The Kade Consultancy

Bullying and Aggression in the Workplace

Any form of bullying and aggression disrupts work, productivity and ultimately your profits.

Do you or your staff ever hear phrases such as?

1. You don’t need to be part of this meeting – it doesn’t concern you (when it actually does)
2. I’m surrounded by idiots – I might as well do the job myself
3. I always knew you would never be able to hack this job
4. Did you ever really think that someone of your background/qualifications could do this job
5. Can’t you ever get it right?
6. I can never trust you to do things as they should be done
7. You’re only here because you know (so and so) in accounts – you’d never have got the job otherwise
8. I don’t want you to overstretch yourself- so I’m going to give this project to (so and so)
9. I really think this is going to be too difficult for you, you just carry on with the filing – you’re so good at it.
10. Are you thick or what? I’ve told you what needs to be done.
    

Bullying takes many forms – from the insidious kind, cloaked in niceties that make you doubt yourself through to outright verbal and physical abuse.

Luckily! We have psychologists who are published authors on the subject and who can help you to:

1. Understand the causes of aggressive behaviour – where it comes from, the factors leading to aggressive behaviour and what triggers it.
2. Recognise aggressive behaviour in its many shapes and guises.  We analyse behaviour and identify not only unacceptable behaviour, but also the responses of others (including clients/customers) to it. We can pinpoint more accurately where things are going wrong and why certain strategies are ineffective.
3. Deal competently and confidently with the problems you encounter.
4. Develop and implement an anti-bullying policy and strategy.
5. Promote a positive culture within the organisation
   

Whatever works for you: -

1. Through consultancy on a group or one-to-one basis.
2. Through training staff to raise awareness of bullying, how to deal with it and how to manage it in others.
   

Who Benefits?

1. Anyone working in the caring professions e.g. social workers and probation officers. We can offer practical resources and effective strategies and techniques that can be used with clients who have problems with self-esteem and confidence, as well as clients who find it very difficult to manage their negative emotions.
2. Personnel and human resource professionals who work as internal consultants within their organisations.  We can help them work with staff and colleagues who find it difficult to manage aggressive behaviour in others. 
3. We can also enable managers to work with bullies and aggressors directly, or use a consultancy model to take on that role ourselves.
4. Individuals who want to increase their own self-knowledge and improve their own techniques and strategies.
   

Most of us in our working careers have experienced or will experience aggressive behaviour at work. We may have been the direct recipient of such unacceptable behaviour, or have witnessed unpleasant incidents among our colleagues.  We may have come through relatively unscathed if it has been a ‘one off’, but for many dealing with aggressive individuals it is a real problem. Aggression at work can take many forms, although it is relatively rare these days for physical aggression to be evident.  However, verbal aggression and threatening non-verbal behaviour are sadly not uncommon. The old adage ‘Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me’ is a fallacy.  Verbal aggression, whether accompanied by non-verbal threats or not, is extremely damaging - not only to individuals but also to the organisation.

Recognising what causes aggression, the forms it takes and most importantly of all, how to deal with it effectively is vital for our own feelings of self-worth and the benefit of the companies we work for.