Toxic Behaviour, Toxic Situations… The Manager’s Role Presenter: Annie Shepherd Author: Susan McPhee When to Question, When to Act

Toxic Behaviour, Toxic Situations… The Manager’s Role When to Question, When to Act Presenter: Annie Shepherd Author: Susan McPhee

What makes behaviour, a work environment or a situation toxic? When to Question, When to Act

Toxic  Capable of causing injury or death  Causing or capable of causing harm  Detrimental to good health  Injurious to physical or mental health

When to Question, When to Act Manager’s Response that Exacerbates Complaint Situations  Agree to discuss complaint with staff member and adhere to confidentiality  Perceived to be sympathetic to the complainant  Says ‘If you decide you want me to become involved let me know’ or immediately discuss how the complainant can make a written formal complaint  Decides to take no action because the complainant requests nothing be done  Consciously or unconsciously, the manager begins to view the alleged perpetrator in a different, less positive or neutral way

When to Question, When to Act Manager and HR Unhelpful Involvement  Behaving like parents and teachers  Agreeing to confidentiality rather than observing OHS&W  Acceptance that the alleged behaviour has occurred and or that it clearly is bullying/harassment, rather than asking questions to clarify situation  Lack of encouragement/direction to staff to assist them in their resolving their own problems

When to Question, When to Act Confidentiality is used to Mask Accountability  Complainant  Manager

Gossip: any conversation about someone without that person being present When to Question, When to Act

It is the height of corporate irresponsibility to complain of bullying behaviour and refuse to be identified. Worse for the manager to collude with this by allowing gossip under the guise of confidentiality. When to Question, When to Act

If your manager allowed criticism of your behaviour to be discussed without you present, and kept the comments made from you because of a request for ‘confidentiality’, how would you feel? When to Question, When to Act

What would your response be if the first time you heard about your behaviour being offensive to someone was when it was presented as: ‘you need to do something about xxx because I have heard numerous people who are unhappy with how you behave’? When to Question, When to Act

How would feel about your manager subtlety checking out your behaviour with others to confirm or disconfirm what they had been told in confidence by another staff member? When to Question, When to Act

How comfortable/confident would you be in your manager treating you the same after they were presented with negative comments relating to you and especially if they were never discussed with you? When to Question, When to Act

When people have shared information with you about work colleagues / managers how do you validate or in what way does this information impact on your judgment of the person discussed? When to Question, When to Act

Vulnerability is worth respecting but it is not an excuse for non accountability When to Question, When to Act

Avoiding Conflict  What if they don’t like me or others don’t like me  What if they retaliate  What if they cry, yell or display behaviour suggesting their discomfort

If a person engages in behaviour that offends, without knowing or fully understanding what actions are causing offence, can we hold them accountable for offending? When to Question, When to Act

Bullying and intimidation in the workplace is not acceptable, nor equally is irresponsible management and action by insinuation When to Question, When to Act

Mobbing  The improper sharing of group developed perceptions of the behaviour of another party in such a way that credibility is given to the complaints by weight of numbers and the required anonymous group act.  It is a process which avoids responsibility and denies the victim natural justice.

When to Question, When to Act Mobbing is Encouraged by the Following Misleading Beliefs  Where there’s smoke there’s fire  ‘Safety in numbers’ is a responsible way to behave and should be allowed  A belief that problems only get dealt with if they can be relayed third hand because otherwise some people would never come forward with concerns

When to Question, When to Act Mobbing is Encouraged by the Actions Based on the following:  Accepting group complaints as if they were as valid or acceptable as individual complaints  You consider the group complaint and not hold individuals responsible  When people use the same general words, for example intimidating, bullying or harassment you assume they are referring to the same behaviour  When people complain in a group they all want the same solution

When to Question, When to Act Assumptions in Handling Complaints  Intimidation, bullying, harassment is unacceptable in the workplace  Every person has the right to natural justice and should be presumed innocent until proven guilty  The majority of people who voice concern or make complaints are genuine in their beliefs but this does not mean that they are correct in their labelling of behaviour  Intimidation, bullying and harassment behaviour is more often subjective and complicated by the context of the complaint  Most people would rather avoid conflict than resolve conflict

When to Question, When to Act  Natural justice being diluted by avoidance, lack of fair process and non responsible behaviour by senior management  Handballing to HR  Inappropriate senior management behaviour that isn’t challenged  Conflict not being handled between individuals and a clear process for facilitated resolutions  Managers being afraid to manage because they are not supported in their actions What Really Causes an Unsafe Environment

We need managers who model problem solving and conflict resolution skills. We need to establish rules for engaging with others that are appropriate to the work place and do not confuse roles and responsibilities. When to Question, When to Act

We need to encourage tolerance and clearly define what is inappropriate behaviour versus different from us behaviour. We need to discourage people from expecting management/HR to solve all their work problems and encourage them to accept personal responsibility.

When to Question, When to Act We need to ask far more questions, take a lot more time and bring the relevant parties together to have lasting solutions.

Toxic Behaviour, Toxic Situations… The Manager’s Role When to Question, When to Act Presenter: Annie Shepherd Author: Susan McPhee