DRAWING A LINE: How to recognize and eliminate sexual harassment in your organization (yes, yours too).

• Author: Christensen, Lisa
• Position: Drawing a Line

Harvey Weinstein. Al Franken. Matt Lauer.

The last several weeks have been filled with a seemingly endless line of allegations against high-profile celebrities, politicians and businessmen, and as more victims come forward, even more appear. Sexual harassment is a phenomenon that just happens in other places and other industries--until it happens close to home, too.

"Suddenly, I [as a victim] don't need to worry as much about the politics or my standing and relationship with my superiors; I can make this claim, because look at these other individuals who have come forward and made the claim and it's been positively received. It's empowering and it's encouraging," says Ryan Nelson, Utah president of Employers Council. "Seeing all this happening and the positive news reports and people coming out and condemning the behavior is extremely empowering and gives courage for an individual to report."

This rising tide of revelation and accusation has many business leaders holding their breath. Will my organization be the next to be hit with a sexual harassment scandal?

As awareness grows on a subject that has been something of an open secret in many sectors of business, victims feel increasingly comfortable about speaking up. And as the ripples of newfound boldness and accusations expand, it's more important than ever for employers and employees alike to know how to recognize sexual harassment and keep it from happening in their own workplaces.

Most advice aimed at business leaders is about mitigating legal exposure: how to prevent sexual harassment so you don't get sued. How to pretend to take it seriously so you don't get sued. How to create a policy so you'll win if you get sued.

But this cultural moment offers an opportunity to go well beyond legal liability. How can you create a workplace culture that simply does not tolerate sexual harassment--because harassment is wrong, whether or not you're legally responsible for it?

What it is

While sexual harassment certainly includes lewd comments or actions meant to provoke or make a person uncomfortable, it can also be a much more subtle, nuanced pattern of behavior.

"Understanding sexual harassment is the first step for the victims and those who are harassers. There are some harassers who don't have a clue they're engaging in sexual harassment behaviors," says Kristina Diekmann, David Eccles professor of business ethics and professor of management. "The more egregious forms, people can agree on, but more subtle forms, I think there's going to be a lot of uncertainty. It's really important to increase awareness of what sexual harassment is, what the...