Bullying is more widespread in business than you might think. It has a huge financial and human impact and shouldn’t be tolerated by bosses. Check out this list for the most common types of bullying behaviour.
There is a business case against tolerating nasty and demeaning people in your organisation. Companies that put up with bullies have more difficulty recruiting and retaining the best and brightest talent. They are also prone to higher client attrition, damaged reputations and employee tribunals.
So if you’re the boss, what do you need to look out for?
Here are some of the most common types of bullying behaviour:
- Personal insults
- Invading colleagues’ personal territory
- Uninvited physical contact
- Threats and intimidation, verbal and nonverbal
- Sarcastic jokes and teasing used as insults
- Withering e-mails
- Put-downs intended to humiliate victims
- Public shaming or degrading status
- Rude interruptions
- Two-faced attacks
- Dirty looks
- Treating people as if they were invisible
There is good news and bad news about workplace bullies. The bad news is that abuse is widespread and the human and financial toll is high. The good news is that as the boss you can take steps to build workplaces where demeaning behaviour isn’t tolerated and nasty people are shown the door.
If you would like to build a workplace where your employees’ contributions are valued rather than demeaned, and a culture of creativity and purpose is fostered not stamped upon, we can help. Talk to us about your plans.
About The Author: Amanda Baines
Amanda has a passion for turning ‘average’ into ‘excellent’. She delivers outstanding results through her dynamic coaching, consultancy and facilitation, producing organisations which maximise everyone’s potential and in which everyone plays to their strengths.
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