A Foolproof Strategy for Human Resource Practitioners
Pushing Past Impossible with Workplace Bullying
Workplace bullying presents unique challenges for human resource practitioners. As your organization’s chief “people person”, you are a critical pivot point for change. But HR often feels caught in the middle. You see the bullying problem and what it’s costing. But you also see how bullies are often powerful and protected. You know that dealing with a bully is likely to be confrontational, expensive and risky. What can you do?
Start with a definition. Bullying is:
Mistreatment severe enough to compromise a targeted worker’s health, jeopardize her/his job and career, and strain relationships with friends and family
Deliberate, repetitive, disrespectful behavior that’s always for the bully’s benefit
Focused, systematic, and a campaign of interpersonal destruction
Deliberate abuse—in the bluntest terms, it is workplace terrorism.
Bullying can be stopped when the right foundations are in place. HR plays the key role in building them and guiding their application. There are many low risk, preventative, and impactful tools that HR can put in place to avoid the much larger workplace culture, financial, legal, and public relations problems that result from bullying.
An Anti-Bullying Action Plan for Human Resources Professionals
There are tools and information available to HR practitioners that make an impact. The starting-point is an anti-bullying action plan that sets the organization’s policy on behaviors in the workplace. It’s a platform for leaders and HR practitioners to ensure that people in the organization are paramount. Your job is to recommend and guide establishment of the organizational footings, use them as issues arise, and provide executives with irrefutable data that inspires them to act. Following are some basic steps for developing your action plan.
Get informed
Develop a deep awareness of your organizational culture and political reality. Understand the concept of bullying (Hint: It’s more than a bad day at the office.) With that understanding, you’ll begin to know the bullies and the problems they are creating. At the same time, get to know the benefits of a bully-free workplace – in particular, the cost savings of taking action to prevent and eliminate bullying. Search for resources available to help—through your network and on-line. Research data, information sources, and experts in related fields are abundant. These resources will be important when you recommend conflict resolutions and implement your plan.
Establish anti-bullying policies, procedures, and best practices
A strong basis for action will be required to develop a respectful workplace and successfully address bullying when it occurs. This is a complex problem. As you get started, seek the advice of experts. Getting guidance from specialized professionals is a small investment compared to the risk your organization is eliminating. Insights they provide will help you:
Establish or revise Respectful Workplace Policies to specifically include Bullying
Define behaviors that are vital for respectful interactions to achieve your mission/goals
Initiate active learning initiatives for all players to put behavior expectations in their context, and understand what to do when mistreatment is experienced or seen
Establish investigation processes that are impartial, fair and fulsome
Stage resources with the knowledge and skills to conduct objective, fair, and thorough investigations of bullying complaints. (External resources have an objectivity and sense of fairness advantage.)
Establish conflict-resolution processes and experts to manage bullying situations.
Measure behaviors in play within the organization, and provide feedback to people and teams for making improvements
Include behaviors in processes related to performance and leadership development
Assure that leaders set a strong, positive example (with courageous feedback from HR).
When bullying is seen or reported:
Take bullying claims seriously and manage the follow-up process cautious.
Move quickly to get complaints investigated
Contain bad behavior immediately
Assure the organization remains neutral until there has been a thorough investigation by unbiased and qualified people, facts have been analyzed, and conclusions are reached
Develop action plans from conclusions and within the context of policies and practices.
A caution: expert knowledge and skills are vital
Note what’s missing in this list of actions when bullying is seen or reported. It relates to a tendency for HR to be used, mistakenly, as the bullying resolution center for complaints, investigations, and conflict resolution. The problem is, most HR practitioners don’t have the specialized knowledge and skills to deal with bullies. It’s not for lack of trying. But most HR practitioners lack sufficient training in counseling, psychology, and the power-dynamic-laden conflict-resolution process. These skills are required to manage bullying situations. There is plenty for HR practitioners to do in managing the key organizational footings that ensure each complaint-resolution process is fair, unbiased, and free from influence.
Got a bully . . . get a plan
You need a comprehensive strategy to address each bullying situation. Gather evidence of bullying that is corroborated, consistent, and well documented (details of events, emails, reports from employee complaints). Begin conversations with your cheerleaders (influencers in your organization) to increase awareness of the problem. Identify the costs of the bully and quantify those costs wherever possible. Seek the assistance of subject matter experts. Devise a plan and move it forward.
Expect resistance but be courageous. Bullies will immediately begin to work against you, using their supporters in the executive ranks. Expect conflicts. Bullies are often seen as producers (although it’s often because they take credit for the work of others). Remain steadfast. You are doing your job to create the best workplace environment and support everyone in your organization.
Convince executives to take action
You have information that no one else possesses: what the bully has done, and the cost of those actions (sick leave, stress leave, loss of talent, conflicts, dysfunctional teams, investigation costs, legal advice, lawsuits, etc.). Help decision-makers understand how a damaged reputation in the labor market can short-circuit recruiting of top talent. Make sure to identify prior incidents of bullying, because true bullying is a repeated behavior. When found, a fact that “this isn’t the first time” serves to punctuate the need for action.
Data that’s related to these issues are your most important tool for gaining the attention of the executives. Make clear how the bully’s contributions are outweighed by their cost to the organization. Consolidate this information and present it in a concise, factual summary. Speak the language that resonates with executives, and that must include data. Motivate action by putting yourself in their shoes and finding an undeniable “what’s in it for me” proposition.
Offer realistic solutions
Present executives with practical, actionable solutions that carefully consider what is realistic, given your workplace culture. Offer a range of options and make a recommendation. Show decision-makers the ROI (return on investment) of implementing your recommendations. Prove that taking preventative steps to confront workplace bullying is far better than permitting the poison to spread throughout the organization.
Summing it up
HR practitioners can do many things to confront bullying, design/implement an effective anti-bullying process, and develop a respectful workplace environment. As trusted advisors to the senior executives, you are a critical pivot point for change. You are an influencer. Speak with authority by understanding the behavior imperatives, knowing the facts of a case, articulating the impact assessment, and offering clear recommendations before asking an executive/decision-maker to take action. Use organizational data on the impact of disrespectful workplace behaviors to make the case for the structure and process for building a respectful workplace environment.
You wield persuasive power to help eliminate bullying. Use it.
Paul Pelletier is an international workplace conflict, bullying and respect expert, professional speaker and the author of two books, including The Workplace Bullying Handbook. In his provocative, inspiring and always entertaining keynotes and training, Paul leverages his decades of experiences as a corporate lawyer, business executive, and project management professional (PMP). www.pushingpastimpossible.com
Peter Stickler is a co-founder of The myRhythm Group, helping to connect strategies to the behaviors that drive results. This passion flows from CHRO/EVP roles in LG Electronics, and at Flextronics, crafting solutions for global human capital development. His base formed as an HR practitioner and executive over 28 years in Ford. Perspectives were honed as a director of The Institute for Global Ethics. The impact of context was learned by living/working in five countries. peter.stickler@myrhythm.me
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