It's "Bullying No Way week" - a crucial initiative teaching kids that bullying has no place in schools. But here's the uncomfortable truth: those same kids grow up and enter workplaces where bullying is often tolerated, especially when it comes from high performers.
I have a question for you: 🤔
What would you do if your top performer was also your biggest workplace bully?
Before you answer, let me share a quick client story.
1️⃣ When Profits Trump People
Meet Vanessa.
Vanessa worked in healthcare for 15 years - an absolute gun at her job. Her workplace had this doctor, let's call him John, who was... well, let's just say he wasn't winning any personality awards.
If one of the nurses asked a question or god forbid made a simple, non-life-threatening mistake, he was known to mock and belittle them in front of others. When staff needed to discuss a patient's prognosis with him, he would often respond, "Can you just f@# off - can't you see I am busy?" True story. The whole practice walked on eggshells when John was around. Staff were scared to ask for his medical opinion because the humiliation simply wasn't worth it.
But here's the kicker - John was bringing in serious money for the practice.
So when Vanessa finally approached the practice owner for help, what do you think she was told? "Have a chat with John and see if you two can't sort it out between you like adults." Suffice to say, that didn't happen.
The result? 🤔 Vanessa packed up and left. And she wasn't the only one. The practice started losing good people faster than you could say "toxic workplace."
See, despite the rhetoric of "zero tolerance to bad behaviour", despite the policies outlining policy and procedure, this practice prioritised profits over people!
2️⃣ The Numbers don't lie
While we're teaching children that bullying is unacceptable, Australian workplaces are hemorrhaging $15 billion annually due to workplace bullying. We're sending mixed messages: bullying is wrong in school, but tolerated at work if you hit your targets.
Every time organisations ignore bullying behaviour (especially from star performers), they're sending the clearest message possible - "Performance trumps people. Always."
But what about the metrics, less tangible, the real flow-on effects:
The stress or sick leave
Teams are working at half capacity because they are walking on eggshells
Best talent walks out the door (like Vanessa)
Innovation dies because everyone's too scared to speak up
Service delivery suffers
Legal bills skyrocket
Brand reputation takes a hit
But what keeps me up at night? Real people are getting hurt, and in some workplace environments, people die.
✅ Time to Get Brave!
Building a respectful workplace requires courage - the guts to do the right thing, even when it's not the easy thing.
Here's how to start:
✨ Get crystal clear on expectations - Make your behaviour expectations clear to everyone, more conversations, more often.
✂️ Nip Issues in the Bud, Immediately - The second bullying shows up, deal with it. Every time you walk past it, you're setting a new (lower) standard.
🏆 Reward the good stuff - Celebrate people who live and breathe the behaviours you want to see, not just those smashing KPIs.
👥 Train your leaders - Give leaders the skills to have those important, tougher conversations. Most managers avoid them, because they lack the skills how to have them effectively
📣 Make it safe to speak up - People need to know they can raise concerns without getting their heads bitten off.
💯 Follow through consistently - If someone continues a pattern of crappy behaviour after you've spoken to them, there must be consequences. End of story.
✅ Key Actions - Here's how to start
🏢 For Organisations and Leaders:
Get crystal clear on expectations - Behavioural standards apply to everyone, including star performers. Have more conversations, more often (what's acceptable, what's not)
Nip Issues in the Bud, Immediately - The second bullying shows up, deal with it. Every time you walk past poor behaviour, you're setting a new (lower) standard.
Reward the good stuff - Celebrate people who demonstrate the behaviours you want to see more of, not just those smashing KPIs.
Train your leaders - Give them skills to have the tougher conversations. Most managers avoid this because they simply don't have the confidence to do in the right way.
Make it safe to speak up - People need to know they can raise concerns without judgment, blame or retribution.
Follow through consistently - Consequences are key. End of story.
👥 For Everyone:
Reflect on your own behaviour first - are you role-modelling the behaviour you want to see in the workplace?
Call out the disrespectful behaviour when you see it (only if it's safe to do so)
Check in and support anyone experiencing the bullying behaviour
Escalate the risk factor to someone in a leadership position to allow the opportunity to investigate
Remember: high performance and respectful behaviour aren't mutually exclusive
✅ The Bottom Line
This Bullying No Way week, let's extend that same protective energy we have for school children into our workplaces. The kid being taught that bullying is not OK shouldn't have to tolerate it as an adult employee.
Creating a respectful workplace isn't just the "nice" thing to do - it's our obligation. It's about ensuring everyone can perform their best, feel safe, and go home to the people who matter most.
🤔 So here's my challenge for you this week: Take an honest look at yourself and your workplace:
How are you contributing to a workplace where everyone feels respected and safe?
Are you letting any behaviours slide because someone's a high performer and you are too scared to rock the boat?
Are you choosing profits over people?
It's never too late to be brave and start the ripples of change.
Trust me, your team, your clients and your future self will thank you for it.