Who Needs Help with Bullies at Work?

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The issue of toxic employees and bullies in the workplace is complicated.  Successful strategies to shift anti-social behavior will require well-timed activities at three different levels.

Company leaders

First are those who truly have the power to decide the workplace will be free of abuse and intimidation. Leadership includes CEOs, boards and partners who have company-wide decision-making authority. After years of looking the other way, changing the anti-social behavior will require an overt desire to shift the negative culture to one of collaboration and personal accountability.  It’s not easy.  Bullies and toxic employees push back when their informal power is threatened.  Without a powerful champion at the top the culture shift will fall flat.  When the person at the top is a bully, the situation is much more complicated.  Company owners have the legal (if not moral) right to run their company as they see fit.  In the nonprofit world the governing board has the power to address this issue. Occasionally partners or corporate boards can address the issue.  Successful strategies are often subverted by a clever CEO who can manipulate information, keep secrets and spin complainants out as “crazy” or unreasonable.

Supervisors

The most common issue I observe with supervisors is that they are bullied or sabotaged so that fear keeps them from acting as they should to eliminate abuse and intimidation from a supervisees.  Toxic employees can cleverly sow the seeds of fear so that eventually the fear itself is enough to get a supervisor to back off.  Many a supervisor has learned a “lesson” after trying to discipline a toxic supervisee and found themselves on the receiving end of successful social tactics. However, when leadership crafts a comprehensive culture shift; vows to discipline employees who abuse and intimidate others, supervisors can reclaim their power and feel confident that leadership will stand behind disciplinary actions. When the supervisor is toxic, leadership has to act decisively to counsel and eventually terminate the offending supervisors.

Co-workers – rank and file

The toxic employees’ coworkers generally have it the worst.  They have no supervisory power and the threat of marginalization and silent treatment is a very powerful motivator.  Even the most independent workers fear social ostracism at work.  Those who speak up are silenced with social tactics such as: gossip, rumors and silent treatment. A comprehensive plan to shift the culture has to include support to the more ethical employees on how to set boundaries that coincide with the a new code of conduct. Teaching them how to resist these social tactics and to band together for support amongst employees who want to perform well goes a very long way.

Coordinated approach

When I speak to groups, they generally fall into one of the three groups outlined above.  The presentation strategy is different for each.  I have to match the discussion to the power level of the group.  Leading employees to feel that they alone can solve this problem could lead to their being targeted in new ways or worse, termination. Rarely are all three present in the room at the same time.  And even then, if the bully is in the room employees will not speak up.

Like I said, it’s complicated.

(c) BCSPublishing 2012 all rights reserved

Guest Post: The Importance of Self-Assessments

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What follows is a guest post by a fan of this blog.  Erin Palmer writes about topics like PHR Certification as well as online hr degree programs.  Erin can be reached on Twitter @Erin_E_Palmer.  I hope you enjoy this HR topic.

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There is always room for job improvement. No matter where you are in your career progression, self-assessments can be an excellent tool to measure your job performance, track your professional growth and make sure you meet your career goals. Self-assessments are often included as part of employee performance reviews, but you should still consider doing one even if your employer does not require it or if you are self-employed. You can’t better yourself and get what you want from work until you know yourself.

Why Use Self-Assessments?

Self-assessments are an important tool for employees and managers. Employees can use their self-assessment to define and track their career goals, discover areas in which they would benefit from additional training or education and identify talents and strengths. Self-assessments can also help employees reflect on their accomplishments during the review period and describe the contributions they have made to the company. This can often provide the support needed to pursue raises, promotions and additional responsibilities.

Managers can use self-assessments in similar ways. Managers benefit from soliciting feedback from their employees. However, employees are often reluctant to be forthright with their manager if there are problems. Self-assessments can help the employees objectively express their point of view. Moreover, managers can also conduct their own self-assessment. Once managers understand what their strengths and weaknesses are, they can develop appropriate action plans and goals which will ultimately help them become better leaders.

Self-Assessments Can Help You Monitor Your Career Progress

Completing a self-assessment each year helps you chart your progress so that you can stay on your desired career trajectory. You should strive to be as objective as possible and rate yourself based on facts and tangible results, not intentions. By setting annual goals and evaluating your own performance against them, you’ll be able to see whether or not you’re on track to achieve your overall career goals. More importantly, if you’re not on track, you’ll be able to see why.

Self-assessments can be used as an opportunity to initiate discussions with your manager on your performance as it relates to your career goals. If your self-assessment ratings are higher than your manager’s ratings on your performance evaluation, you should determine the reason why. Many employees today work with a high level of self-direction and your manager might be unaware of some of your contributions and achievements. Or, your performance may be falling short of your manager’s expectations. An open discussion will help you and your manager have a more complete picture of your performance.

Self-Assessments Can Help You Find and Fix Weaknesses

Self-assessments give you an opportunity to honestly evaluate your performance, which can help you identify areas in which you need to improve. Before developing plans to ameliorate your weaknesses, you should consider them in the context of your overall career goals and focus on improving weaknesses that are most relevant to helping your achieve your goals.

Knowing your weaknesses has the additional benefit of helping you develop more satisfying and suitable career goals. Weaknesses can sometimes indicate areas that hold little interest or appeal to you. In general, people tend to avoid doing what they don’t like to do, which can lead to underperformance in related tasks. Once you know where your skills and talents as well as your weaknesses lie, you can match that information up with career goals that place greater emphasis and reward on your talents and less on your weaknesses.

Self-Assessments Can Help Build Communication with Peers

Many people rely on input from co-workers on their self-assessment to help them gain a more complete picture of their overall performance. Gathering feedback from teammates, or even customers, can give you helpful information on how your performance is perceived by those around you. This can be particularly valuable if your performance evaluation assesses your ability to work effectively as a member of a team or factors in customer satisfaction. Soliciting input from others has other benefits as well. It can provide information that your supervisor can use on your performance evaluation and it can lead to an increase in communication within a team which can improve teamwork.

Self-Assessments Can Be a Valuable Tool in Achieving Your Career Goals

Self-assessments present many benefits, including the opportunity to establish a dialogue between you and your supervisor about your performance. Self-assessments can help you identify your accomplishments, set goals for the upcoming evaluation period, and identify next steps in your personal and professional development. Completing a self-assessment is an excellent way to gather information about yourself so that you can make informed career decisions and reach your professional goals.

Erin Palmer writes about topics like PHR Certification as well as online hr degree programs.  Erin can be reached on Twitter @Erin_E_Palmer.

Employee Resistance to Change

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The process of change – how the world of business works is aptly described in Spencer Johnson’s 1998 book Who Moved My Cheese?*

I recently needed an illustration of the maladaptive ways in which employees respond to change, while teaching Psychology in the Workplace.  Students didn’t have the time to read an addition text so I created the following outline based upon Johnson’s book.  I showed my students the book, recommended it and presented the class material.

In this work, I explain the irrational dynamics of people hanging on to old ways even when evidence of change is obvious and failure to change may result in business failure (or starvation for the little mice!). I offer it here for my followers:

  1. People pay more attention to the things-they-need when things are new
  2. People exert effort toward having the things-they-need
  3. People realize that having the things-they-need makes them happy – nice!
  4. As time goes on, things-they-need and already have, are less on their minds
  5. People put less effort into doing what they have to do to keep getting the things-they-need
  6. People assume that the things-they-need will always be there
  7. People stop paying attention to what is going on around the things-they-need
  8. Some smart people (thinkers and planners) understand the dynamics of change and that things-they-need might be difficult to get in the future
  9. Some smart people talk about planning and building contingencies but others don’t listen
  10. Things begin to shift gradually–there are signs of impending change but most people don’t notice
  11. Some smart people notice the subtle shifts, they talk but most people don’t listen
  12. People work harder in the old way to get the things-they-need but it doesn’t work
  13. The world changes in a clear way — the things-they-need may be available, but now they:
    1. Are located in a different place
    2. Require extra work to get them
    3. Are not longer available in the old form
  14. People go into denial — pretending things haven’t changed
  15. People work harder to hold fast to the old ways of the world
  16. Business starts to decline
  17. It becomes clear that the things-they-need are no longer available
  18. People have to notice —  now they begin to react:
    1. People become anxious and over-wrought
    2. People talk about how it isn’t fair
    3. People blame others who should have warned them
  19. People begin blame others for the change
  20. People verbally attack and make complaints about those they see as responsible
  21. People get stuck in the I-want-things-to-go-back-to-the-way-they-were camp
  22. Some smart people have been thinking and planning, they see themselves as responsible for solving the problem
  23. These smart people talk about what needs to be done and try to convince people to change and move
  24. People react to these “change agents” and they begin to resist by:
    1. Overt sabotage of people and processes
    2. Worker’s compensation claims
    3. Staying at work and complaining
    4. Quitting (good turnover — Bye bye!)
  25. Some smart people get discouraged and leave (bad turnover — Oh no!)
  26. Some smart people begin to find new ways and locations to get the things-they-need
  27. Eventually, the people come over to the new way of getting things-they-needbut at a variable pace:
    1. Early adopters
    2. Near-time adopters
    3. Late adopters
    4. Refusers – those who never adopt (performance counselings?)
  28. Finally all the people agree to the new way
  29. People get used to the new way and the process starts over again
  30. Some smart people know things will change and continue to pay attention to clues

* An original deconstruction work based upon:  Spencer Johnson, MD (1998) Who Moved My Cheese? New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons

(c) BCSPublishing 2012 all rights reserved

Four Components of HR’s New Mission

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Today’s mission for HR includes Human Resources that are:

  • Integrated;
  • Aligned;
  • Accountable; and
  • Compliant.

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Integrated HR

Human Resources is no longer another staff department. In order to ensure maximum business impact and to allow HR management principles and expertise to inform business plans, today’s CEO engages HR as part of senior leadership.  HR leaders are a part of modern strategic planning both through input regarding external demography, trends and issues affecting human beings at work but also reports of internal talent strengths and weaknesses.
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Aligned HR

Human Resources deconstructs every company strategic goal in terms of the ability of employees at every level to support their successful achievement. For example, if the goal is profitability improvement, all of the following must be analyzed:
  • Fixed expense reduction
  • Variable expenses associated with sales increases
  • Variable expenses associated with adding human resources
  • Inefficiencies in all company functions
  • Comparison of the relative profit margins of each line of business
  • Sales procedures and processes
  • Product and service pricing strategies
  • Downsizing or divestiture options
Human resources management contributes to these potential improvement strategies through proper leadership and supervision focused on the right things, job analysis and design, compensation setting, proper training and development, performance evaluations, and organization culture which either enhances or detracts from goal achievement. Do employees have the right training and motivation or is it tools and materials access that are slowing down production? If you can’t answer this question, strategies are not programmed for success.
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Accountable HR

Every business function, including Human Resources, must demonstrate its effectiveness.  Are the performance evaluation tools getting at technical results, conducive work approach AND behavior consistent with the company’s stated/desired culture? Do retention strategies reduce “bad” turnover? Are recruitment results positively correlated with future sound performance on the job? Finally, do your programs and strategies reflect the needs and demographics of your workforce today and in likely future scenarios?  Proper quantification and HR metrics answer these questions and provide data that allows improvement and refinement over time.
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Compliant HR

Employee relations litigation is increasing in nearly every area: discrimination, harassment and all aspects of employee termination disagreements. The statutes, case-law and regulations at the state and federal level present considerable challenges for the average business executive.  Human Resource professionals have the information needed to think about the big picture, triage risk management strategies for maximum effectiveness and to prevent the ugliness that can result when miss-steps are publicized instantly through social media.
(c) BCSPublishing all rights reserved – - sbenoit@benoitconsulting.com

Quick Tips For Surviving Toxic Worker Run-ins

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Toxic employees understand how to take advantage of others.  They can verbally escalate any discussion to that point which will make you walk away mad.  You know it’s coming but for some reason you fall for it every time.

Common mistakes

  • Thinking you can out-toxic them.  Forget it
  • Thinking it’s about you.  This is what they do to people around them. You happen to be the victim of the moment
  • Thinking because it’s unfair it needs to stop.  No question that it is unfair.  No one thinks abuse and intimidation is fair.  But they’re not driven by a code of fairness.  It’s more like a code of it’s-all-about-me. The problem is they are good at staying below the radar.  It’s complicated to terminate them.

Mental re-frame

Unless you’re the supervisor, you don’t have the power to stop it all together. You can, however, control your behavior and how you see it. Here is a mental reframe to help you stay grounded, healthy and productive at work.

 Five quick tips – think of it this way

  1. It’s not me – you know they do this to others.  If you’re insecure get some help to feel better about yourself but don’t let this toxic person make you feel like any of this is your fault.
  2. It’s not everything – the more your job is everything in your life, the more this person will get under your skin.  Develop a full and rewarding life where work is only a part – hobbies, activities, interests will make this seem less important.
  3. Don’t power struggle – there’s an Al-anon expression that you “don’t go to every fight you’re invited to!” Resist the temptation to set yourself up to lose a power struggle.  Don’t start.
  4. Use a friendly voice – tone of voice is something toxic people read immediately.  If you start there, you’re done.  Start and end with a friendly voice. It costs you nothing.
  5. Talk about what is happening – “So, I came and asked you for a training file and though I’m the trainer you’re saying I can’t have it because it’s Tuesday.  Hmmm, okay.  I’ll let the VP know your reasoning.  Have a nice day (friendly voice).”  Walk away while they try to have the last word.
In the end, be glad you’re you and not them. 
(c) Copyright BCSPublishing 2012 all rights reserved

2012 Human Trends That Threaten Positive Workplace Culture

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Companies and nonprofits are attending to their culture in greater numbers than ever.  Inspiring stories from companies like Zappos are making their way around social media circles. Further, unless you’ve been living under a rock you know that younger workers have less tolerance for the workplace shenanigans of bullies and disagreeable coworkers that others have just put up with for years.  If we could all start from the same point, employees would have a wonderful choice of working in companies where respect and quality are governing values. Unfortunately, the business climate is bobbing and weaving and a number of trends will make things worse for you if you do nothing. If you’re an HR Professional and having a hard time convincing senior management to pay attention, here are some thoughts about positive culture-busting trends.

2012 Human trends

  1. Continued, rapid business change – if you keep doing the same thing you’re losing ground.
  2. Business mistakes are publicized instantly – think Netflix, News of the World. Social media can be brutal.
  3. Increasing worker stress – financial uncertainty, care-giving, lean staff and tougher goals are weighing on employee minds.
  4. Emphasis on efficiency and productivity – employee absenteeism and presenteeism (physically here but mentally elsewhere) are working against your efforts to keep costs down.
  5. Business regulation – there is some recognition that over-regulation can be anti-business but the Healthy Workplace Bill is coming.  It’s new legislation which some conservatives will fight but it started because companies ignored brutal, ongoing employee targeting that had a direct relationship to their mental health.
  6. Workplace bullying websites abound – your employees have options for free advice of how to react to workplace bullying in your company and how to seek legal advice.
  7. Increased employee litigation – this is just a fact of doing business, if you lose touch with disgruntled employees or you aren’t listening trouble will find you.
  8. A third of employees are ready to move when economy improves – because your employees are afraid to move now doesn’t mean they are thinking about it.
  9. Increasing cultural diversity – inclusion requires preparing the ground. Employees unencumbered by things like respect and company no-tolerance stance on slurs, etc., can be brutal. Sexual orientation discrimination claims are on the rise.
  10. Employees no longer work in the same office – homes, virtual space, remote locations create challenges for creating a united workplace culture.
  11. Multiple generations working together – you’re adding generations X, Y, and Z to established workers.  Do you pay attention to culture clash?
  12. Increasing disparity between high and low employees’ disposable income – your lower-income employees are borrowing, taking money from 401(k)s, and even if they’ve had raises, medical costs and other prices have eroded disposable income.
  13. Decline in civility, everywhere – Sorry to say this but arguing, short tempers and narcissism are on the rise.  Positive culture articulation is an important counter-point.

Good Luck!!

Employee Life Cycle: opportunities to transmit culture

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Pre-service (attachment)

  1. Vacancy: New job is added; employee resigns or employee is dismissed
  2. Job Analysis: job design/review, establishing qualifications, selecting source
  3. Recruitment: Sourcing and advertising
  4. Selection: Application, screening, interview, offer, acceptance
  5. On-boarding: Policies, HR paperwork, receive corporate culture materials
  6. Employee orientation: culture orientation, job shadowing, practice

Early service (engagement)

  1. Benefits: Employee signs up for benefits and begins receiving EBT, perquisites
  2. Contribution: Employee begins contributing in the real job
  3. Coworker relations: Ongoing interactions with co-workers at all levels
  4. Employee guidance: supervision, evaluation, engagement,

2-year mark is the greatest threat of turnover (retention)

Medium service (seasoning)

10. Experience building: training and development, re-licensing, credentialing, re-qualifying

Long service (continued fit)

11.  Employee re-contributing: retraining, lateral transfers, promotions

 

(c) Copyright BCSPublishing 2012