Workplace Bullying
This week within the U.K. is anti-bullying week and though the majority of attention is focused on the youth to prevent bullying from an early age (quite rightly too), unfortunately it is still present within many organizations across the world and is not talked about often enough. As highlighted by Brian de Haaff’s recent post on a CFO yelling at a fellow employee >>> LINK <<<
This post (which I recommend you read) spoke about a CFO ‘yelling’ at a colleague in a moment of frustration - something that many of us have either seen or felt within the workplace. What this post also did though was create engagement between multiple connections, across multiple networks and continents to which they spoke about understandings to why this happens and how it too can be prevented/resolved.
Through the week, I did comment briefly on the post as you can see but it wasn’t until my partner mentioned to me the significance of this week that I thought I should go that one step further in my approach on the subject.
So here goes....
Leaders, engage with your employees and take a deep dive into what drives their performance. Respect their presence as when they were originally employed it was done so with the mind-set that they had the calibre to excel within the role. If they are not achieving against expectations, then adjust that engagement to understand what is preventing them from doing so and create a game plan to get them back on track.
Because If you don’t, then you lose the time spent on both tenure and replenishment of their role but most of all, you lose the opportunity to have developed and nurtured someone who had the potential for greatness.
And if you happen to be that person being bullied or targeted in some shape or form, then dig deep. Not just in your effort on employment to get back to winning ways or turn that negative into a positive but dig deep for that bravery inside to speak about what is going on. Whether that’s directly with the person you feel aggrieved by, the line management, HR, the anonymous line (setup in most organisations) or a loved one.
From personal experience, if you don’t speak about what causes you concern, sadness, anger or other negatively impacting emotions on your life then it will build to a point of crisis - of which can truly be averted within those early moments.
As the timeless saying goes, 'a problem shared is a problem halved'.
Adam. M
Digital Consulting
5 年Sadly so many people getting bullied at work don’t even realise they are being bullied. I’ll check out the referenced article.
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5 年Adam M.?great article! Bullying comes in many guises so it's good to be aware that even if you don't think it is 'conventiona'l bullying, if you are experiencing it and it is affecting you, then it is bullying! Having the courage to speak up about it is the only way for change to happen and remember if your organisation has a great people culture, it should be safeguarding your psychology as well as your physical safety.
Vitality Adviser @ Vitality UK | Driving Health and Productivity
5 年Great article Adam M.?witnessed a case yesterday at the football a supervisor shouting at an employee for bringing something to his attention. Told the supervisor he was out of order then apologised but shouldn't have shouted in the way he did nip bullying in the bud.
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5 年Good post mate. I’ve been at either end of that scale from a people manager and employee perspective. I’ve had some amazing managers throughout my career that have supported me through work and personal issues yet still continued to develop me based on my needs and requirements. I’ve also had ones that forget about you within 5 mins of you walking through the employment door and leave you to manage yourself! To even question it resulted in that feeling of guilt making you believe that you are somehow wrong for asking for support or even to a point that you’re scared to ask for support entirely for fear of being ridiculed! The one thing I always go back to is the nature and nurture element of being a manager. You have hired somebody because of their ability/nature to be the best fit for that role and your team. So therefore, regardless of their age, job level or even experience, you should continue to nurture that person. I personally, found nothing more satisfying than knowing I had had colleagues wanting to engage with me about all matter of issues and likewise, me them. Empathy is the biggest skill in the workplace right now that I believe management need and in the words of the old BT adverts ‘it’s good to talk’ ??