The Manager's Guide to Bullies in the Workplace

As a manager, you can usually handle disruptive employees. But sometimes, their emotional states foster workplace tension, even making them a danger to others. Your own confidence is at risk. In The Manager’s Guide to Bullies in the Workplace: Coping with Emotional Terrorists, noted counselor Dr. Vali Hawkins Mitchell gives you sensible advice for keeping the bully from dominating the workgroup and destroying productivity – and maintaining your own healthy emotional balance at the same time.

Sometimes the difficult person is an overt physical bully, which makes it easy to simply fire the person. Much of the time, however, the problems are more subtle and build up over periods of time. They undermine your ability to manage your team – and they can spread to the rest of the team, destroying teamwork and productivity. In this short book, Dr. Vali helps you to:

• Recognize the types of upsetting work situations that bullies exploit to their own advantage, such as change, grief, and violence.
• Understand why emotional terrorists make it so difficult for you, as a manager, to deal with their behavior. .
• See the symptomatic tools and techniques of the emotional terrorist, such as harassment, lying to supervisors, tampering with documents, etc. .
• Conduct training to help other managers and team members recognize and handle the signs of impending emotional conflict – you will love the “Snakes in the Schoolyard” exercise. .
• Know exactly what to say and not say when you must have a one-on-one interview with someone you consider to be a bully. .
• Be an effective manager in a world of challenges – protecting and preserving the mental health of your employees and yourself. .

Dr. Vali uses realistic examples and humor to help you handle the challenges you face – and to show the degree to which she really understands your situation. With her guidance, you will be more comfortable with knowing when you can handle the situation through simply being the good manager, when you need to call in an outside mental health professional, and when you need to call 911.