Читать книгу Living With Dignity - Anthony Ekanem - Страница 5

Dignity is an essential element in human existence. It is our inherent value and worth as humans, and we are all born with it. We have little trouble seeing dignity at work when a child is born. There is no question about whether the new-born baby is something of value. We regard children as invaluable, priceless and irreplaceable. That is dignity at work.

How do we treat a valuable, priceless and irreplaceable thing? We give it our most exceptional attention and care. Even though we are all worthy of this attention and care, we are also vulnerable to violations of our dignity. Treating others with dignity, then, becomes the starting point of our relationship. You are not required to do anything for others to treat you with dignity.

Treating people with dignity means treating them the way you would like them to treat you. You have the right to lead a dignified life, so do other people. So, regardless of who you are or what you are, you need to treat others with dignity. You treat someone with dignity when you lend a helping hand, stand up for a friend, or recognise the qualities and talents that make every individual unique.

It is when you treat people with dignity that you can achieve most of your heart desires. Such desires may include being good in academics if you are a student, making friends, living a happy life, and even making a difference in your immediate environment or the larger society.

To have dignity means to be valued and to treat others with value. For example, if someone takes a picture of you that reflects your true self, that shows respect for you and strengthens your dignity. On the other hand, if a photo of you in a situation you don't want to be seen in is shown to others, that shows disrespect for you, and you might feel someone has hurt your dignity.

When people experience violation of their dignity, they feel a desire for revenge against those who violated them.

More often than not, many leaders, managers, and others find it difficult and challenging to honour the dignity of the people that work with them. Although honouring dignity is not a simple task, it is something that can be learned. Lack of "dignity consciousness" means that people have not learned how to treat others in a way that demonstrates value and appreciation. What is missing here is dignity education and dignity consciousness. For instance, it is easy to discriminate against someone different from you. Many people have an inborn bias towards people who are most like them. You have to work hard to overcome that bias and treat everyone in a fair and evenhanded manner.

When you engage in dignity violating behaviours that are at the core of most conflicts, you are driven by self-preservation instincts that bring out the worst in you. You can do much better than that. You need to raise the conversation with an understanding of dignity, which is what we all yearn for, and it is our highest common denominator. The way to this higher ground is to have dignity consciousness. And you can achieve this by educating yourself – taking the time to learn about it and to practise honouring your dignity and the dignity of others. And that is what this book is meant to achieve.

Looking bad in the eyes of other people is something we all try to avoid like a plague. Instead of looking bad in the eyes of others, our instincts want us to cover up, lie, and even blame and shame others rather than turning over a new leaf. Dignity consciousness enables us to override these base instincts and take responsibility for our actions, and in so doing, maintaining our dignity.

If you are a leader, for example, and you want to create a culture of dignity in your organisation, it is essential to develop policies that honour dignity. You need to consider the consequences of all your actions and decisions. Ask yourself: Are the policies you are putting in place fair? Do you give people the benefit of the doubt? Are you giving people the needed independence and freedom to work without being micromanaged? You need to be conscious of all the elements of dignity and assess how the policies are either honouring them or not.

Leaders and managers all over the world commit a great deal of time, effort and resources to their professional development. These include advanced degrees and work experiences that have gotten them to where they are. If they dedicated a fraction of the time to educate themselves about dignity, they would improve their capacity to become not just good leaders but great leaders. Once they have learned how to honour dignity, to practise it daily becomes easy.