Have you ever felt like you don't want to go to a job you once loved? Have you ever been harassed by colleagues or superiors? Or maybe unethical behavior, hostility, psychological terror? Strangely enough, more than 85% of Russians answered this question in the affirmative. And it's not a matter of conflicting or unaccommodating character. And in what they call it mobbing. Psychologist and medical scientist Dr. Hantz Leyman He first studied this phenomenon at workplaces in Sweden in the early 1980s. He described it as psychological terror, which involves the systematic hostile and unethical attitude of one or more people against another person.
The most interesting thing is that these are just some of the statements they sent me when I conducted the survey “Did you experience psychological terror or harassment at work”. As a result, 100 people shared more than 2,500 statements and situations. The scale is impressive. Negative statements and constant criticism from both employers and colleagues, social isolation within the organization, the dissemination of false information about an employee, and a biased assessment of work results lead to a decrease in motivation and interest in work, and a “freezing” of initiatives and incentives for the mobbing victim to take an active position. As a result, a person who has undergone mobbing may become ill and develop stress. As a result, he will perform his duties poorly and feel psychological fatigue. It has been established that an unhealthy atmosphere in the team, intrigues and disagreements between employees also affect financial indicators: labor productivity falls, staff turnover increases, and the team is becoming less united.
An example of mobbing, when a manager wanted to remove an employee he didn't like (I quote Olga):
“This was my first job. Position: Public Relations Specialist. After graduation, I wanted to move mountains; the desire to work was great. I was happy to join such a large company and get a job in my specialty. But unfortunately, my joy was short-lived. My department included me and my boss. A very important point: it was the director of the department who insisted on my candidacy, not him... It turned out that my immediate supervisor was forced to accept her point of view. I clutched at every assignment, every task. She performed quickly and reported on the results. Of course, I was alarmed by the small range of duties. But I thought and hoped that the situation would change and I would be given more important directions. But time passed... The boss did almost nothing at work. And I was left to my own devices. Editing a corporate publication (my main task) took 30% of my working time. I was almost looking for something to do on my own for the remaining 70%. For the second month, I got tired of running to my boss for assignments that he gave as if he were doing a huge favor. It was boring. I read books at work. I knew I was wasting my time here. But I couldn't leave. This is my first job, and I should have stayed for at least a year. Plus, it was a good salary for a young specialist.
We sat next to each other, but only kept in touch by email. By the way, I often heard my supervisor talk to the department director about my work, saying phrases like this: “She doesn't do anything. She has no journalism skills.” Some of the tasks I did simply did not reach my superiors, and my boss referred to the fact that I didn't do anything on time. The last straw was the situation before the New Year, when the manager announced that I had not prepared anything for the New Year. It turns out that I should have come up with a holiday scenario. And my boss had to do everything. I was furious, but no one believed me. Of course, I did not receive any assignments from him. I quit after a year. I was happy the day I applied.”
By the way, playing “in silence” is also one of the manifestations of mobbing. An employee can also be disconnected from contact. If we look at this situation specifically, it is more like personal hostility on the part of the manager and a desire for the employee to quit as soon as possible. The strategy was a wait-and-see strategy: work for experience and leave. By the way, in this situation, we can recommend acting “over your head”. Talk to the department director: based on the employee's words, he was still loyal to the specialist. But it should be said that there were also risks here — to make a competitor. And that's probably what would happen. In general, the employee acted wisely if he just wanted to work for a year. The position of the department director is alarming: why he allowed himself to discuss the specialist's actions with the manager when he could hear it. He could get involved and act as a mediator to resolve a hidden conflict.
Really healthy competition in the sales department helps to increase sales. For example, ratings, bonuses for the best. This is an example of unhealthy competition. The incident happened to one girl, an employee of the marketing department:
“I worked in the department for four months when the manager changed. With the arrival of the new boss, everything changed. It's like she's starting to “push” us together. For example, phrases have often begun to be heard: “Sasha, look at how Alina works. She always succeeds, unlike you.” It is not surprising that relations with Alina gradually began to deteriorate. By the way, she has been working for our company for more than four years. We had a purely business relationship with her. Although we still had a friendly conversation before the manager came, sometimes going out to lunch together. With the arrival of the new boss, everything changed. It was like Alina had become her right hand. But this was more reflected in negative actions — she reported on every step taken by the department employee. In just a month, Alina became an “enemy of the people”. At the same time, two more people worked in our department. And within a month, we went from successful employees to losers and clumsy people. By the way, one of my former colleagues even began to doubt that she would be able to find a job at all. The situation was resolved by the fact that we all gradually quit, and the boss created another team. I remember that period when I felt like I couldn't do anything.” Irina.
In a mobbing situation, self-esteem can actually decrease very much. People are starting to believe they can't do anything. The mechanism of “learned helplessness” is being launched. By the way, after five years of working in such an environment, many people no longer believe in their own strength. So what should the girls in the marketing department do? Talk openly with the manager, talk about Alina's behavior. Ask the manager what they need to do to get the job done. But if this option also does not provide a solution, then leave. Why work in such an atmosphere, in a team where they don't appreciate you, where they don't trust you? Because in fact, there are a lot of companies where the situation is quite democratic.
If we evaluate this situation from the perspective of a manager, it is logical to assume that he wanted to create his own team. Overall, Alina has become such a person. The only thing that is not clear is what is the reason for the rejection of other employees. There may be a discrepancy between qualifications, or the goal is to make room for your team.
A boss can have three models of attitude towards mobbing: complete indifference and detachment (“What does it have to do with me?”) , stimulating competition and tacitly encouraging competition (the strongest survive, but we need them), and, finally, intervening in the conflict and trying to resolve it.
“My boss and I were always fighting. The main reason, after all, was that he did not fully understand the process and was later dismissed. He knew how it should be, but he didn't know how to do it.” Elena.
As a rule, a manager who is poorly versed in the specifics of the company's activities may take the position of “shifting responsibilities”, and aggression is a defensive reaction.
Very often, it is the manager who is satisfied with mobbing. As a rule, they don't talk to him, complain openly and refer to the fact that management was easier with the past. What should a manager do in this situation?
Nevertheless, there are more frequent situations where unhealthy team relationships, constant complaints and conflicts force the manager to take action. His authority also depends on how he acts in each case.
“When I came to the company as a team leader, it already had its own established team. My goal was to bring the department to a new level of sales. By the way, the peculiarity of the situation was that the head of this department rose to the rank of boss and became my boss. He has developed friendly relations with many former subordinates. It was all good at first. But then I realized that many employees were not used to their former boss's new position and still went to him for advice. It's easy to guess how that made me feel. I approached him with this question with a request to somehow resolve this issue, to which I received the answer: “Your task is to gain credibility. They see that you can't solve the issues, so they come to me.” I tried to talk to employees using a directive management style. It didn't work out. Instead, the manager called me in and told me quite harshly that I don't know how to manage, and two people filed a statement: “Either you decide the situation or quit yourself.” I ended up quitting.” Alexey.
This is a classic example of two-way mobbing. What should I do in this situation? In general, the specialist did his best. What else could we do? Go to a supervisor who is above the boss. Discuss the situation. At the same time, it is important to clearly talk about your problems, describe the situation verbatim, without emotional connotation and personal characteristics. Then, perhaps, the problem can be solved.
The general algorithm of actions of an employee who has undergone mobbing:
Option 1. Talk honestly. Clarify what your development zones are? Ask for advice. Get help more often. This is very flattering to the manager.
Option 2. The boss is stubborn and sees only the employee's weak areas without noticing his shortcomings. Try to position top management and achieve subordination to them. How can this be done? For example, approach a clarifying question and casually share your plans and ideas. In short, to establish contact. Come up a few more times and discuss the issues. At the same time, you need to form “your own team” — people who value you and notice your strengths. In short, loyal. A team can be created from neutral people. In addition, they should include heads of other departments. This will make it easier to carry out a coup.
After you have completed these steps, you can go to the supervisor above and report that you do not quite agree with your boss's policy, provide arguments and arguments. It is not certain that the coup will take place right away. Most likely, the manager will just talk to your boss, but the situation should change. Then you can consult with the manager more often. And keep it up. It is important to note that this strategy is only correct in a situation where you are confident in your position and the mobbing situation. Otherwise, it's sabotage from scratch.
Option 3. Go to a different department.
Option 4. Find another job. There is a great saying: this is not my war! In other words, is it worth fighting if you can easily start working elsewhere?
Option 5. Set a deadline for yourself. It's like Olga's situation: I'll work here for a year and leave. This is very motivating.
The most important thing is that uncontrollable emotions are unacceptable in this situation. If an employee is your competitor, for example, you know that the position of head of department will soon become vacant or a deputy vacancy will appear, your task is to get closer to the manager, communicate with him more often, take smoke breaks, and go to the dining room together. And most importantly, don't forget to work with the team — create your own team. In case of a possible promotion, the manager will also pay attention to this factor.
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