Bullying, harassment and other harmful behaviour are seldom the product of one individual acting in isolation. They become more likely to take root, spread and persist where standards are applied inconsistently, behaviour goes unchallenged, concerns remain unheard and lessons go unlearned.
The misconduct edition of the Slippery Slope® Map helps leaders identify the conditions that make harmful behaviour more or less likely. It also highlights the easy-to-miss signals that create an opportunity to act before significant harm is done.
Organisations rarely fail because they have no standards, controls or ways of raising concerns. Problems develop when those elements stop working together. That’s when the organisation described in its policies becomes increasingly different from the one people experience.
Use the nine conditions that follow to locate where your own organisation currently sits. For each one, look at the healthy conditions, early signals and likely consequences, and ask which best describes what’s happening now. Bear in mind that the examples are intended to prompt reflection rather than provide an exhaustive checklist. No organisation will display every feature, and the same organisation may look very different depending on where you stand.
The Slippery Slope®
An organisation at this stage has established conditions that make sustained misconduct more difficult.
Standards of conduct are generally applied consistently. People are able to raise concerns, and the organisation responds effectively when they do. People management is treated as a professional capability rather than something assumed to come with seniority, and the organisation learns from experience.
This is the point at which the way the organisation works increases risk.
Individual incidents may appear small or manageable in isolation, but concerning patterns are beginning to emerge or become entrenched. Organisations that recognise these signals early have more options and can intervene before the effects become more serious or difficult to manage.
Organisational weaknesses are now being exposed through serious complaints, investigations, health issues, departures, external scrutiny or declining confidence in the organisation itself.
Under strain, attention is focused on reaction rather than prevention. There are fewer options, the costs are higher and the consequences are more difficult to contain.
Questions to reflect on
What have people learned about whether it is possible to gain immunity from behavioural standards?
How quickly would you know if harmful behaviour were developing within a team?
Which concerns are most likely to remain hidden from senior leadership?
Where do low engagement, high turnover and repeated HR issues coexist with surprisingly few complaints?
Are managers good at resolving problems before people begin withdrawing, becoming unwell or leaving?
How would you know whether action taken had genuinely resolved the issue?
Do investigations merely contain risk, or help the organisation understand and address what allowed the issue to develop?
Which of these conditions would people elsewhere in the organisation assess differently?
What is one small change that could make the greatest positive difference?
Want to understand what this means for your organisation?
This framework is intended to help you step back, recognise patterns and start more productive conversations about the conditions shaping behaviour in your organisation.
It is not a scorecard, and it is not a substitute for judgement. Its value lies in what it helps you notice, the questions it prompts and the decisions that follow.
If it has raised questions about your organisation, Arrisan can help.
We work with organisations to address the conditions that allow harmful behaviour to develop, helping leaders recognise patterns earlier and respond before small warning signs become more difficult and costly to resolve.
We combine legal rigour, HR experience and organisational insight to help clients see the fuller picture, exercise good judgement and address problems at source.
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