Although we are still seeing daily reports of men (yes, almost always men) being accused of having been sexually abusive – or at least inappropriate at one time in their lives, the frequency and intensity seem to have died down somewhat.

Like most movements for transformational change, at first there is an abundance of zeal – which often includes stepping on the rights of people in the attempt to make a wrong right.  Over time, things calm down and come into balance.

So, where do I think we are at the moment?

• #MeToo has put people on notice:  Sexual abuse – especially to children and teens – will no longer be tolerated nor will it be ignored.
• We’ve learned that some (a small percentage) of our religious leaders – men and women we’ve taught our children to trust – were not trustworthy at all and exploited their positions of power to molest children.  Finally though the “church” (and I use that term generically) is taking appropriate action.
• Complaints – whether at work, school, church, or in the locker room – are now being taken seriously instead of laughed off as “boys will be boys.”
• We recognize that some complaints being made are either false, or greatly exaggerated.

Yet, I still see the bias against due process.  I still learn about the rush to judgment once someone says something negative about another person – especially if what they say is that there had been inappropriate sexual behavior.  We have a long way to go until we conduct neutral and thorough evaluations.  Our emotions and natural biases get in the way – especially about sex.

Although from the days of the cave-man dragging his woman off by the hair, there have been incidents of taking advantage of positions of strength and/or power – our attempts to evaluate – to investigate – to learn the truth – is very very new.

Investigator bias gets in the way of neutrality.  Political correctness gets in the way of due process.  Who among us is brave enough to say – “wait a minute – we don’t know for sure whether this really happened the way it is being described or not?”

What’s happening in your organization?   Who is conducting the investigations?  What is their training?  What are their biases?

Learn much, much more in ArLyne's courses on Illumeo.

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ArLyne Diamond is the President of Diamond Associates and is an internationally recognized author and consultant who teaches MBA university courses in Business, Organizational Development, Quality, Change Management, Persuasion/Negotiation, Marketing and Leadership.