In the middle of a team meeting, an executive leader raised his voice and said, “Why were you put in charge of that project? We clearly needed someone with real experience managing the process!”
The room stilled. People looked down, avoiding eye contact. After an excruciating pause, someone changed the subject. The meeting continued as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.
Later, the chair asked how she should handle the situation. Should she bring in HR? Should she fire the leader? Team members asked: What will the consequences be?
Everyone focused on the possible punishment. Yet that approach won’t resolve what happened. It doesn’t address the needs of those affected, repair relationships, build trust, or attend to the conditions that might have led to harmful behavior.
Restorative Practices offers a much more effective framework, one that we explored in a three-day training I recently facilitated.
We imagined a different type of workplace—one in which accountability doesn’t immediately imply punishment. In that workplace, we don’t ignore problematic behavior, nor do we avoid responsibility. Instead, we expand our questions so that we understand more deeply what happened, who was harmed, and what was the impact. We involve those affected in determining what is needed for repair. And we take responsibility for making things right.
Much of the training focused on building relationships and trust, developing the skills to speak up for each other, and establishing shared expectations. Those steps provide a foundation so that when something happens, as it did in that team meeting, we can more effectively attend to it.
What if, instead of responding with silence or defaulting to punishment, we met difficult moments by naming what happened, exploring the impact, and deciding what was needed for repair?
Imagine the difference that could make in employee engagement, team functioning, and organizational effectiveness.
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Thanks to the Milwaukee Health Department for committing to create a restorative workplace. What an amazing team!