#17 Dealing with Bullies in the Workplace: A Key to Reduce Conflict in the Workplace

As a conflict resolution consultant and accountability coach I help my clients reduce conflict in the workplace to improve their working condition.

Anywhere you go you hear reports on bullies in school. Experts are beginning to train both teachers and students on how to deal with bullies. This is a step in the right direction.

My clients tell me about bullies in their workplace. They don’t know how to deal with them.

Bullies can be the following:

• Leaders who like overusing their power
• Outgoing people who take advantage of the quiet ones
• Loud people who are kings and queens of sarcasm, teasing, and verbal abuse

These behaviors hurt self esteem, morale and productivity.

The workplace is starting to understand that bullies need to be stopped. If schools are dealing with bullies then it is time for companies to do the same thing.

Here are some tips on how to deal with the bully situation:

• Hold sensitivity training on how different equals different… Different does not equal wrong.
• Talkative people don’t always have the best ideas. Encourage the quieter people to contribute. Once they do they are surprised that they actually have great ideas to share.
• Coach people who are used to taking over conversations to practice their listening skills.  This takes time to learn.
• Hold meetings with teams to create their own rules on how to stop bullies.
• Be very clear that bullies will not rule the workplace anymore.

I hope that these tips will help you spread the word on the importance of a workplace where everyone’s ideas will be heard. My next article will give you tips on how to communicate directly to get the respect and results that you deserve.

Until next time, this is Joyce Weiss and remember, “You get what you tolerate!”

More on this topic:

If you enjoyed this video, you may enjoy this article on dealing with bullies.

Do You See Bullies in the Workplace?