Vicki Anderson

I am appalled to hear about the latest victim of workplace bullying in Virginia where a man committed suicide because of a bullying boss. What is so crazy to me is that his coworkers knew about it and were saddened by it, but it took too long for the administration to do anything about it. The man made 17 calls to administration in the week leading up to the suicide. We do not know what action the administration planned to take, just that it is too late.

The problem with this situation is that it not only affects the person being bullied, but the coworkers as well. It is painful to watch it happening to someone else, wondering if it will happen to you. The tension can be enormous. You want the other person to speak up, but they are often so fearful of losing their job that they just try to measure up the best they can and take it. Unfortunately, this is usually about power, not performance, and unless someone else steps in or the person being bullied steps up, the bullying will not stop.

The tension created in these situations usually results in less performance overall because people are operating out of fear instead of working for continuous improvement and customer satisfaction. Organizations that take care of employees first know that the employee will in turn take care of the customer, which will take care of the business.

Be ever vigilant for people who use their position to wield their power. The successful leaders know that it is the people they help to succeed who will make them look good. In order to do that, you must coach, teach, and grow your staff. This is not possible if you are driving them with a whip. Scared people don’t grow and they don’t look out for anyone but themselves.

I have been consulting on performance evaluation systems for a long time and one of my pet peeves is the feeling by some managers that you can’t rate people at the top of the scale because there is always room for improvement. My answer to that is, “Then take that rating off the form because it is unachievable.”

I believe in coaching to the test. In other words, be very clear with employees about what you consider good solid performance and what they have to do above or below that to get better or worse ratings. For those people who are high achievers, they now have something to shoot for and if you see it consistently, why can’t you give them that rating?

There is no perfect in human behavior. There is always room for improvement. That doesn’t stop us from wanting a reward when we achieve a certain level. No matter how many Tour de France races Lance Armstrong has won, there is room for improvement. That’s why he keeps trying. They don’t withhold the trophy because of it.

The problem is that most managers haven’t really thought about what they think excellent performance looks like, so they feel uncomfortable rewarding it. If they do give high ratings they are afraid of being unfair to someone else so they want to give high ratings to everyone. And, of course, they are under pressure by their bosses to give few high ratings because then everyone will want a big raise.

I have a philosophical question for you. If it didn’t matter what raise you were going to get because there is not much budget, would you rather your manager give you the higher rating you had worked to earn or would you rather they soft peddle it and give you an average score so it is in line with the money? What does that do to your motivation? At least it would be on the record that you are a high performer when promotions or raises are available again.

I just read an article this morning that the New York state assembly is considering a law against workplace bullying. What makes me mad is that we need one!

In my years of work in human resources and consulting with management, it never fails to amaze me that workplace bullies get away with it. They are often people who have some special knowledge that the boss doesn’t think he can do without, so he doesn’t want to take any risk of losing him. Or, the bully has a protector in a power position. Therefore, there are no repercussions for the bad management. Instead, they lose good employees who refuse to put up with their shenanigans. Unfortunately, today many people are stuck because there aren’t many other job options for them to jump to.

The employers don’t want to have this law because they think it will keep them from holding employees accountable. However, I think there is a definite difference between being clear to employees about what standard of performance you want and bullying. There are, of course, employees who will abuse the system and put forth trivial suits that will cost money on both sides, but if you are doing your management right, this should be minimized.

Just as unions came about because people needed to be protected against bad management practices, now someone feels we need another law to protect people against bad management. It is just another example of lack of job ownership. Managers often talk about the need for employees to own their job and take initiative. I think it’s time that managers take ownership of their jobs and start training, coaching, and reinforcing good management skills. It is just dumb business to let good employees work under bullying bosses.

Respect is consideration for another individual that is tied to the amount of trust you have for that person. You may earn respect but others decide whether to give it to you or not. You can’t demand it.

We talk a lot about whether you respect and trust your manager. You may respect the position but because you don’t trust the person, you don’t behave as if you respect him. When there is a lack of a show of respect by the worker, trust from the manager further declines as well as respect toward the worker.

The same is true for the manager’s employees. The manager may respect the need for the worker and the worker’s skill, but if the worker isn’t trustworthy, the manager is not likely to give the show of respect the worker desires. Thus, the worker tends to distrust the manager.

This is a downward spiraling situation. A lack of a show of respect on either side can destroy trust in the other party. Now, I am not suggesting that we give lip service to this by “sucking up” and pretending we respect someone who is untrustworthy. I am simply saying that you have to give it to get it. When you treat others with courtesy and respect, they are more likely to treat you the same. When you act in a manner that considers others’ positions, they tend to do the same. When you care about the contribution of others, they tend to care about yours. It is the yin and yang. It is the balance of power that each person holds over the situation.

So, tomorrow morning, why not start fresh? Treat everyone you meet with the utmost respect. Act like they are smart, caring, hard-working, and worthy of your time. Try it for a few days and let me know what kind of response you get.

Have you noticed how different leaders focus on different things? As I met with a client today I was reminded that how followers behave is often dependent on the leader they choose to follow. Some leaders focus on integrity and make everything they do point to the integrity of the situation and the people involved. While integrity is important to almost everyone, it is not the only reason people follow a leader.

Some people follow leaders because they get things done. They are active people themselves and pride themselves on accomplishment. They will get bored working for someone who spends most of the time on analysis to get fewer things done, but done right. Others may find the analysis stimulating and comforting to know each solution is well thought out.

Some people follow leaders because they are people oriented. They are involved with their followers and give them a sense of belonging. It feels good to be a part of this team and there is a lot of camaraderie.

So, is there a right way to lead? Of course not. Each of us has a natural focus and often a combination of focuses that guide our method of leading. The key issue is in why someone would follow you. Looking at the situation involved, it is important to understand which focus of leadership might be needed. If that is not a strength of yours, you might need to bring in someone else to help lead. That person could even be someone within your team.

It is not only the situation and your natural focus, but the need of the people you are leading. They may have varying needs at any one time and you will have to adapt your leadership style to fit their need if you want to achieve the most results from them.