English (UK) 
Nederlands TACKLING BULLYING AT WORK
Making the working atmosphere important
- People are okay, behaviour is not always okay.
- Initiating and sustaining a culture change.
- Supporting each other's job satisfaction.
- Resulting in creativity and results.
TACKLING BULLYING AT WORK
Making the working atmosphere important
- People are okay, behaviour is not always okay.
- Initiating and sustaining a culture change.
- Supporting each other's job satisfaction.
Towards a safe and pleasant working atmosphere
How an organisation can tackle workplace bullying.
Workplace bullying demands attention
'How can we sustainably raise our level of collaboration?' A central question in groups under pressure to resist pressure differently - more positively. No one wants more pressure. With negative peer pressure, people point at others. But when everyone points, the situation only gets worse, after all no one seems to be able to move ...
'Workplace bullying' also occurs in these teams. In workplace bullying, a group chooses one victim, the scapegoat, to take the pressure off the group. There is a diffuse (not very visible) fight that harms everyone, not just the victim. The whole team, the whole organisation suffers. Shame, moreover, keeps the door locked. The whole team becomes trapped in the negative behaviour, from which no escape seems possible.
Yet relief from the situation is close at hand once a team faces the situation and feels the urgency to address it.
That's what this page is about.
How common is workplace bullying?
According to CBS (2023), workplace bullying occurs in one in 20 employees. Thereby, the National Survey of Working Conditions narrowly formulated the definition of workplace bullying to: negative behaviour that occurs systematically, structurally and with power differential.
The CNV (2024) did research where the definition was broadened to include undesirable forms of behaviour and then we are talking about one in every four employees. This brings the CNV to 2.6 million workers who experience a negative working atmosphere.
enquiries from companies, organisations and governments
Questions from an organisation can be micro, meso and macro.
Employees asking for help
Under too much pressure, with colleagues no longer acting like colleagues, bullying behaviour can occur. Bullies become isolated.
More on what I can doA team leader who is the
wants to improve working atmosphere
ElA team functions significantly more effectively when relationships within the team are healthy. With this in mind, Team4Teams supports executives, a management team and also teams themselves, with short, medium and complete programmes.
Greater job satisfaction in teamsA director who wants to secure an approach in addition to starting one
Everyone is aware how serious the consequences are for an organisation when the working atmosphere is strained and behaviour is perceived as bullying.
This is extremely costly and results in nothing but suffering. The best colleagues leave, employees fall ill for long periods of time. A labour shortage seems unfilled
to be able to become.
Directors addressing an undesirable atmosphere
At Team4Teams, we find that an owner, director or manager is about
a threshold once they discuss and address bullying behaviour.
Bullying is a taboo subject. Bullying is associated with children, adults do not.
Not just the bullying itself, also naming that behaviour between colleagues can exclude employees
and can no longer be seen as connecting, deserves attention.
Employees receive a salary to cooperate, not to exclude.
By doing nothing, the unwanted work atmosphere will eat into an organisation more firmly
and lead to increasing emotional, intangible and financial damage.
Everyone sees that and yet... How much damage does it take to make a turnaround?
Talking about it works better once a manager focuses on a positive goal and dares to name undesirable behaviour - in order to achieve that goal. A short course of team coaching accelerates and supports the process, in which everyone learns to see the benefits of positively strengthening cooperation.
Labour Inspectorate
The Labour Inspectorate views bullying as a recognised form of psychosocial workload, for which employers are legally responsible. It checks whether the mandatory prevention and intervention structures are in place and effective, and takes action in case of deficiencies. It is therefore essential for employers to have a robust policy against bullying, regularly evaluate and actively minimise risks.
At the Labour Inspectorate, the focus is on prevention and compliance.
Employers must identify the risks of bullying through a Risk Identification & Evaluation (RI&E).
Furthermore, an employer must put policies in place, such as setting up a complaints procedure, code of conduct, support for victims and appoint a confidential advisor.
In this, Team4Teams supports the desired behaviour in teams and is therefore part of a preventive and remedial approach. And we all know that prevention is better than cure.
Team development
Usually taken up by the organisation leadership
the approach starts with individual intakes, a weighted approach with after-care to ensure.
Team training
Usually picked up by a team manager or hrm
the approach starts with consultation with a working group, hrm or with the manager(s). usually, a trajectory covers about three days spread over six months to two years.
Team building
Usually picked up by a team leader, or team members
the approach is light and airy, aimed at improving cooperation, increasing mutual trust and a new impetus.
Tease!
Not being allowed to do something (bullying, for example) 'can't handle' our brain. Our brain thinks in terms of goals.
So those who 'don't want to smoke' are actually just smoking in their heads. Only when an alternative is embraced, e.g. 'healthy living' does the brain get direction.
So this also applies in an unsafe working environment.
Instructing 'not to bully' turns the principal into a policeman and either results in stagnation or, ultimately, a continuation of the bullying behaviour (but then elusively and unseen).
In addition, bullying behaviour regularly has reasons of its own.
Rightly or wrongly, consciously or unconsciously caused, these reasons do need to be brought to the table and will soon help guide a new work culture.
The brain needs direction is the reason why those involved - somewhere down the line - engage in conversation, seek the connection and eventually also make each other socially desirable (with humour) tease as an alternative to bullying.
At the beginning of a change process, this is still completely out of the picture due to irritation and annoyance. Only when the connection with each other has been restored can the receiver safely and equally indicate in a reciprocal conversation whether behaviour of the other is received as teasing or bullying. In this, teasing contributes to accelerated team growth
Teasing is spontaneous behaviour and goes back and forth.
Bullying is negative behaviour and people as a group choose a victim, who remains a damaging victim over a long period of time.
Read more in the in-depth blog: Trust the invisible engine of cooperation.
Keys to success
An organisation that puts the positive working environment on the agenda meets the first key to success. There are two focal points to this: Setting a goal requires direction, a positive expectation and hope, desire. Hope is threatened by cynicism, the cynic looks back and looking back usually does not give the necessary vision of a change for the better.
A second condition is that you do it together. A manager starts the process and first consults with the team itself, or if that threshold has become too high, introduces a team coach to facilitate that conversation. To begin with, the team coach will first want to hear how each team member stands in the race. To then explore the team members' desire for a healthy work environment and support it immediately.
A characteristic of a Surviving and Disengaged group is that they do not look forward to counselling and to work atmosphere improvement as soon as they have to take action in it themselves. Someone else has to do it (company management, another team, other team members). When there is work to be done, they usually hear misunderstanding and denial first. 'Everything is going perfectly here'. Positive outcomes of taking action yourself have fallen out of the picture. A collaborative team is characterised by longing for support.
However, in the end, everyone is needed.
The third key is that an organisation must want to persevere. The team, board and management may also be tested and need perseverance. After all, this is - almost always - a culture change.
Sometimes it is necessary to blow off steam first, because there is too much history in the way. We then do that individually. At the same time, team coaches focus on the here-and-now and the future. You could call that the fourth key to success.
Bullying at work
Focus not only on the problem but also on the goal
With a team coach from Team4Teams, you choose a practical, contextual, experiential learning-based approach. The team coach supports employees and managers in the here and now to bring the whole team along.
The process takes time, but the positive effect works directly into the capillaries of the organisation. Together, you transform an undesirable atmosphere into a positive culture in which employees excel and in which - not unimportantly - employees are more creative, flexible and collaborative in improving business results.
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