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The Rise of the Corporate Bully

November 8, 2012 by Agents2Change Leave a Comment

One of the things that we have observed in our work is the rise of the corporate bully. Bullying in the workplace has the same characteristics to the playground bully, and the motivations of the bully are also similar, but as they are masked in adult behaviour, they can often be ignored or even encouraged by organisations.

Why, I hear you ask, when so much evidence tells us that supportive and engaging leaders achieve more and get far greater levels of commitments than a bullying leader, would organisations encourage such behaviour?

One word – Fear. The playground bully is a child that feels compelled to bully because he or she feels fearful. This may be because they are not very smart in the classroom, or they observe dominant and bullying behaviours at home. They bully to gain power and control. They crave this because at a deeper level, at the sub conscious, they do not feel worthy of love or respect, and therefore believe that if they can’t have both, they will settle for respect, or at least what they misconstrue as respect.

Those very same feelings that are observable in the school child of 10 or 12 years old, are virtually identical to those motivations behind the senior corporate bully. The head of marketing who insists on humiliating under-performing team members; The Head of IT that shouts and screams when team members have missed an important deadline; The Head of Finance that forces his or her team to work late to fix accounting issues to ensure a positive report to the Board, each and every one of them is driven by an innate sense of their own unworthiness or likeability. They mask the deep hole that these feelings bring by creating fear, distrust and keeping everyone at a distance.

But what of the bosses of these bully managers? What motivates them to tolerate this behaviour, even if they personally do not sign up to such tactics? The answer also brings us back to the same issue – fear. Whilst their fear is not wedded to their sense of self, it is linked to poor organisational performance, a track record of poor delivery and a belief that something is needed to turn this around. Often exacerbated, they turn to the corporate bully to pull everyone up by their boot-straps to ‘get us out of this mess’. But does such a strategy work?

According to the CIPD bullying cost UK businesses over £2billion per year (2005 CIPD report). A workplace bullying survey found that over 38% of Americans have reported bullying at work. Corporate performance does not fare well in bullying environments. In fact the losses may be even higher than some estimates have suggested, if we factor in reduced creativity, low morale, and increased turnover — all factors that weigh heavily on the bottom line.

Strategies to help you or your team if bullying is a factor:

Have your targets and delegated duties written down. If your boss has a tendency to change their mind, or blame you for not delivering something that was outside of your control, written documentation will help. Always follow up with an email confirming your understanding of requirements.
Find an independent mentor (either in your department, or in another division) who can be a sounding board and the voice of wisdom when you are feeling under pressure.
Think deeply about how important this role or this organisation is to your long term plans. If it is very important, then start to network to build a wider span of influence beyond your immediate team to build support. If it is not important, then start to consider your exit strategy and focus on what qualities and culture will be important in your next role.

If you are affected by these issues, website resource that might help include:

http://www.cipd.co.uk/hr-topics/bullying-harassment.aspx

http://www.bullyfreeatwork.com/blog/

http://blogs.hbr.org/research/2010/03/create-a-bullyfree-workplace.html

http://www.workplacebullying.org/individuals/problem/being-bullied/

If you would like more personal support, then we can offer confidential, focused and targeted coaching package to give you strategies to support your needs. Contact us at: feedback@agents2change.com.

We can also offer engaging and highly participative public speaking and seminar sessions if you would like to bring this or matters of people and performance to your corporate event. Contact us at: feedback@agents2change.com.

Filed Under: Agents2Change, Behaviour, Bullying, Change, CIPD, Communication, Engagement, Entrepreneurship, HBR, improvement, Leadership, Management, Organisatiion, Organisation, Performance

Olympic performance and how it provides a framework for performance everywhere

September 11, 2012 by Agents2Change Leave a Comment

With the Olympics and Paralympics now coming to a close, its with a sense of pride that the host nation can look back on its achievements. Officially the most successful Olympics ever for Team GB and the biggest toll of medals per capita of any nation competing in the events. These achievements, together with the exemplary organisation and event management have lifted the spirits of a whole nation. But these achievements tell of considerable work, organisation and focus behind the scenes. When we blogged about the 2008 Olympics, we talked about the crystal sharp focus on goals and performance for athletes and disciplines.

This was something that was quite new to British Sports, which had a rather haphazard development before this time. Some people commented that the approach taken was quite hard, almost brutal in determining where funds went and who got attention. Perhaps it was, but performance requires a clear set of goals that are then rigorously followed. Taking an egalitarian approach (all sports are equal) whilst very inclusive, rarely leads to exemplary performance.

We also saw that discipline follow through to the Paralympics where Team GB also finished 3rd in the overall medal table and won an astonishing 34 gold medals and won the heart-felt pride of the British nation. But there too, it was performance that drove their success. What can corporations learn from these examples as they look to raise the morale of their people and motivate them to raise their performance to something truly exceptional.

Sports psychology and the Olympics bring many lessons to leaders in business. What Sports do naturally is:

Putting performance in the context of a stretching and inspiring vision; Is it clear where the finish line is, and how long it will take to get there?
Providing a performance framework in which to define, monitor and measure performance. How clear are the goals for your team this month? This quarter? This year? If you cannot answer this, neither can they, so ensure that goals are clear and readily accessible to all.
Feedback on a regular basis on performance. In business we can shy away from this, yet in sports its as natural as breathing. Constructive, regular feedback is like an extra muscle. Once you practice and hone it, you can rely on it whenever you need it.
Celebrate success: Sports are excellent at celebrating success, but how good are modern companies. How often is time taken to tell everyone of a job well done? Taking time to acknowledge achievements makes a huge difference to team morale and performance.

So take a leaf out of the Olympic book and look for ways to provide a fun, challenging and competitive environment to help raise the performance of your team.

Filed Under: Agents2Change, Behaviour, Change, Communication, Continuous Improvement, Entrepreneurship, feedback, goals, improvement, Olympics, Performance, Success, vision

Turning a bad day into a good one – sharing some great tips

June 25, 2012 by Agents2Change Leave a Comment

There is a great article from Inc.com about how to turn a bad day into a good one. We can often find we start the day feeling a bit stressed, negative or overwhelmed. Often the bad mood can escalate into a really bad day, but it does not have to. Very often how we think about something can affect its outcome and learning to thing positively is a great way to improve your chances of having a great day. In his article Geoffrey James of Inc.com reminds us to:

Remember that the past does not equal the future.
Refuse to make self-fulfilling prophesies.
Get a sense of proportion.
Change your threshold for "good" and "bad."
Improve your body chemistry.
Focus on what's going well.
Expect something wondrous.

The tips sound simple, but can make a powerful difference in how you feel and how you work. Read more here and see if it has a positive impact on your day.

Filed Under: Entrepreneurship

Turning a bad day into a good one – sharing some great tips

June 25, 2012 by Agents2Change Leave a Comment

There is a great article from Inc.com about how to turn a bad day into a good one. We can often find we start the day feeling a bit stressed, negative or overwhelmend. Often the bad mood can escalate into a really bad day, but it does not have to. Very often how we think about something can affect its outcome and learning to thing positively is a great way to improve your chances of having a great day.

In his article Geoffrey James of Inc.com reminds us to:

Remember that the past does not equal the future.
Refuse to make self-fulfilling prophesies.
Get a sense of proportion.
Change your threshold for "good" and "bad."
Improve your body chemistry.
Focus on what's going well.
Expect something wondrous.

The tips sound simple, but can make a powerful difference in how you feel and how you work. Read more here and see if it has a positive impact on your day.