Okay, so how can managers avoid the headache of being inadvertently accused of bullying? How can they practice the four types of Justice when it comes to these situations?

I would highly recommend bringing in some qualified training to delve into these issues more deeply and effectively. But in the meantime, here are some thoughts on the matter:

 Performance management. First, it is crucial that you be gracious and deeply respectful even when you have to closely scrutinize an employee. Second, to decrease the potential danger in a situation where you have to monitor someone’s performance very closely, involve your own manager in advance. If your actions are ever questioned, this will demonstrate that the steps you took were legitimate and warranted in the course of routine supervisory activities. As well, extremely detailed note-taking is an absolute must; remember that justice and fairness must not only be practiced, they must also be clearly seen.

 Situations requiring exercise of authority and power. Before making a decision, get the employee’s input, ideas and suggested alternatives. Once a decision is made, convey it in such a way that the person understands how the decision was made and why it is fair.

 Time crunches. Even when everyone is under tremendous pressure to meet a goal or deadline, the four levels of justice must be followed. Take the time to explain right at the outset why the deadline is necessary and why the demand level will increase over the next while. Make sure you ask about and respect people’s limitations and workload. Ask them how as a team and as a leader you can make the situation more tolerable. And finally, keep your calm and manage your emotions even under the stress of deadlines.

 Feedback in public. Follow the golden rule, “praise in public, correct in private”. There rarely exists a legitimate need to highlight someone’s mistakes in public.

Good luck!

Last time I discussed the real and imminent risk of significant rise in bullying-related complaints and four specific management situations that by their very nature may give rise to bullying accusations, even for the best of managers.

As the backdrop to this issue, let’s consider the issue of justice in management. The term `perceived justice’, as developed by social and organizational psychologists, refers to the degree to which employees perceive that they are treated fairly by the organization and its leaders. Distributive Justice, Procedural Justice, Interpersonal Justice and Informational Justice describe the perceived fairness of distribution of rewards, the fairness of the procedures used to make decisions, the interpersonal dynamics between decision-makers and recipients of these decisions, , the `voice’ that people had in the process, and the explanations made regarding those decisions.

As a manager, practicing the four types of justice makes good sense anytime, any day. From a proactive perspective, practicing the four types of justice also provides a way of shielding you from inadvertently being accused of bullying.

So how does this work in the four specific high sensitivity situations that I highlighted last time? Well, stay tuned….

In the next few years there will be a dramatic increase in employee complaints and legal action related to bullying.

Three key trends are contributing directly to this: first, new anti-bullying legislation, already in place in Quebec and Saskatchewan, is sure to launch in other provinces as well.

Second, more and more unions are including bullying-related clauses in their collective agreements, thereby raising members’ awareness and requiring increased organizational accountability.

Third, the topic has become hot on the media’s agenda. For example, in 1986-1987 bullying was mentioned in the Toronto Star only 91 times and in the Globe and Mail 62 times. By 2006-2007 these numbers soared to 358 and to 273 respectively.

The more the media covers this topic, the more collective agreements refer to it and the more legislation is in place, the more likely it is that managers will be accused of bullying, whether they deserve it or not.

The good news is that this heightened awareness will serve as a welcome vehicle for curbing the behaviour of managers who indeed are bullies. The bad news is that it may also result in creating an altogether different kind of risk. Hard-working, decent managers may find themselves unfairly accused of bullying, thereby triggering a set of negative repercussions for themselves and for the workplace.

There are four particular situations that by their very nature may give rise to bullying accusations. The following situations are very common yet inherently problematic:

1. Performance management. When a manager needs to closely scrutinize an employee’s poor performance, the perception of unfair or harsh treatment may readily emerge.

2. Situations requiring exercise of authority and power. Even simple decisions regarding vacation or allotment of professional development days can be highly sensitive and open to misinterpretation.

3. Time crunches. During high-stakes time crunches, managers often resort to authoritarian or micro-management practices, and their stressed-out employees may experience this as bullying.

4. Feedback in public. Any situation where a manager provides public feedback that is critical or points to the need for improvement is by definition problematic and sensitive.

In my next entry I will suggest some simple, industrial-strength methods for handling these situations in ways that will help avoid unjustified bullying accusations.

Most Canadians are conflict averse.

My experience working with people within numerous organizations has taught me this time and again.

The problem is even worse when the conflict is with one’s manager. The power differential and the risks associated with dealing with the issue directly lead many of us to avoid dealing with the matter altogether. “After all”, we convince ourselves, “is the issue important enough for me to risk speaking up?”.

If you don’t deal with the issue, it will linger and will negatively impact the relationship and your daily work experience. It will cause chronic stress.

When the boss is the problem, we really have only three healthy choices.

We can accept things as they are and embrace them (maybe even with a smile!).

Or we can choose to raise the issue in a constructive fashion that will lead to a resolution or better understanding.

Whining and putting ourselves in a victim position will do no good whatsoever. You’ve got to speak up or shut up.

And the third option? Pack up. Move on, find another job, another boss, another life.

Here are some typical miscalculations we make when we’re out of balance:

Mistake No. 1: Ignoring the warning signs. When we’re out of balance, there will be ample warning signs in the form of negative changes in our behaviour, health and relationships. We tend to ignore these warning signs and just plow on as if we were superhuman. Beware of this mistake – you can pay a high price!

Mistake No. 2: Holding on, not letting go. Often times, maintaining our LifeBalance requires us let go of things. Sometimes these are commitments that are just too much for us to handle. Other times, it is unrealistic expectations of our selves and others. However, a common mistake that contributes to imbalance is to hold on to these commitments, expectations or relationships.

Mistake No. 3: Thinking you have to start Big. Many people continue to live an imbalanced life because the mere thought of the kinds of changes they’d have to make is so overwhelming that they’d rather leave things as they are. The truth is that any small step will do! Take five minutes to do something that contributes to your balance or try being mentally and emotionally present in your daily life rather than being scattered and distracted. This will make a huge difference.

So I invite you to consider: what warning signs are you ignoring? What do you need to let go of? And what small step can you take today that will make a difference?

I’ve just returned from a most amazing experience at the 6th international conference on Bullying. I gained hugely valuable insights and would like to share some of them with you over the next several months.

First, some interesting statics.

In the largest national scientific survey of the phenomenon in the U.S. to date, Zogby International conducted 7740 online interviews of a panel that is representative of the adult population of the U.S. They defines bullying as “repeated mistreatment manifested as either 1) verbal abuse, or 2) conduct which is threatening, humiliating, intimidating, or 3) sabotage that interferes with work, or 4) some combination of the previous three”.

Here are some of their mind-boggling findings (for more, visit the Workplace Bullying Institute online)

• 37% of American workers (54 million people!) have been bullied at work.
• Most Bullies are Bosses – 72%
• 9% of bullying was bottom-up
• For 45% of bullied targets, stress affects their health. 33% suffer for more than one year
• 43% of bullies have an executive sponsor
• 33% thrive because of support from their peers, mostly fellow managers;
• 14% of bullies get help from human resources.
• In 62% of cases, when employers are made aware of bullying, they escalate the problem for the target or simply do nothing, which really makes them an accomplice to the bully
• Targets have to stop the vast majority of bullying (77%) by losing their jobs
• Only 3% of bullied targets file lawsuits. In fact, 40% never even complain!

Lots to think about, that’s for sure!

It’s not easy to be a working mom. During the months of May-June I am over-booked with work and work-related travel.
I am feeling on my own skin the challenges involved in being a working mother.
The constant juggling of priorities creates stress, strains relationships, can lead to work performance problems and, most importantly, can erode one’s sense of meaning and purpose in life.
Here are some simple and solid suggestions for navigating this complex terrain:
1. Commit to your compass. Sit down with a pen and paper and ask yourself: On my 80th birthday party, what would I want my children to say about me? What would I want a cherished colleague to say about me? Once you come up with a list of things that would represent your legacy, consider this as your compass begin making that vision come alive in a small ways in your daily actions.
2. Address your problematic self-expectations. When you find yourself wanting to do something `perfectly, `now’ or `yourself’, ask yourself if this expectation makes sense given the circumstances of the moment. If not, then ignore those internal voices and move on.
3. strong>Learn to delegate. Give up the false notion that ‘it’s easier to do it myself than to delegate’. Teach yourself to delegate properly – it’s an art worth learning. Or pay someone to do some of the things that you are currently doing yourself. The relief you will feel will be worth every penny.
4. Say `no’. Resist the tendency to take on extra tasks and responsibilities that tip your already over-crowded balance scale. Remind yourself that you are saying `yes’ to a balanced, sane life and teach your lips to say a friendly, matte-of-fact `no thanks’.
5. Reduce multi-tasking. When we perform two or more tasks at the same time, our level of performance of each task is reduced by 25-35%. It also leaves us feeling scattered and unsatisfied.
6. Develop mindfulness. Mindfulness is the art of focusing 100% of our attention on what we are doing at any given moment and experiencing that moment fully. Mindfulness helps us be present’ in our lives, and it is one of the most effective, cheapest ways of gaining balance.
7. Ask for help. Asking for help from those in your personal life who care about you, or from those at work whose job it is to work with you might seem difficult, but consider the price you are paying by not doing so. It’s your choice, so choose wisely.

Being a working mom is an ongoing and challenging journey. If you take one small baby step at a time, your life will feel more meaningful, purposeful and calm.

Conflict, overt or covert, real or imagined, is at the root of many workplace problems. People often ignore or avoid this fact at their own peril.

If you were to define `conflict’, what terminology would you use?

Here are some conflict definitions. Choose the one that you think is most matches your own view and then ask yourself why you chose that particular option:

• “Conflict is a natural disagreement resulting from individual or group differences in attitudes, beliefs, values or needs.”
• “Conflict is a process that begins when someone thinks that someone else has or is about to negatively affect something that they care about such as values, feelings, resources.”
• “Conflict is a state of opposition between persons or ideas or interests”
• “Conflict is a state of disharmony between incompatible persons, or antithetical ideas, or interests”

My professional observations have led me to strongly gravitate toward the second definition. It emphasizes that conflict begins when someone thinks that something has or is about to happen. It also highlights that more often than not, conflict is the creation of our own minds. Frequently, the other person has no clue that we’re walking around with this full-blown issue driving us crazy. Still, our mind’s speculation governs our behaviour and before you know it, we start acting on our feelings toward the other person without ever asking the types of helpful, clarifying questions that could put a completely different spin on our understanding of the situation!

And that’s exactly why so many `sticky’ situations are never resolved or produce such poor outcomes.

Contact me directly anytime for help to make your work environment more civil.