If you are building a work team – think about this:

‘Work groups that have too many star employees can curtail a company’s effectiveness. Managers should curb their desire to hire numerous high-status employees; in so doing, they will help ensure greater collaboration and fewer ego-driven conflicts among team members.’  This is according to

Too Many Cooks Spoil the Broth: How High Status Individuals Decrease Group Effectiveness (read the full article here)
Authors: Boris Groysberg, Jeffrey T. Polzer, and Hillary Anger Elfenbein
Publication:  Organization Science (forthcoming)

I wonder how this will impact the HEAT basketball team which is replete with high-status, extremely well paid, mavericks.

It is clearly in evidence when looking at escalating bullying type behaviors. The more threatened leaders feel the more abrasive and aggressive they become-competition is in the blood and in the brain. How do you calm down your ’super-stars’?

This is a dynamite article on why lawyers and employers should hire executive coaches to handle difficult employees.  Enjoy!

A NEW LINE OF DEFENSE
Before Firing an Employee, Some Attorneys Are Recommending Coaches
By Catherine Ho
Daily Journal Staff WriterDAILY JOURNAL NEWSWIRE ARTICLE
http://www.dailyjournal.com

I agree with the Workplace Bullying Institute that mediation is not a tool that works well, if at all, in bullying type of problems. Why? Because there is either an implicit or explicit power differential. That is either the aggressor is using emotional abuse or structural power to overtake the target. Those conditions don’t disappear when a mediator arrives. Mediation implies that both parties are wrong and there is something to settle between the two parties. But workplace aggression isn’t about misunderstandings or mutual blame or settling a financial dispute. Workplace aggression is a complex combination of psychological factors, structural conditions, and power differences. A good executive coach who is skilled at handling aggression among people can sort through the circumstances and offer solutions. Be sure the coach is sophisticated enough to make referrals for psychological counseling, where needed, is able to uncover the structural problems (corporate culture and mores, quality of supervision, degree of accountability on both performance and behavior, team functionality, etc.) and then propose strategies to fix them.

Workplace aggression is more than a simple mis-understanding, and more complicated than a simple power differential.

Here’s more info and insights into workplace conflict, aggression and bullying and whether or not mediation helps: Workplace Bullying Institute

Here’s an interesting article from the Chronicle of Higher Education on bullying in academia.

Researchers are proposing mediation for bullying situations even though the research shows overwhelmingly that mediation doesn’t work. That’s been my experience too. What does work are strong and enforced rules prohibiting bullying, great coaching for bullies and their managers, improved supervision and insights to the plethora of causes of bullying and abrasive behaviors.

Read the article, and the comments for different perspectives on bullying issues:

Workplace Mediators Seek a Role in Taming Faculty Bullies

Here’s an interesting and credible article on workplace mobbing. While I don’t have any research citations to support the notion that most mobbing takes place in academia or union environments, I can say I have handled many cases in academia. And the mobbing I have seen certainly mirrors the framework in this article. 

A good summary of bullying and aggression issues is worth the time it takes to review. So much of what people experience has explanations, labels, and resources for action. The more you know…

The Injury of Mobbing in the Workplace

From my perspective, and maybe this is heresy, but negotiations are lose/lose propositions. You’re both giving things up. If you’re lucky, you’ll give up what is least important to you and hold on to what’s most important. And that brings us to point two of this report: Know what your CounterPoint wants! This is great advice, however, when you’re dealing with a bully, you cannot predict what the bully wants. You can assume he/she wants power, control, to win, but that’s not always the case. Sometimes the bully’s aggression comes from fear of the unknown, fear of failure, frustration from poor communication skills, or the habit of making all priorities have the same weight so everything is urgent or important and therefore, the bully cannot determine where to give and where to hold firm. If the bully doesn’t know, you can’t predict. You can make some assumptions but you could easily miss the mark. 

Read More…

Join me for my free e-course, Building Confidence!  During this 3 day e-course you will receive useful tips to build your confidence as well as encouragement to implement the strategies you will learn. 

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The Shy and Retiring

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Reading a list of standard bullying behavior can be a revelation for some people.  Far too often we become so accustomed to witnessing acts of incivility that we develop a blind eye to it.  This is especially true in the workplace.  Verbal insults, withholding of key information, and other blatant, aggressive and manipulative behaviors are sometimes considered standard practice, to the extent that, not only are they tolerated, but they are overlooked or dismissed entirely.  

But what do we do when our perceptions are telling us otherwise? You may recall the fairy tale about a Self-centered Emperor who cared only about his clothes.  Two con artists come along who promise to make him the finest suit of clothes woven from a fabric that is invisible to anyone who is unfit for his position or “just hopelessly stupid”.  The Emperor buys into the idea, and even though he cannot see the cloth himself, he pretends that he can for fear of appearing unfit for his position or stupid; and his ministers do the same. When the suit is supposedly finished, the swindlers pretend to dress him and the Emperor then parades himself before his subjects. At first, everyone remains silent, but then a child in the crowd calls out that the Emperor isn’t wearing any clothes.  The entire crowd then bursts into an uproar as they all begin to claim their perceptions.

Read the rest of the article…

Any executive coach who addresses the issue of dysfunctional teams and workplace bullying will agree that conflict is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, contention can seed healthy competition, which fosters creative problem solving and challenges underperformers to step up their game. But when conflict escalates as a result of bullying, harassment or abuse, then any benefit that might have been gained by an organization in an atmosphere of healthy competition is lost. 

Here is a simple four-step process that can be used to expose and eliminate problems, and return a dysfunctional team to a healthy stasis.

Read the rest of the artcile…

Here’s an interesting blog on dealing with bullying behavior. What do you think about ‘killing with kindness’ as a strategy? I’ve found it works sometimes-particularly in a newer relationship with someone who is fearful and defensive. But with someone who uses bully tactics for specific ends (profit, power, getting the sale), then it doesn’t help. You can’t exactly invite your competitor to stop competing! Well you can, but to what end?

Enjoy this one: http://scirecruitment.wordpress.com/2010/05/03/kill-a-workplace-bully-with-kindness/