The dark side of organisational culture: workplace bullying

?In today’s people-oriented workplace, bullying should be a thing of the past. But it isn’t. The CIPD’s 2020 report, Managing Conflict in The Modern Workplace, revealed that 15% of employees have experienced workplace bullying in the last three years.??

?No organisation is immune. Even workplaces with generally supportive cultures can still have pockets of poor management. And the toxicity these people create can rapidly spread throughout an organisation if it isn’t firmly stamped out.?

?The reasons people don’t speak out are complex?

?The fallout from a culture where bullying is allowed to take hold can be catastrophic, both for the victim and their organisation. The stress and anxiety from being bullied can lead to serious health issues for victims. For organisations, it creates a toxic work environment? - even co-workers who aren’t in the direct firing line can be impacted psychologically. Employee engagement, wellbeing and performance all suffer. And that’s before you consider the financial implications from the threat of legal action or reputational impact.??

?A culture of silence?

?Despite the negative consequences, the CIPD found that 53% of victims don’t report incidents, mainly because they believe their concerns won’t be taken seriously and/or fear it will negatively affect their relationships at work. And this is understandable.?

It can be hard to identify and highlight bullying behaviour. Overt examples, such as yelling, and verbal or physical threats are easy to spot. But usually, workplace bullying is a culmination of smaller, more subtle behaviours.?

Some less obvious examples of bullying behaviours include:?

• Isolation or exclusion from social activities.??
• Ignoring or excluding someone from meetings.?
• Blocking progress on work.??
• Removal of responsibilities for no apparent reason.?
• Withholding or giving someone the wrong information.?
• Unreasonable or excessive pressure to perform.?
• Stealing ideas / taking credit for someone else’s ideas or work.?
• Constant criticism.?
• Setting unrealistic targets.?
• Using someone as a scapegoat.??

The CIPD report found that being undermined or humiliated, or receiving persistent unwarranted criticism and/or unwanted personal remarks are the most common ways that bullying manifests itself. In 40% of cases, the victim’s manager was responsible for the bullying, making it really awkward for people to speak up. Given the subtle way bullying can happen, victims are often concerned about being seen as overly sensitive or causing trouble if they report it - compounded by bullies making claims such as they are just highly-focused, plain-speaking managers, or they were just having a laugh.?

Victims can also incorrectly believe they somehow brought the bullying upon themselves. This is intensified if the bully targets selected individuals and masks their behaviour by being charming to others, making the victim feel isolated and potentially embarrassed about admitting to the bullying.?

?It’s about them – not you?

?The truth is it’s not a reflection on the person being bullied. It’s about the bully and the difficulties they have communicating and working with others in a respectful way.??

Research suggests that bullying is a learnt behaviour from childhood experiences. Often, if a child’s main role-models are bullies, they will mimic that behaviour and continue to do so as an adult. Because this behaviour is so deep-rooted, one of the biggest challenges is getting bullies to accept that the problem is with them and this can be compounded if they are getting short-term results through bullying behaviour.??

But with support, people can retrain their brains to think differently. Developing better levels of emotional intelligence, in particular around empathy and self-regulation as well as basic communication skills like questioning and listening, can help them establish more healthy working relationships with others.??

?Policies help but they aren’t enough?

Everyone has the right to feel psychologically safe at work. So identifying and handling incidents is crucial. Organisations can use existing data, such as engagement or wellbeing surveys or feedback tools, to identify and monitor problem areas. Procedures for reporting incidents and following up should also be clear to encourage people to speak out.??

But while policies go some way, they aren’t enough on their own to prevent bullying from happening across your organisation. Leaders need to role-model and talk openly about the importance of treating others with respect. And trust, psychological safety, and empathy must be in place for people to feel able to speak out.??

Building a coaching culture not only encourages a respectful culture where bullying isn’t tolerated; by developing coaching capability across the organisation, victims will be able to turn to colleagues who can use coaching to actively support them.??

Address toxic cultures?

Workplace bullying can make life incredibly stressful and miserable. Organisations need to take an honest look at their culture to identify whether bullying is an issue, and then take action if needed. If they don’t, they stand to lose the best people and become an organisation that no one wants to be part of...??

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