I have been passionate about dealing with workplace bullying for many years since I experienced the trauma of being bullied myself. It is nothing less than a travesty that in the 21^st Century, we still have people in the workplace who have never grown up and are away from the schoolyard. That being said, I think the postmodernist view spoken about in some workplaces and by some academics, that subjectively states that if ‘I feel I am being bullied, then I am’, is not just naïve but highly dangerous.

Bullying is rarely just a one-to-one issue. I think of it as more of a communal activity, which is how Leymann, the founder of this area of research, originally envisaged it in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s. It is often the scapegoating of an individual who is often perceived as being different in some way. This differencing may mean that the one accused of being a bully may be getting bullied by their ‘victims: what is known as a ‘victim-bully’. Just think of how some speakers have been ‘cancelled’ in recent years.

Different types of bullying require other remedies; a policy on behaviour is not the most effective answer to the situation. In fact, it may increase the level of conflict, but the increase may be hidden. We need to be aware of the different types of bullying that exist in the workplace and deal with them in their own way. This is where I can help!