How can organisations prevent bullying in the workplace? And how should they deal with it if it happens?

'The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man'. If ever there was a mantra for the organisational bully, then George Bernard Shaw provided it. This of course is brought to mind with the allegations of Gordon Brown bullying his staff at Number 10. Bullies at work will rationalise their behaviour in any number of ways:

• “My standards are high”
• “I won’t accept poor quality work”
• “I am a better manager than others you have had”

All of these statements can of course be used by people who treat others with respect and decency. But the bully needs them to justify to him or herself that their behaviour is a result of a positive motive.

ACAS define bullying as something that has happened to someone that is unwelcome, unwarranted and causes detrimental effect. Psychologists have added that the behaviour must occur over a certain time period, say several months, so that it excludes one-off incidents. There can also be a tendency to think that bullying is fairly obvious to detect - for example, physical intimidation, public humiliation, personal insults. But there can be more subtle and yet just as damaging behaviour that isn’t as obvious, e.g. setting someone up to fail in their work, spreading rumours about a person’s competence, withholding information, giving an unrealistic workload.

There are some straightforward steps that an organisation can take to tackle bullying:

1. Have a zero tolerance policy
A policy will make it clear that bullying is unacceptable in the workplace. The policy needs to describe what bullying is, and more importantly, what steps a person can take if they feel it is happening to them.

2. Provide training
Everyone in the organisation needs to know what the policy says - what bullying is, and where you can turn to for help if it is happening to you. More contentiously perhaps, you can also provide training in how to deal with bullying and other forms of inappropriate behaviour.  Some may think that such training places the onus on the victim to do something. In fact, it will empower individuals to take action for themselves.

3. Be a role model
Managers, especially senior managers, can all act as role models. There is no point having a policy that the most senior people then just ignore.

4. Take complaints seriously
Make sure that when someone does complain, it's treated seriously.  Listen, investigate but don’t try to sweep it under the carpet. Cases that reach the employment tribunals are invariably as a result of the complaint being mishandled, particularly in the early stages. The other important rule though is to keep any investigations confidential - something that, astonishingly, the CEO of the National Bulling Helpline, Christine Pratt, totally disregarded when revealing that her organisation had received calls from the Prime Minster’s office.

5. Watch out for tell-tale signs
This could include a drop in performance, increased sickness absence or a loss of confidence. If you see indicators like this, try to understand what might be behind it. If you see someone behaving in a way that you think is poor, then let them know.

Professor Binna Kandola OBE is Senior Partner at Pearn Kandola LLP

What do the recent John Terry and Toyota stories have in common? Both are about a breach of trust.

The association between John Terry and Toyota is not an obvious one. But given the difficulties the Chelsea footballer and the giant carmaker have had to face recently, I feel there is an issue that links them: trust.

John Terry’s sacking as England captain has stirred a debate about whether his conduct outside of work has any relevance to his performance in the role. Meanwhile, Toyota’s reluctance to act when defects were found in their cars left its reputation badly dented.

At the heart of both these stories are issues of trust.  Trust is an important factor in any relationship.  Feelings of trust in another person (or organisation) make life more predictable; we feel confident that we know how they will behave in the future. We all have expectations of our friends, colleagues, leaders and organisations. And we become most aware of them when they have not been met or where they have been breached.

Footballers having affairs may not be that uncommon. But this affair was different - it was with the partner of Wayne Bridge, his best friend. Bridge is both an ex- and current team mate – his club may have changed but he remains an England player. While most of each player’s team mates have expressed support for their man, fellow England players have remained silent - a sure sign that their loyalties are divided.

Toyota had built a reputation based on reliability, excellence, customer service and value. The slowness of leaders in Toyota to admit failings in its products has rapidly undermined the motor manufacturer’s carefully crafted reputation. There will be a number of reasons why this happened, but a refusal to accept responsibility will be one of them. The perceived unwillingness on the part of Toyota’s leadership to acknowledge, apologise for, and then rectify the errors made a bad situation worse.

Leaders’ behaviour is often used as an indicator as to the general trustworthiness of an organisation.  Having a captain whose values appear to be questionable and whose responsibilities to his teammates, when not on the pitch, were put to one side, meant that the bonds of trust in the team were loosened.  Equally, having leaders who try to avoid owning up to mistakes will severely damage a brand’s reputation and consumer confidence.

Capello did the right thing by his team by replacing Terry as captain. He restores our faith in the organisation, but in so doing also puts greater pressure on himself: any indiscretion on his part will have greater consequences because he has implicitly asked us to believe not only that he will maintain team cohesiveness, but that he is also trustworthy himself. Assuming that responsibility and then living up to it is a sure sign of good, if not great, leadership. It is an example that Toyota would do well to follow.

We're out of recession, so let's stop being so pessimistic. It'll do us good, and we might even live longer.

It’s official. We are out of recession. OK, so it may be marginal. It may well be possible that the growth of the past quarter will recede again in coming months. But for now, it’s official. We are out of the recession. Six words that should get us all feeling upbeat and optimistic about the future.

So why, despite this news, is there such a strong and enduring sense of pessimism? In the last week, since the news of economic growth was announced, I’ve heard nothing but downbeat forecasts for the future. Speaking to senior and fairly influential leaders in business reveals a consistent view that our troubles are set to continue for another few years. Apparently this will be a ‘double-dip’ recession, and we’re about to slide down the double-dip bit. And all positive indicators of recovery have been falsely propped up by cash injection anyway, so the recovery will soon evaporate with the VAT changes and higher interest rates. Everyone seems to have a view on the future, but it’s all rather negative.

So here’s a challenge. A simple challenge. Be optimistic. Be positive. Not mindlessly or vaguely hopeful, but focused and determinedly optimistic.

Psychologists have long distinguished between two distinct ways of looking at life. There’s optimism, and there’s pessimism. Pessimists tend to believe that negative events will last a long time; they see negative events as threatening and damaging, and believe that a bad experience could undermine everything in life. Facing the same situations, optimists see setbacks as temporary. They see a loss as an opportunity to learn. They are more resilient and determined. And they see a challenge as just that - a challenge. Something that can be overcome with effort and resolve. As Sir Alex Ferguson said after Andy Murray’s recent defeat at the Australian Open: 'I am always stronger after I have lost a game'.

And consider the side-effects of outlook. Pessimists, for instance, tend to give up more quickly and more easily than their optimistic counterparts. They feel depressed more frequently and will talk of stronger feelings of ‘helplessness’, in which nothing they try seems to work in their favour.

This isn’t meant to be patronising advice to a no-doubt informed and fairly hard-nosed readership. But I’m starting to feel that we need a wake-up call. It’s very easy, through fear of the unknown, to become caught in a wave of pessimism. Let’s face it: in a perverse way, it’s sometimes comforting to look on the bleak side. At least it doesn’t raise expectations.

But, in reality, pessimism perpetuates pessimism - whether that’s with your mates, your colleagues or, more importantly, the people who look to you for guidance and leadership. So perhaps now is the time to step back and make a conscious choice - to be more optimistic.

Incidentally, optimists also tend to live longer. So if you want to be around to see the next great recession, try to look on the bright side.


Stuart Duff is Head of Development at Pearn Kandola Business Psychologists