Creating a Bully-Free Workplace

What is Workplace Bullying?

“Persistent verbal and nonverbal aggression at work, that includes personal attacks, social ostracism, and a multitude of other painful messages and hostile interactions."

Why address Workplace Bullying?

Bullying causes the college to suffer from:Loss of productivityLoss of departmental moraleStaff disengagement Lowered community reputationIncreased interest by the HLCRisk of litigation Risk of violence

Tactics used by Bullies

Shouting Name-calling Belittling or criticizing Giving them the silent treatment Excluding a co-worker from college,

departmental, or group events Encouraging others to dislike, avoid or

exclude a co-worker

Tactics used by Bullies

Staring, glaring, or showing clear signs of hostility

Being treated with disrespect Exhibiting frightening mood swings Deliberately overloading their target with

work Making up rules impossible to follow Setting up their target to fail Apolgizing aggressively

Tactics used by Bullies

Making someone feel bad or ashamed Purposely withholding information Start, or fail to stop, destructive rumors Steal Credit for their Target’s work Lie about their Target’s work

performance Making their Target feel unwelcome

Impact of Bullying

Targets of bullying can develop:anxiety, depression, high blood pressure, migraines, stomach troubles, and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Impact of Bullying

Other effects include: Disrupted social lifeLoss of friendships Socially Ostracized Professionally Marginalized Promotions deniedLoss of job

Workplace Bullying

Bullies… usually have an organizational power

advantage over their target(s). don’t think they have a problem.don’t know how to accept feedback.don’t know how to apologize. don’t recognize themselves as bullies.

Bullies, when Confronted

Get defensive.Claim their target is over reacting.Claim there would not be a problem if

their target would let it go and move on.

Say their target, “Shouldn’t feel that way.”

Blame their target for their behavior.Claim to be the real victim here.

Bullies, when Confronted

Want to move forwardDon’t want to rehash the past.Want to put this behind us for the

good of the college.

A proven method for evaluating, correcting, and sustaining a bully-free workplace.

The Namie Blueprint

Trying to ‘fix’ the bully’s personality

Using the ‘Bad Seed’ model and make the bully attend: •Communication Skills Training•Anger Management Course•Supervisory Skills Training

Expecting HR to ‘solve the problem’

Raising employee expectations too soon

Common Initial Blunders

1. Preliminary Steps

2. Prepare Management

3. Prepare HR

4. Follow the Namie Blueprint

5. Sustaining the Bully-Free Culture

Overall Plan

Prevalence Assessment

Administrator Briefings

Community Education

1. Preliminary Steps

Recognize Bullying

Intervene Whenever Possible

Stop Rumors

Hold Administrators Accountable for Bullying

2. Prepare Management

Bullying is NOT a problem for HR to solve

HR will support the anti-bullying program, but they will NOT direct it

3. New Role for HR

1. Assess

2. Create the Policy to Prevent Bullying

3. Develop Informal Solutions

4. Formal Enforcement Procedures to Correct Bullying

5. Provide Restorative Justice

6. Deal with Confirmed Violators

7. Get the Word Out

8. Optimize Accountability

4. Follow the Namie Blueprint

Train Interveners and Encourage Altruism

Train to counter ‘Bystander Nonintervention’

Don’t allow your Workplace Bullying campaign to be the fad-of-the-month

Build your brand as a bully-free environment

5. Sustaining the Bully-free Culture

You can do it!