One of the mantras that most obsess entrepreneurs is setting up work teams that meet various characteristics, such as proactivity, leadership, decision-making capacity or assertiveness. However, can we be condemning our company to be fertile ground for mobbing without realizing it?
It is important to differentiate the problems within companies, such as harassment or discrimination; Mobbing is considered a process of systematic and indirect aggression, which goes through various stages ranging from slander, offense or ridicule the victim to isolation from the group or team, psychologically affecting the person until they leave the organization.
The confusion comes when there are actions that can begin to turn, almost imperceptibly, towards mobbing, for example: personal accusations, a totally vertical culture, unrealistic objectives, or the lack of clarity in the limits and scope of the job positions. .
How to avoid mobbing in your company
For this reason, companies, regardless of their size (mobbing can range from a start up to a conglomerate), must take the following into account:
Do not minimize emotions
It is important to remember that we are human beings and emotions play a fundamental role in our personality. People are not expected to have a switch to close the circuit of frustration and switch it to patience and tolerance. Beyond technical skills, it is also important to incorporate and validate “soft skills” or “soft skills” and that it deals – precisely – with maintaining active listening and assertive actions in the face of day-to-day difficulties.
Review of workloads
More and more companies warn their potential collaborators about high workloads or pressure environments, which may be due to industry issues and management itself, but at no time should it be an excuse to justify unrealizable work performance goals or harass employees. a person or team with signs or “punishments” that make it difficult –even more– to reach the desired objectives.
Define values, not just state them
When we ask about the values of the companies, the most common thing is to hear “to be excellent in our work” or “to respond to the needs of our clients”. Values are a bit more complex because they must reflect the company’s definition of them; Talking about the generic “respect” is not the same as “We have a zero tolerance policy for the use of offensive language or actions that affect the integrity of our employees in their workplace”.
Mobbing is one of the great concerns due to the effects it generates in various areas: from economics due to productivity losses to the impact on the labor market, with people little interested in entering industries or businesses with little clarity about climate management. labor.