Baden Eunson offers answers and insight into your management woes
Q. Our team leader has a potty mouth and it makes the team uncomfortable. We are not prudes, but we’re not degenerates either. We are getting a bad reputation from his style. Any shutting-up advice?
A. Swearing, bloody swearing … I think you’re right about your Tourette’s team leader, but he may just be following a trend – swearing is now routine in many films and television programs, and don’t get me started on music, especially rap (hey, have you tracked down the web file “The secret meeting that changed rap music and destroyed a generation,” which alleges record companies have shares in private prisons, and therefore have a vested interest in life imitating art?).
This is compounded by the almost complete destruction of private space, thanks mainly to the (prison) cell of the mobile.
To come back to your X-rated team leader. Jump a level and speak to their supervisor. Bosses don’t like to hear of internal disharmony – it makes them look bad.
Other techniques include getting your HR division to run the Bennett and Simpson (anonymous) workplace test (1. “I have … made an ethnic, religious, or racial remark or joke at work … 2. Come in late to work without permission … 3. Littered my work environment … 4. Cursed at someone at work … 5. Called in sick when you were not, etc).
You might also start a discussion (with Mr Macho present) about the Victorian Baillieu government’s decision to impose on-the-spot fines of $250 for swearing in public places. Discuss and skewer.
Baden Eunson is a professional writer and consultant, and adjunct lecturer at Monash University. He has written 16 books on management and communication, the most recent being C21: Communicating in the 21st century (3rd. Edn., Wiley), 2012.
