Bullying isn’t just restricted to school or the playground. Bullying also can happen at work. Being a victim of workplace bullying can adversely impact mental and physical health. If this behavior is happening in your business, it’s going to have a negative impact on your employees’ well-being and the performance of your team. That’s why Bryant Consultants compiled this breakdown on what exactly workplace bullying is and provided a list of ways on how to deal with the important matter.
What is workplace bullying?
Workplace bullying is defined as repeated mistreatment of one or more persons by one or more perpetrators. Conduct that falls under this definition includes verbal abuse, intimidation, making threats or or humiliating the target. It can and often does, impede the victim’s ability to complete their work.
What types of bullies emerge in the workplace?
Aggressive communicators tend to make a scene in public to instill fear in their target, but also their co-workers, who, upon seeing an outburst, fear becoming the next target. Aggressive communicators yell, send angry emails and tend to use aggressive body language.
The constant critic critiques a person’s work with such regularity that the employee will begin to doubt their own abilities. This type of bully may humiliate a person by frequently pointing out mistakes in another person’s work.
Sometimes, managers engage in bullying behavior simply because they set up an employee to fail. They may not give a person all the information they need to successfully complete a task. Or, perhaps an employee is given so much work that it couldn’t possibly be completed by deadline.
Why is bullying tolerated in some workplaces?
Unfortunately, sometimes the bullies in a workplace are tolerated usually because they are high performers. They bring value to a company, thus, the business is incentivized to keep them on the team and “look the other way” when it comes to their behavior.
3 strategies to handle workplace bullies
Speak up
Speaking up as bullying is happening can often squash it from the start. Call attention to it, explain why it is a problem and be sure to say the bully’s name in any communication, to reinforce that you are talking directly to them. Use strong body language. Ignoring bullying behavior in its early stages just encourages it to continue.
Leave a paper trail
Make sure to document events if bullying becomes a regular issue. Chronicle the date that the incidents happen and any of the details that are pertinent to the matter. This way, if the bully’s behavior requires major consequences such as suspension or termination, you’ll have a written record of the dates and times the incidents happened.
Explain zero tolerance
As a business owner, you not only supply income to your team members, but you want to look out for them. Make sure your entire team knows that bullying behavior is never tolerated. That starts by avoiding any behaviors that could be misconstrued as bullying.
Leadership training for all industries
Our small business coaching can cover all aspects of managing your business, including how to deal with personnel matters like bullying. If you’d like further information on how to tackle this or any other business-related topic, reach out to Bryant Consultants today by calling (877) 786-4799.
