The first time I stood up to a workplace bully, directly, toe to toe, wasn’t until my late thirties! I’d just become a trade union rep: no coincidence. As a union rep, you talk about workplace culture all the time, and being trained to stand up for other people lays the blueprint for the behaviours you will and will not tolerate going forward.
I’m researching for a daytime drama. The storyliner is looking for a sensational storyline; they want to tell a story of child abuse where “the child is lying”. My contacts in social services and the police confirm that children are not good at concocting credible stories about child abuse, precisely because they’ve not had the experience. The storyliner wasn’t too happy with that response.
Storyliner: You just don’t like my story; you’re trying to sabotage my story.
Me: It’s Friday; we’re both tired. Why don’t we pick this up again next week?
Storyliner: I’M THE MANAGER; I’LL DECIDE WHEN WE MEET.
Me: Okay, you let me know when that is, and I’ll have a union official with me.
Had I submitted to that storyliner’s behaviour, I would have been bullied into research that wasn’t credible, and then blamed for that research when viewers complained. Submitting to that bullying could have cost me my job.
A union official has no right to attend informal meetings, but the storyliner understood that I might take formal action. He apologised, and I don’t have a problem with him again. Finally, I learnt how to flip the script on a bully, demonstrating that I knew what unacceptable behavior is and how to confront it. I aim to get all potential targets to that point fast, so they are trained to prevent abusive behaviours at work.
Becoming a trade union rep is a great way to learn how to assert yourself at work.
I ended it with one calm sentence, and you can learn to do the same. You don’t have to be a union rep; you just need my online Bully-Proofing workshop: https://tinyurl.com/5yjnkjjp
#UnionRepCracksGlassCeiling
