Lewis Maltby, founder and president of the National Workrights Institute, said “Bullying is the sexual harassment of twenty years ago. Everybody knows about it, but nobody wants to admit it.”
In the 21st century, people need to bring their whole selves to work. Teams need to be able to produce more than their individual contributions. There’s a multiplier effect that’s needed to compete globally. And so companies need to inspire innovation and risk taking, which is not going to happen if there’s a bully (or groups of bullies) wandering around the office targeting people.
Discovering bullying in the workplace really is the first step to eliminating it. Unfortunately, bullies typically operate undercover.
How Bullying Often Occurs
Bullies often appear to be obeying all the company rules. They may even be considered star performers. But then they secretly undermine and attack other people. So employers need to watch out for this.
The people who are targeted are usually empathetic and nice people. They’re usually not initiators.
Bullying occurs when the bully sees an opportunity to take advantage of someone or simply an opportunity to put someone down. The bully then says something that, on the surface, seems OK or even great. But if you look beneath the surface, especially in the context of the bully’s other statements or actions, you are likely to see the harm they are doing. So they’re operating at several levels.
Although bullies sometimes bully people out of laziness or prejudice or fear of being shunned by others, they are more often driven by the desire for power. They often perceive the person they target as weaker than they are. And in a corporate culture that’s power-based, for example, the bully may be able to get away with a lot more than they could in a corporate culture based on positive values, such as respect.
Also, there are 75 different types of bullying behaviors, so employers are challenged to provide managers with specific examples of what might constitute bullying behavior. It also makes it harder for employers to give managers examples of what might constitute bullying behavior that they should be watching out for. A lot of times bullying in the workplace is subtle, which can make it hard to notice right away. And the fact that workplace bullying is usually subtle makes a manager’s job even harder.
Workplace bullies usually have a repertoire. They don’t just use one tactic and they usually aren’t physically threatening. But the greatest damage can come when there is an atmosphere of fear or mistrust. The person being bullied is likely to feel pretty helpless and like they don’t have much control. They may also feel that their work is undermined because they’re worrying about the next attack or whether they’ll be the bully’s next target. This worry often prompts people to support the bully.
It is important to realize that anyone can be a bully. Managers can even be bullies. That’s one of the reasons why employers need to start at the top when it comes to eliminating bullying in the workplace.
If the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) condones bullying or is doing the bullying, for example, then bullying is likely to go on down through the ranks.
When a company pursues an atmosphere of trust, however, they’re minimizing the possibilities or opportunities for the bully to operate. When a company builds a positive culture that is free of intimidation and bullying, it is encouraging employee loyalty and allowing each person to “open up,” increase in skill, innovate and help the company compete.