Office bullies. Every office has one. The thing is, this person is often not your boss. They’re the bitchy assistant who sits by the copier and talks smack about you to the other assistants or the HR person who stonewalls whenever you ask for a raise. Here are some tips on how to deal. The article is pretty smart, and accurately diagnoses a workplace bully as one who knows better than to be physically violent.
Don’t allow the bully to intimidate you or make you feel bad about yourself. You know your true worth. Don’t forget what that is.
Do your job and do it well. The workplace bully wants you to fail and when you don’t he or she will be defeated.
Make sure your superiors are aware of your work. Workplace bullies often try to spread the word that your are not doing your job well and will even go as far as to report the smallest infractions to your boss. Your actions will carry more weight than his or her words.
Don’t allow the bully to isolate you from your colleagues. Keep up your workplace friendships.
For other useful tips, the full article is here.
Just wanted to say this is a terrific subject to address, and one that I’ve also looked at in my book and on my blog….the stories are truly horrific about people who have to put up with bullies at work…health problems from the stresss, emotional issues, depression, etc.
A terrific resource for anyone who wants to learn more about how bullies operate and what they can do to deal with them should visit http://www.bullybusters.org. The important thing to remember if that you’ve been bullied once, chances are greater that you will be bullied again. Companies are learning that bullies not only drive away the worker that is bullied, but others will eventually leave as well because it is allowed to happen. So, it’s important to learn exactly how you need to take your case to the boss, because he or she might be more receptive to hearing your complaints than you think.
Anita Bruzzese
http://www.45things.com