arise.
Encourage Open Dialogue and a Range of Viewpoints: Create an environment where employees feel safe to express their views and opinions without fear of repercussions. Actively listen to different perspectives and acknowledge valid points, even if you disagree.
Provide Training: Effective and respectful communication is a practice and doesn’t always come naturally. However, it can absolutely be learned! Offer training or workshops on effective communication, conflict resolution, and fostering a respectful workplace culture. This is a critical piece in employees developing the skills to engage in constructive dialogue and handle disagreements.
Address Issues Promptly: When conflicts or uncivil behavior arise, address them promptly. It’s tempting to avoid it in the short term, but in the long term, it only reinforces just the behaviors we’re trying to avoid. Encourage open and honest discussions to understand the root causes and work towards resolution in a respectful manner.
Celebrate and Recognize the Good Stuff: Acknowledge and celebrate times when employees demonstrate communication, collaboration, or conflict resolution skills. A simple “great job collaborating on this” can be enough. This reinforces the desired behaviors and encourages others to follow suit.”
Open Communication Builds Psychological Safety
Kaomi Joy Taylor
Founder & Chief Namiac, The Museum of Names
Name Fluency is a deceptively simple leadership behavior that can radically improve workplace civility. It’s not just about pronunciation — it’s about care.
Names are deeply tied to identity, culture, and belonging. Everyone has one – and they’re used daily in the workplace in countless ways. So mishandling them erodes trust fast. But visibly demonstrating care can help heal workplace divisions and rapidly grow civility and respect.
A Name Fluent leader:
Models dignity in how names are spoken and written in personal interactions.
Works to remember, spell, and pronounce names correctly and checks when unsure.
Sets a tone that discourages jokes, stereotypes, and sloppiness around names.
Adjusts systems to accommodate longer, non-Western, and atypical names.
Ask yourself: can you remember a time when your own name was omitted or mocked? How did it feel? That’s why anytime leaders handle names with care, they send a powerful message: You matter here. It’s not about perfection — it’s about people.
Name Fluency Enhances Workplace Civility
Donald Thompson
CEO & Executive Advisor, Donald Thompson
In today’s polarized environment, where online debates can spill into Slack threads and strategy meetings, leaders must go beyond surface-level tolerance. They must become stewards of psychological safety. That begins not with reacting, but with listening.
Empathetic listening signals to your team that you value understanding over judgment. When leaders show genuine curiosity, especially with viewpoints different from their own, they send a powerful message: disagreement doesn’t equal disrespect. This message sets the tone for everyone else.
At a time when many employees feel overlooked or dismissed, your attention becomes a form of leadership capital. It costs nothing, but pays off in trust, engagement, and collaboration.
Teams that feel heard outperform those that feel silenced.
Civility creates a workplace where people feel safe enough to speak up and strong enough to grow together.
Empathetic Listening Promotes Team Trust
Rhett Power
CEO & Co-founder, Accountability Inc
Leadership Behavior: Set the Standard Through Micro-Moments of Respect
Civility isn’t built through grand gestures—it’s shaped in the small, everyday interactions leaders have with their teams.
One powerful behavior is using micro-moments of respect: greeting colleagues by name, acknowledging contributions publicly, giving credit generously, and showing appreciation consistently. These seemingly minor acts reinforce a culture of value and dignity. When tensions rise—whether sparked by online debates or internal disagreements—people are more likely to stay grounded and respectful if those around them model basic human decency.
Leaders set the emotional tone. If they respond to conflict with composure, kindness, and fairness, their teams are more likely to follow. In polarized times, civility must be intentional, and it starts with small moments done well.
Micro-Moments of Respect Set Tone
Joanna Lovering
Founder, Copper + Rise
Want to foster civility at work? Start with your executive presence.
When online arguments start creeping into team dynamics, it’s easy for things to get tense, fast. But leaders with real executive presence don’t take the bait. They stay grounded, speak with clarity, and model respect, even when conversations get heated.
This isn’t about avoiding tough topics. It’s about how you show up when they surface. Do you raise your voice or raise the bar? Do you shut people down or hold the space with calm authority?
Your presence sets the tone. When you model composure, clarity, and mutual respect, others follow. That’s how you build a culture where disagreement doesn’t have to mean disconnection.
Executive Presence Models Civil Discourse
Jared Pope
CEO & Co-Founder, Work Shield
Today, disagreement doesn’t stop at the screen. It follows people into the office. Social media has made it easy to speak without filters.
People often say things online they’d never say to someone face-to-face. That boldness might feel harmless behind a screen, but when those comments carry into the workplace, whether through side conversations, Slack threads, or team meetings, they can quickly erode trust and collaboration.
Here’s a simple benchmark: if you wouldn’t say it to someone directly in a one-on-one conversation with respect and accountability, it probably doesn’t belong in a workplace discussion.
When something crosses the line online, leaders can’t afford to ignore it. A calm, direct check-in like “I saw what you posted. Can we talk about how that’s impacting the team?” can defuse tension before it festers. Just as important, modeling what it looks like to listen without judgment while still holding clear boundaries shows others how to follow suit.
Civility isn’t about being quiet or agreeable. It’s about showing up with clarity, curiosity, and self-control. Even when emotions run high. In today’s climate, leadership means knowing how to bring conversations back to common ground.”
Direct Check-Ins Defuse Online Tensions
Shaun Carse
Director, Trackershop
What under-appreciated technique for teaching politeness? The giving of ego the afternoon off.
At Trackershop, we receive this: if some form of dispute occurs, the last thing the world’ s best leader wants to do is attempt to turn the dispute to some form of power play.
What we do is attempt to be the “calm in the group chat”—the listener, the tension breaker with the smallest dad joke (“Alright, don’t throw the stapler—we’re all one team”), and return the communication to the unified goals.
Civility is not accommodating to the majority—it’s to the point where one doesn’t even feel the obligation to disagree at all, for one might be run over in the hallway or stared down in the break room at lunchtime.
If your workers see you resolve conflict humorously, humbly, and in reverence, they’ll do the same. Absolutely, less awkward silences in the break room.
Humor Calms Conflict, Unifies Teams
David Greiner
Founder & Attorney, Greiner Law Corp
Running both a law firm and Greiner Buick GMC for years taught me one crucial leadership behavior: create structured forums for open dialogue before conflicts escalate. When I served as Chairman of the Victor Valley Chamber of Commerce, I instituted monthly “straight talk” sessions where board members could voice concerns directly without formal procedures.
The breakthrough came when I co-founded the High Desert Senior Forum in 2009, operating it from my dealership showroom. We hosted over 100 meetings covering everything from congressional updates to gardening tips. The key was establishing clear ground rules upfront—everyone gets heard, but personal attacks weren’t tolerated.
At my dealership, this translated to weekly department head meetings where service, sales, and finance could air grievances openly. Instead of letting tensions simmer between departments, we addressed issues immediately. This approach helped us win multiple Best in the Desert awards for customer service.
The pattern I’ve seen in both business and legal practice is simple: give people a regular, structured outlet to be heard, and workplace conflicts rarely reach the boiling point.
Structured Forums Prevent Conflict Escalation
The HR Spotlight team thanks these industry leaders for offering their expertise and experience and sharing these insights.
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