Top 10 Tips for Ringing in the Bully-Free New Year

Workplace bullying is damaging to targets, witnesses and the organization as whole. Targets become depressed and they lose their luster for work. Witnesses lose their loyalty to management. Organizations lose good employees and positive bottom line results.

Meanwhile, organizations that focus on maintaining positive and healthy workplaces have motivated and inspired employees, invest in success, increase retention and reduce turnover, have effective internal communication, demonstrate quality work product and customer service, attract better talent, and minimize costs on workers comp and potential litigation.

That said, here are 10 tips to help your organization have a bully-free 2010:

1. Understand that workplace culture is a business strategy. Strategic culture adjustments can only be made after obtaining buy-in from as many employees as possible. To do this, get them involved in developing a vision of positivity and the corporate policies that back it up. When employees feel included, they are more likely to take heed simply because they are personally invested.

2. Use communication strategically. Leaders and management can use language to deliver a healthy workplace culture, and encourage open discussions and employee empowerment. Develop rituals that applaud interpersonal communication skills, empathy, optimism, conflict resolution and positive attitudes as a part of the routine.

3. Use anti-bully corporate policies as a nail, not as a hammer. I’ve seen a lot of stuff out there claiming the answer to your bully problem is a corporate policy. We can implement policies all day long, but if they don’t have management’s transparent support and employee back up, then who cares. Policies are meant to help the process, but they won’t fix your problem.

4. Use training programs, but they only work if they are backed by performance measurements. Trainings should include topics such as conflict resolution, negotiation, interpersonal communication, assertiveness, empathy, stress management, leadership, optimism and self-examination. Now, just like corporate policies, we can train all day long, but if these programs don’t have performance measurement attached to them then they don’t matter. So expectations regarding proficiency in these areas should be tied to performance and career advancement, and show up in employee goals and awards programs.

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Invite to attend our complimentary webinar

COMPLIMENTARY WEBINAR:
Create a Healthy Workplace: Understand Workplace Bullying & Combat the Damage They Cause
September 17, 2009
9 am – 10 am PST
Cost: $0
Obtain more information and register at http://budurl.com/q8kp

Learning Objectives:
•An understanding of workplace bullying, damage caused to targets and the organization, and why it’s legal
•Insight on bullies’ and their targets
•Knowledge in the system of bullying and why it happens at work
•Knowledge in how to determine how much a bully is costing the organization
•Techniques for dealing with the bully on an interpersonal level
•Techniques for a sustainable organizational culture shift

Who Should Attend: Human resource professionals, workplace learning and performance professionals, business owners, managers, team leaders, supervisors, coaches, EAP’s, union leaders and representatives, conflict management professionals and consultants.

In Partnership with The Vianova Group