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.

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.

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Guest Post: The Importance of Self-Assessments

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