October 7th, 2009
Call for Co-Workers to Stop Workplace Bullying
Our many years of immersion in workplace bullying convince us that co-worker witnesses have the best opportunity to stop bullying, second only to employers. During Freedom Week, don’t give in to the “F” factor.
Stop the fear — of being the only one who comes to your bullied colleague’s assistance, of daring to provoke the bully with an indignant stand, of being the next target, of being called insubordinate if you talk or work with the target person, of losing your job. Go ahead and feel guilty for not helping someone who clearly needs your help and may have asked for it. Why do you worry about the bully’s impression of you? Think more about your personal integrity. Your bullied friend may be too ashamed to ask for help. So, offer it without having to be asked.
If all co-workers stood together and immediately confronted the bully AS A GROUP about interfering with work of the target, he or she would most likely back down, if only temporarily. Bullies are liars and cowards. It gives the target much-deserved safety. Unfortunately, the reputation of co-workers is well known. They cower in fear, doing nothing, or worse, siding with the bully. That’s why some people call bullying mobbing. It becomes many against one. Co-workers do the bullies’ dirty work for them.
By working together and showing the bully a united front, chances of being divided as a group are less likely. And if you stick together, you can’t all be fired (thus overcoming the greatest fear of all). The very least you can do as a group is to comfort the target by sharing your experiences as a former (and probably future) target of the same bully.
At least provide emotional support if tactical support sounds too scary. In the beginning of the bullying, targets believe they are alone and this never happened to anyone before (because co-workers are silent and do not share experiences). Reinforce the target’s humanity. While being bullied, targets come to believe the bully’s lies. The group can counter the lies. Be there for your friend. It’s the social compact among human beings. Honor humanity; dare the bully to act humanely toward all of you. Read more about why groups do what they do in The Bully At Work.
Make the Oct. 18-24, the week of Freedom from Workplace Bullies, the excuse to try something different. The results will please you. It will be something you can be proud of. And your targeted colleague will thank you.
Tags: co-workers
This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 7th, 2009 at 8:10 am and is filed under Bullying Tutorials. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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