Road Rage in the Office: Are you becoming a Workplace Bully?

If you spend any time on the road, you know we’re living in a stress-out, over-worked and insecure world. Road rage is up – yelling, screaming, slamming doors, flipping off, and threats are up and so is workplace bullying. Workplace bullying is the road rage of the office with the plus of knowing the target and having the authority to keep ‘em scared. Since most of us are acting out our fears and anxieties (Yes you are, admit it! Now don’t you feel better for confessing?), here are some behaviors to watch out for and avoid in yourself and in others. Office road-rage includes: Acting out: tantrums, shouting, and verbal intimidation Intimidation: Threat of termination, telling others they should be ‘grateful they have a job’ Short-circuiting communication: Closing your door, refusing to discuss business matters and demanding complete cooperation without input, failing to tell colleagues the status of assignments, health of the organization, and new circumstances. If these behaviors seem familiar, here are some suggestions for improving life for everyone. Pay attention to both the content and tone of your messages. Acknowledge your frustration and tell your team what is going on so they can rally around and brainstorm ways to improve the situation. You may be amazed at the depth of options and opportunities your team may have and be willing to share with you. Create a highly-function team by building trust.

• Step one: be a bit vulnerable and talk about your own fears and conce s. • Step two: work together to set shared goals and then encourage the team to present their ideas based on the shared goals • Step three: take control and make decision based on the proposals and ideas set forth by your team and illicit buy-in from everyone • Step four: empower all members to hold one another accountable • Step five: reinforce positive behavior toward your goals (for more info on this model, check out P. Lencioni’s Five Dysfunctions of a Team

Review your policies Create or amend policies so that employees can make anonymous reports of bullying behavior. Be sure those policies and procedures have some ‘teeth’ that will protect the complainant, offer substantive investigative procedures, and provide strong training programs as well as consequences for transgressors. Bring in an Anti-Bully Trainer When times get tough, the tough stop spending, but this may be the time when training and development for your leaders is most important. Most of us behave well when things are going well, and forget our best practices when things go sour. Good training programs put your leaders back on track. In the end a small investment in training may reap you tremendous rewards in lowering medical costs, lost personnel, and even lawsuits. More and more often bullies and their employers are being held responsible for ignoring the problem. Helping You Help your Company Research is popping up every day documenting workplace bullying and offering substantive interventions. Visit UOP for some new research on workplace bullying.