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Harassment – It's in your thinking.

(A leader's thinking is often the source – unawareness is the second issue)

This is the first of two articles. Harassment – First Steps Before Legalities will follow in August

When power comes from above there is an increased possibility of employees experiencing harassment and bullying. A hierarchy is based on beliefs about POWER. The belief that power is held at the top is reinforced through family life, school, community and work. It espouses the beliefs that, ”I'm the boss so it's my job to fix this situation.”· In a hierarchical environment asking for help is often a sign of weakness. So I will just act as if I know what to do and since there is no time to build buy-in, I'll just tell staff what to do.

The hierarchy, while important in corporate structure is no longer effective on its own. In fact it's counterproductive to quality, productivity, innovation and even profit. Believing it their job to GET THINGS DONE NO MATTER WHAT, managers feel justified to holler, intimidate, add projects, tighten deadlines, ignore “annoying” questions and push to “Get the job done at any cost.” The beliefs that spawn these behaviors ultimately limit human potential. Fear and resistance increase as does silence. Problems and personal issues go underground and pop up elsewhere as quality issues – thus a fear-based culture with little room for personal and professional growth.

In a hierarchy certain behaviors become the norm. For example, employees, including management, operate according to the way they think their boss wants things done. They relinquish their own wisdom and instead serve their boss. Assuming they are expected to know what to do, team members have difficulty asking for what they want and need. Conflicts arise. Completing projects in timely ways become difficult. Communication between those who “know” and those who “need to know” is limited. Defects increase. Quality decreases in service and production. Client satisfaction is at stake.

Strong hierarchies limit potential. Huge waste results through fear of pushing back and withholding information. Companies then experience increased apathy, illness, absenteeism and turnover. Low moral, low commitment and reduced innovation and creativity show up at a time when the opposite is needed. Employees are easily offended. Litigation appears. These symptoms cause management to cut staff and increases work without dealing with the underlying people problems. In this way managers unintentionally create the very problems they wish to avoid, namely poor quality, innovation and productivity and higher costs. Watch upcoming newsletter on Harassment – Next Steps Before Legalities.”

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