Safety in the workplace from Lateral Violence to Lateral Kindness Awasis 2016

AWȂSIS 2016 AWÂSIS Education Conference

Acceptance of Difference awasis.com

Safety in the Workplace: From Lateral Violence to Lateral

Kindness

Greg Riehl RN BScN MA

Outline

• What is lateral violence?• What causes lateral violence?• What are the effects of lateral violence

• Who gets targeted

• Types of bullies

• Hierarchy

• Mobbing

• Cultural competence and culture

• Zero tolerance policies

• Functional versus dysfunctional conflict

Objectives

1. Identify terms used to describe negative coworker behavior

2. Describe an experience with negative coworker behavior

3. Discuss strategies to manage negative coworker behavior

Why am I here?

• I ask myself this every day, and I also ask those who I am working with from time to time

Why Don’t We Stop Bullying?“It’s not a problem in our school”

“Everybody does it – just get used to it”

“If I say anything, I’ll be the next victim”

“We have policies but they aren’t enforced”

“She sets herself up for getting picked on”

What are the characteristics of a bully?

What are the characteristics of a

victim?

What are the characteristics of a

bystander?

What is an upstander?

• An “upstander” is someone who recognizes when something is wrong and acts to make it right. • When an upstander sees or hears about

someone being bullied, they speak up. • Being an upstander is being a hero: we are

standing up for what is right and doing our best to help support and protect someone who is being hurt.

Stories

• I will use some of my experiences working in health, in the north, and as a nurse, often an outsider, working in different situations.

• You are a part of the story.

Objectives

To broaden the understanding of the Platinum Rule. To describe how to apply the Platinum Rule. Compare the Golden and Platinum Rules. To explore cultural aspects of nursing care. To identify the unique challenges faced by care

providers working with diverse clients.

We Don’t See Things As They Are, We See Them

As We Are

• “It has been well said that we do not see things as they are, but as we are ourselves. Every man looks through the eyes of his prejudices, of his preconceived notions. Hence, it is the most difficult thing in the world to broaden a man so that he will realize truth as other men see it.”

I try to be skeptical (question things) and not cynical (dismiss ideas & find fault with them)

Hierarchy

• The more vertical an organization is in its hierarchy, the more complicated communication becomes.• We are hired into a certain job, or role, but no

where does it tell us of all the lateral violence that exists, or what to do about it.

Communication is about listening

• My job description does not say, Greg, you will have to listen to a lot of your co workers bitching and complaining about each other, they will want you to fix their conflicts, and will want you to keep it a secret and tell no one.

• This will happen on a very regular basis, consider this ‘duties as assigned’

Lateral Violence

“Exists on a spectrum, from seemingly ordinary behaviour such as gossiping or criticism, to intimidation, racism and outright physical intimidation or harm.”

Linda Rabyj, 2005

Lateral Violence

Lateral Violence (LV), also called Horizontal violence, [bullying], incivility, and disruptive behaviours, creates an unpleasant work environment and has harmful effects on individual nurses, patient safety, and health care organizations.

Johnson, 2009 & Dimarino, 2011

Hurt people hurt people

When another person makes you suffer, it is because he suffers deeply within himself, and his suffering is spilling over. He does not need

punishment; he needs help.

Tich Naht Hanh

Hurt people hurt people

Hurt people hurt people. That’s how pain patterns get passed on, generation after generation after generation.

Break the chain today.Meet anger with sympathy, contempt with compassion,

cruelty with kindness.Greet grimaces with smiles.

When you forget about the fault, there is nothing to forgive.

Love is the weapon of the futureYehuda berg

Who gets targeted?

Anyone who is different from the group norm on any major characteristic• Experience• Education• Race/ethnicity• Gender

Targeted person’s gender• 79% Female• 21% Male

He said, She said

• Men and women communicate differently• Indirect communication• Direct communication• Asynchronous communication – text, email, voicemail• Cyber Lateral Violence• CAPS LOCK

• We punish people for not being about to communicate properly as opposed to helping them learn new skills..

Who is Doing the Bullying?

2009 survey by Workplace Bullying Institute:- Main perpetrator’s gender

• 65% Female• 35% Male

2009 WBI survey sited in New York Times:- Men target men and women equally- Women target women 70% of the time

Why does this happen in the my Workplace?

• Isolated from the public and other staff• High-stress environment• Limited autonomy in practice • High-paced environment• Lack of experienced staff• Cliques or closely bonded groups• Hierarchical climate• Gender imbalance• Attitudes to training• Non acceptance of difference

Why?In my profession, nurses practice in a historically patriarchal environment.• Oppression leads to low-self esteem.• Nurses exert power over one another through lateral violence.

Lateral violence is perpetuated through the culture of nursing (new nurses, curriculum, etc).• “Nurses eat their own”• “See one do one teach one”• The Bronze Rule…

We now work with four different generations in the workforce, adding to the complexities of effective

communication.

Who is doing it?

Co-worker-on-coworker aggression• Directed toward individuals at same power level• Intended to cause psychological pain• Does not include physical aggression

Intergroup/hierarchy conflict• Shift to shift/class to class/group to group…• Cliques within a workgroup• Department to department• We are a team but some people are more important than the others??• Crabs in a bucket – Fear of success

Risk and Rewards

• We often face a risk acting, and we also face a risk when we do not act. • It’s difficult to know what to make of a teacher

who crosses the line from basic discipline to regularly berating, intimidating, humiliating.

David and Goliath

Three types of BULLIES

Sydney based clinical psychologist and workplace bullying specialist Keryl Egan has formulated three workplace bully profiles:

1.Accidental bully2.Narcissistic bully3.Serial bully

Accidental bully

This person is task orientated and just wants to get things done, tends to panic when things are not getting done, and goes into a rage about it. This person is basically decent, they don’t really think about the impact of what’s happening or what they have done.They are responding to stress and it is believed that they can be coached out of this behavior.

Narcissistic Bully

They are grandiose and have dreams of breath taking achievement. They feel they deserve power and position. They can fly into a rage when reality confronts them. This person is very destructive and manipulative, they don’t set out in a callous way to annihilate any person – it is purely an expression of their superiority.

Serial BullyHas a sociopathic and psychopathic personality. This type of bully is intentional, systematic and organized and is often relentless. They usually get things done in terms of self-interest.They employ subtle techniques that are difficult to detect or prove. Coaching is often ineffective.They exhibit the following:•Grandiose, but charming•Authoritative, aggressive and dominating•Fearless and shameless•Devoid of empathy or remorse•Manipulative and deceptive•Impulsive, chaotic or stimulus seeking•Master of imitation or mimicry

Conflict It’s not all Bad

Functional Conflict is considered positive, as it can increase performance, support change, and identify weaknesses or areas that need to be supported.

Dysfunctional Conflict is harmful to people and the organization. This type of confrontation does nothing to support goals or objectives.

In Conflict who are you: Victim, Villain, Hero or Resolutionary?

In conflict, each person feels hit first.

The size of the villain determines the size of the hero. “Without goliath, David is just some punk, throwing rocks.”

Billy Crystal, My Giant

Victims

• Are you a victim of the victim syndrome?

• http://sites.insead.edu/facultyresearch/research/doc.cfm?did=50114

Workplace Violence & Harassment

Experts identify two primary categories of lateral violence.

Overt(direct)

Covert (passive)

10 Most Common Forms of Lateral Violence in

1. Non-verbal innuendo,2. Verbal affront,3. Undermining activities,4. Withholding information, 5. Sabotage,

Griffin. 2004

10 Most Common Forms of Lateral Violence in

6. Infighting, 7. Scapegoating, 8. Backstabbing, 9. Failure to respect privacy, and10.Broken confidences.

Griffin. 2004

Mobbing

A group of coworkers gang up on another • Often with the intent to force them to leave the work

group

Five phases of Mobbing1.Conflict2.Aggressive acts3.Management/Faculty Involvement4.Branding as Difficult or Mentally ill5.Expulsion

Impact is on all staff

• Physical• Psychological• Social

Impacts on New Team Members

• New team members are extremely susceptible to Lateral Violence and experience more negative impacts than experienced team members.

Prevention Strategies are needed• Top down and bottom up approaches• Mentoring and investigation systems• Role Models• Education• Empowerment

We All need to ask ourselves:

• “Did I participate in bullying?”

• “Did I support this kind of behavior in others?”

• “Did I intervene if and when I observed it?”

“We must work to uncover and reverse atrocities, one person, one company, and one law at a time”

Bullyproof Yourself at Work, G & R Namie

Who else is involved?

Other Students? Parents? Friends? Teachers? Heros?

Cyber bullying

• Exclusion, Flaming• Exposure, Sexting• Email threats and

Dissemination• Harassment• Phishing• Password theft lockout• Bash Boards, Griefing• Chicanery• Pseudonyms

• Impersonation• Denigration• Email/cell phone image and

video dissemination• Pornography and marketing

list inclusion• Cyber Stalking• Website creation may

include Voting/polling booths• Happy Slapping

What to do?

• Awareness• Education• Dialogue• Zero tolerance policy• Be confident

• Develop effective coping mechanisms

• Confront the situation• Rehearsal• Enact policy and procedure• Code of conduct• Don’t accept it!

Zero Tolerance

• Zero tolerance policies – the APA has a resolution calling for schools to modify this approach, as it ‘can actually increase bad behaviour and also lead to higher drop-out rates’

Safe place

• Where is the safe place in your organization?

Bronze silver gold platinum rules

The culture of Western medicine places diagnosis as a central goalAboriginal medicine, see diagnosis as less central and pay more attention to finding a safe environment in which the patient may recover. For conditions such as mental disorders, this latter approach may prove more effective than struggling to attach a label to the disorder.

Bronze rule Do unto others as they have done unto

you

Silver What you do not want done to yourself,

do not do to others

GoldDo unto others as you would have them do

unto you.

PlatinumDo unto others as they want done unto

them

THE PLATINUM RULE.

TREAT OTHERS HOW THEY WANT TO BE

TREATED

Tips for Creating a Healthy Work Environment by Kathleen Bartholomew

• Never be a “silent witness”. Never stand by and listen while others are gossiping, criticizing or talking badly about someone else

• Be a team player. If you see someone in need of help, offer assistance. The greatest safety net cast is to catch mistakes and this is only as strong as your relationships

• Speak your truth – always say what’s on your mind. Start the conversation by sharing your perception of what happened and then what you need

• Always stay client focused and problem solving focused (personally I want a win-win)

• Address issues directly. Ask the manager or your mentor to help role model difficult conversations with you

Lateral Silence

• It is part of the culture – the Culture of Silence• Everybody knows about it• Everybody does it• No body talks about it

Our Culture needs to change

• We do not accept bullying in our schools or other workplaces so why is it ok in the workplace?

Why Don’t We Stop Lateral Violence?“It’s not a problem in our work area”

“Everybody does it – just get used to it”

“If I say anything, I’ll be the next target”

“We have policies but they aren’t enforced”

“She sets herself up for getting picked on”

Bullies and Victims or just people?

• Bullies are evil, victims are innocent? Really???• Who decides?• What if there are no bullies? • What would you do? • What would teachers or parents do?

Lateral Kindness

• Please be kind to each other• Respectful and responsible relationships, there

are no apps for that.• Be Grateful• Be Great!

There is hope and reality

• Effective anti-bullying practices must include a statement of exactly what constitutes bullying.

•We need to work with everyone, bullies, victims, targets, and bystanders…

You only live once? False.You live every minute of every day.You only die once.

Discussion, questions, comments!!!

Thank you for your participation

Contact information

Greg Riehl RN BScN MAAboriginal Nursing Student AdvisorAboriginal Nursing Student Achievement ProgramSaskatchewan PolytechnicRegina Campus

Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected]

@griehl

References available on requestslideshareFind this Presentation on

How do we deal with the stress?

• 75% talk to family, friends, colleagues

• 50% experience a desire to resign

• 49% lose interest in job, disengage

• 23% use more sick time

• 35% use formal channels 23% HR representative 12% Union or professional organization representative

What can you do?

• Dialogue is ultimately far more effective than pointing fingers

• Cognitive Rehearsal Techniques

• Health care professionals across the spectrum working together more effectively and patients receiving better care.

DESC COMMUNICATION MODEL

Describe – the behaviorExplain – the effect the behavior has on you, coworkers, patient careState – the desired outcomeConsequences – what will happen if the behavior continues?

Rehearsal

Research has demonstrated the benefit of rehearsal for new employees.I.e.

When a staff member makes a facial gesture (raising an eyebrow) the participant was instructed to say “I see from your facial expression that there may be something you wanted to say to me. It’s ok to speak directly to me”.

Griffin, 2004

Teamwork and Communication

• Involve everyone in solving problems related to these issues.

• Develop a set of “RIGHTS” for everyone.

• Effective anti-bullying practices must include a statement of exactly what constitutes bullying.

• Communication needs to be a part of culture.

Statement of Commitment to Co-workersAs your co-worker with a shared goal of providing excellent service to people

and families, I commit the following:I will accept responsibility for establishing and maintaining healthy interpersonal relationships with you and every member of this staff.

I will talk to you promptly if I am having a problem with you. The only time I will discuss it with another person is when I need advice or help

in deciding how to communicate with you appropriately.

I will establish & maintain a relationship of functional trust with you and every member of this staff. My relationships with each of you

will be equally respectful, regardless of job titles or levels of educational preparation.

I will not engage in the '3B's (bickering, back-biting and bitching) & will ask you not to as well.

I will not complain about another team member & ask you not to as well. If I hear you doing so, I will ask you to talk to that person.

I will accept you as you are today, forgiving past problems, & ask you to do the same with me.

I will be committed to finding solutions to problems rather than complaining about them or blaming someone, & ask you to do the same.

I will affirm your contribution to quality service.

I will remember that neither of us is perfect, & that human errors are opportunities not for shame or guilt, but for forgiveness and growth.

(Adapted from Marie Manthey, President of Creative Nursing Management in Caroline Flint's Midwifery Teams and Caseloads 1993; p. 138)