A book recommendation from Dan Beaulieu

Beating the Workplace Bully: A Tactical Guide to taking Charge

By Lynne Curry

Copyright 2016Amacom

Price $16.95

Pages: 250 with Index

Great book, terrible stories

Wow where did these people come from. I have to say these are some of the worse workplace stories I have ever read or even heard about.

There’s the woman whom cons her co-worker into buying her coffee on the first day and then made it a daily event. Or the boss who was always threatening to fire his staff and telling them that “There’s blood in the water.” Or the supervisor who sat her new employee down on the first day to let her know that it was not her choice to hire her because she had only worked in a small firm and “did not have the sophistication, this corporate position needs. You don’t even dress properly.” Or my personal favorite the very first story in the book about a nurse Molly who is ten months from retirement when she gets a new supervisor who does everything she can to undermine her. She told her that the system she had set up was “antiquated” and then told Molly that she would make it better without her help. At the first staff meeting the new supervisor told everyone that Molly’s system was “pitiful” and then next started a stream of negative emails to Molly denigrated all of the work she had been doing for the past twenty years. This woman just about ruined her self-esteem and self-confidence. I could go one with these true life stories about people who I consider nothing less than social monsters and yes mean beyond belief.

But the whole point of the book as the title indicates it to learn how to handle these kinds of people., How to counteract them and as a last resource know when it is time to give up and get the heck out of Dodge.

My favorite chapter was Five which talked about the basic steps to handling some of these situations. From the book:

Step 1. Control your initial reactions:  Take time to truly evaluate the situation.

Step 2. Control your response: Ask yourself:

• What is going on?
• Is this the way I want to be treated?
• Is this situation or bully worth taking on?
• If so how?

Step 3. Assess the situation

Step 4. Determine why you are the target?

Step 5. Analyze the pros and cons of taking on the bully.

Step 6. Take back the power: (this is the key step in my estimation) How you handle your self is in your hands. And if you feel that this is a job you want to keep then go up against the bully. This is your job and it is within your power to keep it.

Step 7. Decide on your game plan.

The rest of the book will show you how to do this. How to implement and execute your plan and handle the bully and the situation.

I was not sure I was going to take the time to read this book and I approached it tentatively. But once I got into it I understand and came to appreciate its’ value. This is one of the few books that talks about business from the human aspect. Yes there are bullies out there and yes they can really mess up your chances of having a successful job experience. Bullying in the workplace is a real problem and this book offers real solutions to solving those problems. A must read for the real work we live in. And one last thought, this is a great book for all workplaces and organizations from businesses, to non-profits and yes even including religious institutions everywhere and so this book is valuable whenever you are in a spot where you  have to deal with shall we say less than gracious co-workers.