You can find the previous segment to Bernie’s article at Tips for Dealing with Workplace Bullying

The thirteen chapters of discussion, questions and helpful hints within Bernie’s book can be used to help personnel move from being or remaining a ‘victim’ to being a ‘survivor’ if they are involved in a workplace bullying incident.

The book chapters are:

1. Overview
2. Occupational and workplace violence
3. Introduction
4. The victim
5. The alleged bully
6. The organisation
7. The medical professionals
8. The legal professionals
9. The family, friends and associates
10. The investigators
11. The media
12. Summary
13. A call to action

Here are some examples of the questions to be asked of all those related to the bullying incident or who will become involved: (Each question listed below is a ‘lead in’ to a series of related questions.)

Questions – The Victim (this is the person who is being subjected to bullying).

• Who committed the behaviours against you?
• What is the specific nature of the behaviours?
• When were the behaviours committed?
• Why has the bullying happened to you?
• Where did the bullying behaviours happen?
• How did you respond?
• What do you know about your organisation?

Helpful hint: Know your workplace bullying policy and procedures

Questions – the Alleged Bully (this is the person who uses bullying behaviour and in some cases, the alleged bully can be the victim. The book details more on this indicates when this occurs):

• Who decides if my behaviours are those of a workplace bully?
• What is ‘reasonable management?

Note: There are a lot more questions that the alleged bully should be asking.

Helpful hint: Read the organisational/company policy on workplace bullying.

Questions – the Organisation:

• Does the organisation have a workplace bullying policy?

Note: There are many questions that should be asked by the ‘organisation’ if they want to be in a situation where they can successfully defend an allegation.

Helpful hint: Have an implementation plan (including an ongoing training plan).

Questions – Medical Professionals:

• What happens when you go to the GP/psychologist/ psychiatrist/counsellor?

Note: As a patient, you do need to know what happens. Don’t be afraid to ask.

Helpful hint: Be guided by the professional advice offered by the GP and/or psychologist or psychiatrist.

Questions – Legal Professionals

• What do you know about bullying?

Note:  There are many questions you need to ask to make sure that you will get the best possible legal advice.

Questions your Legal Professionals may ask you:

• Tell me about the circumstances of your situation.

Note:  Your legal professional will ask many questions to determine what happened so they can give you the best possible advice.

Helpful hint: Be aware that you may not understand everything your legal professionals ask you.

Questions – Family, Friends and Associates:

• Are you legally prevented from saying anything to anyone in the workplace or elsewhere?

Note: There may be some internal policy that prevents you from talking to others.

Helpful hint: Understand that not everyone will understand your situation.

Note: Victims and alleged bullies may feel on the outer.  Do ask questions.

Questions – Investigators

• Are internal or external investigators used?

Note: The use of internal or external investigators may have some impact on the outcomes of the investigations.

Helpful hint: Have an investigations policy.

Questions – the Media

• Does the organisation have a crisis management policy?

Note: The media loves a good story. 

Helpful hint: Include instructions on how to respond to a workplace bullying incident in the policy.

Once again, special thanks to Bernie, and we hope to have the details of where to get his book in early 2009.

Bernie has recently completed his latest book on dealing with Workplace Bullying which is shortly to be released. (I will keep you up to date with details of where you can access Bernie’s work.)

Bernie has been kind enough to share an article around his book, “Survival questions and helpful hints to resolve the dangerous epidemics and systemic breeding cultures that are workplace bullying” The piece is full of guidelines and questions for handling workplace bullying, so it will need to be cut into sections for the website. Here is the first part:

The mention of workplace bullying conjures up all sorts of images about victims and alleged bullies.  Most States and Territories within Australia have introduced legislation and/or codes of practices that employees at all levels can and should use to detect, prevent and resolve these insidious practices.

Most organisations recognise that workplace bullying has significant health and safety implications that impact on the ability to provide quality services.  Organisations also recognise that negative publicity generated through workplace bullying incidents will have an impact on corporate and individual reputations.

When a workplace bullying incident occurs, it is not just the victim and the alleged bully who are involved.  Workplace bullying also involves the organisation, the medical and legal professionals, the family/friends and associates, the investigators and the media.

How does each of these respond?  I would suggest that some respond poorly and some exceptionally well. 

Workplace bullying is a complex issue that involves a diverse range of contributing factors where there is no simple or standard response.  Preparation and prevention can be the keys to reducing the risk of physical and psychological trauma that may occur to individuals.

Is a workplace bullying policy enough? No.  The workplaces of today are different to those that existed 20 years ago, and will be different to those in ten years time.  The international arena in relation to health and safety and the way in which directors and senior managers are now being taken to task and asked to explain their commitment to health and safety before a jury places more onus on organisations to address workplace bullying.

How should organisations and individuals respond?  There are no set formulae that can be used to respond to each and every possible situation where someone perceives they are being bullied.

However, as part of the prevention and detection process, asking questions can be very effective.  The questions that will be asked will depend on how confident an individual feels and whether or not the organisation has a culture that allows the questions.

When a workplace bullying incident occurs, it may the culmination of a series of events or workplace conflict that suddenly flares up and results in an allegation being made.  Irrespective of who is involved, most questions will revolve around the old standards – who, what, when, why, where or how.  As many people will realise, these questions are not only the realm of detectives, investigators or auditors.

These questions are generally not found in policy or procedural documents except to outline certain responsibilities and actions to be taken.

The resolution of workplace bullying involves a complex range of questions that will be asked by the victim, the alleged bully, and many of the other people involved. A number of personnel can be exposed when a workplace bullying incident occurs.

Chapters of the book are devoted to each of the personnel involved and each chapter is related to one or more other chapters. A series of helpful hints are also included in the book and in many cases, the implementation of these could reduce the short, medium and long term effects of a workplace incident.

What are the questions and hints? …

You’ll find an indepth list on the next segment of Bernie’s article, so stay tuned. Thank you Bernie – and we’re looking forward to when your work is published.

How well do you know your employees? As a business owner or manager you may spend more time making sure the business is operating like a well-oiled machine and less time getting to know the workers that are making that machine chug along. This could well lead to problems and possibly injuries.

1. Know what your employees do…
   Sure, you may know the job your employees are doing, but do you know how they get it done? You should spend more time watching their work to ensure what they are doing looks safe and follows any procedures in the company manuals. You may also find that they are doing ‘things’ better and safer… and that your Procedures Manual needs updating!
2. Be someone they can talk to…
   If you seem to be the hard-nosed boss who has no interest in anything other than the ‘bottom line’, you may be deemed more difficult to approach when there is a problem. You want your employees to be willing to let you know when something ‘doesn’t seem right’ so you can investigate it before something goes ‘completely wrong.’
3. Have a Machine Safety Policy…
   If you have a number of machines in operation at your jobsite, make sure the employees know the safety procedures for when a machine should be shut down. While this may slow down production, they need to know that shutting down a problem machine and getting it repaired is more important than trying to keep it running in an unsafe manner.
4. Get your Worker’s Opinions…
   You should always be open to listening to what the people doing the work for your company are saying; they’re the ones who know where there could be problems coming down the road.  If possible, hold a weekly meeting (or even a daily one, if needed) to talk to workers about the operations and anything they see as a problem, or even a problem on the horizon. Also ask them if they have any ideas on how to add a level of safety to the work environment. It is important that your workers know that they can make suggestions and you won’t shoot them down. Consider all ideas on their merit or you may cause your employees reluctance to share their thoughts for fear you will automatically attack their ideas.

Your employees can be either your best ally or worst enemy when it comes to making the workplace a safer environment. It’s better to have them on your side, then together you can avoid costly and possibly business-threatening incidents.