“Take action now…because it is simply the right thing to do.”

It’s one thing to gripe about something and something else to help make things better. In the wake of yesterday’s post about sexual harassment and the employer’s responsibility for creating an atmosphere capable of protecting those who need to file complaints, I published an article at ArtsHacker with some excellent resources you can use to reach those goals, regardless of budget size.

How To Go About Creating A Harassment Reporting Process That Protects Employees

If you want to skip right to the resource examined in that post, you can head over to an article from 11/27/17 by Alicia Schoshinski at nonprofithr.com.

Schoshinski does an excellent job at distilling the key points and providing several tools to help implement some of the more challenging aspects of an effective workplace harassment process that protect victims and maintains dignity for all involved.

I want to thank everyone who took the time to write in with private messages in response to yesterday’s post (and the original version published at Facebook).

The one thing that seems crystal clear is the field can do quite a bit more to help prevent workplace abuses and regardless the budget size, there are tools available to help get the job done.

One of my favorite excerpts from Schoshinski’s article is where she lays it out:

Your organization must not only prepare to handle cases of harassment if and when they occur, but also proactively work to prevent harassment from happening in the first place. Nonprofit human resources professionals have the opportunity––and responsibility––to take the lead in preventing harassment and advocating for and protecting its victims. Take action now, not just because the reputation of your organization is on the line, but because it is simply the right thing to do.

This is an issue that deserves to be taken up by national service organizations and/or major foundations. There is so much these organizations can provide the sector, but currently don’t, in the form of resources, free tools, and training.

In the meantime, be sure to devote some time to Schoshinski’s article.

About Drew McManus

"I hear that every time you show up to work with an orchestra, people get fired." Those were the first words out of an executive's mouth after her board chair introduced us. That executive is now a dear colleague and friend but the day that consulting contract began with her orchestra, she was convinced I was a hatchet-man brought in by the board to clean house.

I understand where the trepidation comes from as a great deal of my consulting and technology provider work for arts organizations involves due diligence, separating fact from fiction, interpreting spin, as well as performance review and oversight. So yes, sometimes that work results in one or two individuals "aggressively embracing career change" but far more often than not, it reinforces and clarifies exactly what works and why.

In short, it doesn't matter if you know where all the bodies are buried if you can't keep your own clients out of the ground, and I'm fortunate enough to say that for more than 15 years, I've done exactly that for groups of all budget size from Qatar to Kathmandu.

For fun, I write a daily blog about the orchestra business, provide a platform for arts insiders to speak their mind, keep track of what people in this business get paid, help write a satirical cartoon about orchestra life, hack the arts, and love a good coffee drink.

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