Beating the Bullies

Bullying and harassment allegations seem to be everywhere these days.

Such allegations are not new, and they won’t stop. They started with the cavemen, persisted through the dark ages, became more obvious during the enlightenment, and are omnipresent today.

The reasons for bullying and harassment behaviours are very complex, so change will always be difficult. It starts with imperfect genetic inheritance, and festers in hierarchical environments where power over others is institutionalised and valued, including in workplaces, schools, churches and families.

The human condition produces a power continuum that ranges from some very empathetic people at one end, to a significant group with psychopathic tendencies at the other. This latter group of people can be dangerously aggressive by nature, and they will often fight to reach positions where they can exert power over others. Their presence on the gene continuum contributes to endemic levels of behaviours that result in domestic violence, playground bullying, workplace harassment, gun violence, war mongering and many other negative outcomes in daily life.

Researchers into the effects of bullying and harassment, like the Perception Mapping group, report a strong correlation in workplaces between high levels of harassment and poor organisational outcomes.

“Based on our extensive research,” says Perception Mapping Director, Dr Grant Donovan, “organisations where everyone feels they are treated well and are skilled and encouraged to speak up, experience significantly lower levels of staff turnover and much higher levels of discretionary effort.”

“But people need to learn the skill of speaking truth to power,” says Dr Donovan, “because speaking up does not come naturally for most people. In fact, almost every individual is institutionalised from an early age to obey people in power positions, from parents, to teachers, to priests, to coaches and bosses.”

Learning the skills of speaking up can take some time but the Melbourne based company, Crucial Dimensions, who delivers the universally acclaimed Crucial Conversations training, suggests organisations can change behaviours over time and convert toxic workplaces to more collaborative cultures. Crucial Conversations is evidence-based training that is currently delivered successfully to workplaces in 18 languages across 32 countries, including China.

“The worldwide impact of the speak up skills developed through Crucial Conversations training,” says Crucial Dimensions Managing Director, Geoff Flemming, “is nothing short of amazing.”

“Work cultures where everyone knows how to respectfully speak up and challenge each other, more easily eliminate bullying and harassment behaviours. They are just not tolerated anywhere from the C-suite to the shop floor,” says Mr Flemming.

Harassment and bullying behaviours in the workplace range from bosses overloading work onto people they don’t like through to staff who experience a constant stream of sexual remarks and, in the worst cases, attacks.

At the family level, data collected in Australia suggests close to one in four women experience violence by an intimate partner. Men also suffer from domestic violence but at a much lower rate.

At a global level, coercion and bullying are an embedded feature of autocratic regimes. It is all part of a massive power imbalance where people lower on the hierarchy experience the constant threats of bullying and harassment. These are embedded behaviours that exist in all walks of life and in every population across the world, so the behaviours are very unlikely to cease any time soon.

But, while global political behaviours may never change, harassment in family and workplace environments can be ameliorated to some degree by the development of speak up skills where everyone is empowered to respectfully push back.

A speak up culture in the workplace is one crucial foundation on the road to a more fun and engaging workplace experience.